Mountaintop Perspectives
02/14/10
Luke 9:28-36
Transfiguration Sunday
Pastor Greg Smith
Today is the last session of The Shack. The Shack has a similar story line to the Book of Job in the Old Testament: horrific tragedy strikes; a man is left bitter and deeply sad and making him question the basic goodness and trustworthiness of God. But in The Shack and the Book of Job, the solution to the man’s problem is a face-to-face meeting with God.
Of course The Shack is only fiction. The face-to-face in that story was only in the author’s imagination. So we, too, can only imagine: Have you ever wanted a face-to-face meeting with God, so you could not only ask all the questions that have been bothering you, but get some answers?! Or if that is too much, if only you could be sure that God heard the questions. Like the way Woody Allen put it,
"If only God would give me a clear sign! Like making a large deposit in my name at a Swiss bank.”
God has yet to give me a clear sign like that. But I have had experiences in which what is important (and what isn’t) suddenly becomes clear. Often this has been at the important transitions in my life:
• Thirty years ago tomorrow, Garrett was born. The birth of each of the four of our kids gave perspective!
• A very different experience was being with my family a few years back at my father's bedside as his body quit breathing and his heart quit beating was one of those moments for me.
• Even just a few weeks of vacation can clear the fog.
• Or I remember the deep, heartfelt commitments made near the end of a week serving on the Mexico mission team.
These moments are like views from a mountain top: we can see the terrain, we see where the path leads. It’s like being given a map: you see how the twists and turns of life fit together. If we could keep that perspective! If we could let those experiences nurture out values, hopes, dreams and decisions, we would be a far better and wiser persons.
Indeed, it is in just such times that we can discover a purpose or calling that casts a radiant light over the rest of our lives. In the story, we witness such a moment in Jesus’ life.
All three gospels— Matthew, Mark, and Luke— give the same sequence of events. It has just been revealed that Jesus is the Messiah but with a surprising twist— he will suffer and die. What’s more, those who follow Jesus will be involved. They too are called to take up their crosses and follow Jesus.
Luke 9:18 Once when Jesus was praying in private and his disciples were with him, he asked them, “Who do the crowds say I am?”
19 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, that one of the prophets of long ago has come back to life.”
20 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
Peter answered, “God’s Messiah.”
21 Jesus strictly warned them not to tell this to anyone. 22 And he said, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.”
23 Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.”
Jesus was beginning to prepare the disciples. Soon the crowds that filled them with a sense of importance would be gone. Soon their days would be filled instead with the ominous prospect of Jerusalem and with it rejection by the people's leader and the cross. Jesus had begun to prepare the disciples for this. He told them plainly what would soon happen to him and he was making it clear that if they followed him, they would not be mere spectators. They too were called to take up their crosses and follow Jesus.
Their faith was being challenged. This was not the Messiah they expected. Jesus knew this. So he began to prepare them. What did Jesus do? He gave four key disciples the original "mountain top experience."
Luke 9:28 About eight days after Jesus said this, he took Peter, John and James with him and went up onto a mountain to pray. 29 As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. 30 Two men, Moses and Elijah, 31 appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus. They spoke about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem.
Though the story is recorded in all three gospels only Luke tells us the subject of their conversation: "They spoke about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem."
The word translated "departure" in verse 30 is the word "exodus" in Greek. Jesus was about to undergo an exodus: a departure that leads to deliverance. In Jesus' coming death and resurrection, God would do something on the order of the Exodus of old. There was to be a mighty rescue, now not from Pharaoh's whips but from the power of sin, guilt and death. That was the subject of the conversation between Moses, Elijah and Jesus. Moses and Elijah represent the Law and the Prophets— the Hebrew scriptures. They show that Jesus is the fulfillment of the hopes of the Old Testament.
As a result of this "exodus" which Jesus would accomplish at Jerusalem something new would take place. How can we describe this new thing? The Bible has many images of this: the Kingdom of God would be present, the Age to Come would be experienced now, eternal life would be available in the present. All these are ways of saying what Paul described as "all things becoming new" in Christ. They all point to God's ultimate reality— the transcendent beyond— touching our present. All are testimonies to how God's ultimate purposes and plans for his creation are beginning to be realized now.
Part of being a Christian is believing that tragedies are not a part of God's ultimate plan for this world. God's purpose and plan is for a new creation, a world free from sin and suffering and filled with life justice and joy. The testimony of this story is that new creation can be experienced now like the disciples experienced Jesus' glory on the mountain. In this story: the New Age breaks into the ordinary present. The new creation is experienced now.
The voice from the cloud underscores the importance of what was happening throughout the ministry of Jesus. The voice of God affirms Jesus' identity as God's Son and instructs the disciples and us to listen and learn from Jesus' teaching.
If God were to say just one simple sentence to us, what would it be? He would tell us about Jesus: “This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him.”
That mountaintop moment gave a clear picture of hope:
• Beyond the suffering is the resurrection.
• Past taking up the cross is being taken up into glory.
• The way to glory and fulfillment is through the cross.
There are two dangers in these types of experiences. The first danger is that we will fail to actually learn anything.
That sure seems to be the case of the disciples. When they came down the mountain,
• the three disciples still did not understand what Jesus told them about his coming death and resurrection;
• they still did not understand Jesus' teaching on the Kingdom of God.
• Peter had been there on the mountain with Jesus and he still betrayed and deserted Jesus like the rest.
But before we come down too hard on the disciples it's good to remember this basic principle: You can have all the spiritual experiences that you want, you can witness wonders and miracles galore, but without the cross and resurrection, and without the work of the Holy Spirit, genuine disciples are not made.
The other danger of mountaintop experiences is that we will want to make them the norm and withdraw from the day-to-day struggle that fills most of life.
Look at verses 32-33.
32 Peter and his companions were very sleepy, but when they became fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him. 33 As the men were leaving Jesus, Peter said to him, “Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” (He did not know what he was saying.)
It's hard to know what Peter had in mind— even he didn't know what he was saying! But at least he wanted to preserve the moment. He had a mountaintop experience. So he decided to build a mountaintop retreat center!
But, of course, he couldn't hold onto the moment any more than we can. He had to go down the mountain into the valley below, a place of struggle but also of learning. They needed to keep following Jesus! As much as they were awed by what they had seen, they not yet ready to be witnessed to Jesus.
Faithfulness is not achieved by freezing a moment but by following on in confidence that God is leading and that what lies ahead is even greater than what we have already experienced!
Only much later, after much learning, following Jesus through the grief of the cross and the joy of the resurrection, and then waiting for the coming of the Holy Spirit, would they be ready to witness to what God had done in Jesus.
Let's look at the scripture that tells us about how Peter remembered that mountaintop experience much later in life. t’s in 2 Peter 1, page 1812.
When 2nd Peter was written, the Christian community was discouraged. It had been decades since they had first expected that Jesus would return in glory. The world seemed to go on as it always had and many among them were experiencing persecution and nagging doubts. What would sustain them? What would help them to keep on keeping on?
First, Peter reassures his readers that the faith that Jesus was coming again was based on fact, not fiction. 2 Peter 1:16.
16 For we did not follow cleverly devised stories when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power.
Peter points to his own witness of Jesus’ Transfiguration. Continuing in verse 16.
But we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17 He received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” 18 We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain.
After Jesus' death and resurrection and the gift of the Holy Spirit, Peter could look back to that mountain top experience with Jesus and gain deep assurance and encouragement.
But his point in these verses is to go beyond his own experience to the sustaining power of scripture. For Peter, his experience was one more reason to trust scripture’s prophetic word. Verse 19.
19 We also have the prophetic message as something completely reliable, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.
Yet Peter knew that his experience alone could not assure them that the scripture is trustworthy. It’s the fact that God’s Spirit guided the men and women behind the words on the page. Verse 21.
21 For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
“Your hope,” Peter says, “is not based on mere stories. It’s grounded solidly on God’s word in Old Testament prophesy.”
Peter has a beautiful way of describing scripture in verse 19. He says,
You will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.
“A light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns”— the Day of Christ’s coming is what Peter is referring to. Until that day comes, look to the prophetic word to be a lamp shining. “Your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.”
God gives us mountain top experiences that speak to us saying, “Jesus is real! His promises are true!” But of course Peter couldn't stay on the mountain. Nor can we. We need something more. Something less dramatic but just as nourishing and sustaining.
One of our favorite family traditions is the way we celebrate birthdays: we make the home-cooked dinner of the birthday person’s choice. We go all out! This weekend is Garrett’s 30th birthday and last night we had the crab dinner of all crab dinners.
But, of course, if every meal was like that, it wouldn’t be long before I couldn’t fit behind this pulpit. Yes, let's celebrate occasionally but otherwise we need everyday, healthy food.
If that birthday dinner was a dinner mountain top, Monday night’s black beans with rice and vegetables will very good but simple, nourishing, daily fare.
That’s what God gives us through the simple nourishment of our faith.
• That's daily time in scripture.
• That's going to Bible study group.
• That's being in worship each week.
• Not every meal is gourmet, but it is nourishing and absolutely necessary to keep us going.
Peter could point back to what he witnessed on the mountain as assurance that their hope was not based on made-up myths but facts. But finally Peter pointed his readers to scripture. There, on a daily basis, their faith could be sustained. There in the “light shining in a dark place” they could find the guidance, the support, the voice of the living God, to help them keep on when the times were tough.
Mountain top experiences can give us perspective. We can see more clearly. They can fill us with joy, wonder and awe. Through these experiences the goal of discipleship can become more clear. But faithfulness is not achieved by freezing a moment but by following on in the confidence that God is leading and that God has even greater things ahead. The greatest challenges are back down on the road.
Transfiguration Sunday
Pastor Greg Smith
Today is the last session of The Shack. The Shack has a similar story line to the Book of Job in the Old Testament: horrific tragedy strikes; a man is left bitter and deeply sad and making him question the basic goodness and trustworthiness of God. But in The Shack and the Book of Job, the solution to the man’s problem is a face-to-face meeting with God.
Of course The Shack is only fiction. The face-to-face in that story was only in the author’s imagination. So we, too, can only imagine: Have you ever wanted a face-to-face meeting with God, so you could not only ask all the questions that have been bothering you, but get some answers?! Or if that is too much, if only you could be sure that God heard the questions. Like the way Woody Allen put it,
"If only God would give me a clear sign! Like making a large deposit in my name at a Swiss bank.”
God has yet to give me a clear sign like that. But I have had experiences in which what is important (and what isn’t) suddenly becomes clear. Often this has been at the important transitions in my life:
• Thirty years ago tomorrow, Garrett was born. The birth of each of the four of our kids gave perspective!
• A very different experience was being with my family a few years back at my father's bedside as his body quit breathing and his heart quit beating was one of those moments for me.
• Even just a few weeks of vacation can clear the fog.
• Or I remember the deep, heartfelt commitments made near the end of a week serving on the Mexico mission team.
These moments are like views from a mountain top: we can see the terrain, we see where the path leads. It’s like being given a map: you see how the twists and turns of life fit together. If we could keep that perspective! If we could let those experiences nurture out values, hopes, dreams and decisions, we would be a far better and wiser persons.
Indeed, it is in just such times that we can discover a purpose or calling that casts a radiant light over the rest of our lives. In the story, we witness such a moment in Jesus’ life.
All three gospels— Matthew, Mark, and Luke— give the same sequence of events. It has just been revealed that Jesus is the Messiah but with a surprising twist— he will suffer and die. What’s more, those who follow Jesus will be involved. They too are called to take up their crosses and follow Jesus.
Luke 9:18 Once when Jesus was praying in private and his disciples were with him, he asked them, “Who do the crowds say I am?”
19 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, that one of the prophets of long ago has come back to life.”
20 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
Peter answered, “God’s Messiah.”
21 Jesus strictly warned them not to tell this to anyone. 22 And he said, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.”
23 Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.”
Jesus was beginning to prepare the disciples. Soon the crowds that filled them with a sense of importance would be gone. Soon their days would be filled instead with the ominous prospect of Jerusalem and with it rejection by the people's leader and the cross. Jesus had begun to prepare the disciples for this. He told them plainly what would soon happen to him and he was making it clear that if they followed him, they would not be mere spectators. They too were called to take up their crosses and follow Jesus.
Their faith was being challenged. This was not the Messiah they expected. Jesus knew this. So he began to prepare them. What did Jesus do? He gave four key disciples the original "mountain top experience."
Luke 9:28 About eight days after Jesus said this, he took Peter, John and James with him and went up onto a mountain to pray. 29 As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. 30 Two men, Moses and Elijah, 31 appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus. They spoke about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem.
Though the story is recorded in all three gospels only Luke tells us the subject of their conversation: "They spoke about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem."
The word translated "departure" in verse 30 is the word "exodus" in Greek. Jesus was about to undergo an exodus: a departure that leads to deliverance. In Jesus' coming death and resurrection, God would do something on the order of the Exodus of old. There was to be a mighty rescue, now not from Pharaoh's whips but from the power of sin, guilt and death. That was the subject of the conversation between Moses, Elijah and Jesus. Moses and Elijah represent the Law and the Prophets— the Hebrew scriptures. They show that Jesus is the fulfillment of the hopes of the Old Testament.
As a result of this "exodus" which Jesus would accomplish at Jerusalem something new would take place. How can we describe this new thing? The Bible has many images of this: the Kingdom of God would be present, the Age to Come would be experienced now, eternal life would be available in the present. All these are ways of saying what Paul described as "all things becoming new" in Christ. They all point to God's ultimate reality— the transcendent beyond— touching our present. All are testimonies to how God's ultimate purposes and plans for his creation are beginning to be realized now.
Part of being a Christian is believing that tragedies are not a part of God's ultimate plan for this world. God's purpose and plan is for a new creation, a world free from sin and suffering and filled with life justice and joy. The testimony of this story is that new creation can be experienced now like the disciples experienced Jesus' glory on the mountain. In this story: the New Age breaks into the ordinary present. The new creation is experienced now.
The voice from the cloud underscores the importance of what was happening throughout the ministry of Jesus. The voice of God affirms Jesus' identity as God's Son and instructs the disciples and us to listen and learn from Jesus' teaching.
If God were to say just one simple sentence to us, what would it be? He would tell us about Jesus: “This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him.”
That mountaintop moment gave a clear picture of hope:
• Beyond the suffering is the resurrection.
• Past taking up the cross is being taken up into glory.
• The way to glory and fulfillment is through the cross.
There are two dangers in these types of experiences. The first danger is that we will fail to actually learn anything.
That sure seems to be the case of the disciples. When they came down the mountain,
• the three disciples still did not understand what Jesus told them about his coming death and resurrection;
• they still did not understand Jesus' teaching on the Kingdom of God.
• Peter had been there on the mountain with Jesus and he still betrayed and deserted Jesus like the rest.
But before we come down too hard on the disciples it's good to remember this basic principle: You can have all the spiritual experiences that you want, you can witness wonders and miracles galore, but without the cross and resurrection, and without the work of the Holy Spirit, genuine disciples are not made.
The other danger of mountaintop experiences is that we will want to make them the norm and withdraw from the day-to-day struggle that fills most of life.
Look at verses 32-33.
32 Peter and his companions were very sleepy, but when they became fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him. 33 As the men were leaving Jesus, Peter said to him, “Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” (He did not know what he was saying.)
It's hard to know what Peter had in mind— even he didn't know what he was saying! But at least he wanted to preserve the moment. He had a mountaintop experience. So he decided to build a mountaintop retreat center!
But, of course, he couldn't hold onto the moment any more than we can. He had to go down the mountain into the valley below, a place of struggle but also of learning. They needed to keep following Jesus! As much as they were awed by what they had seen, they not yet ready to be witnessed to Jesus.
Faithfulness is not achieved by freezing a moment but by following on in confidence that God is leading and that what lies ahead is even greater than what we have already experienced!
Only much later, after much learning, following Jesus through the grief of the cross and the joy of the resurrection, and then waiting for the coming of the Holy Spirit, would they be ready to witness to what God had done in Jesus.
Let's look at the scripture that tells us about how Peter remembered that mountaintop experience much later in life. t’s in 2 Peter 1, page 1812.
When 2nd Peter was written, the Christian community was discouraged. It had been decades since they had first expected that Jesus would return in glory. The world seemed to go on as it always had and many among them were experiencing persecution and nagging doubts. What would sustain them? What would help them to keep on keeping on?
First, Peter reassures his readers that the faith that Jesus was coming again was based on fact, not fiction. 2 Peter 1:16.
16 For we did not follow cleverly devised stories when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power.
Peter points to his own witness of Jesus’ Transfiguration. Continuing in verse 16.
But we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17 He received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” 18 We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain.
After Jesus' death and resurrection and the gift of the Holy Spirit, Peter could look back to that mountain top experience with Jesus and gain deep assurance and encouragement.
But his point in these verses is to go beyond his own experience to the sustaining power of scripture. For Peter, his experience was one more reason to trust scripture’s prophetic word. Verse 19.
19 We also have the prophetic message as something completely reliable, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.
Yet Peter knew that his experience alone could not assure them that the scripture is trustworthy. It’s the fact that God’s Spirit guided the men and women behind the words on the page. Verse 21.
21 For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
“Your hope,” Peter says, “is not based on mere stories. It’s grounded solidly on God’s word in Old Testament prophesy.”
Peter has a beautiful way of describing scripture in verse 19. He says,
You will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.
“A light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns”— the Day of Christ’s coming is what Peter is referring to. Until that day comes, look to the prophetic word to be a lamp shining. “Your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.”
God gives us mountain top experiences that speak to us saying, “Jesus is real! His promises are true!” But of course Peter couldn't stay on the mountain. Nor can we. We need something more. Something less dramatic but just as nourishing and sustaining.
One of our favorite family traditions is the way we celebrate birthdays: we make the home-cooked dinner of the birthday person’s choice. We go all out! This weekend is Garrett’s 30th birthday and last night we had the crab dinner of all crab dinners.
But, of course, if every meal was like that, it wouldn’t be long before I couldn’t fit behind this pulpit. Yes, let's celebrate occasionally but otherwise we need everyday, healthy food.
If that birthday dinner was a dinner mountain top, Monday night’s black beans with rice and vegetables will very good but simple, nourishing, daily fare.
That’s what God gives us through the simple nourishment of our faith.
• That's daily time in scripture.
• That's going to Bible study group.
• That's being in worship each week.
• Not every meal is gourmet, but it is nourishing and absolutely necessary to keep us going.
Peter could point back to what he witnessed on the mountain as assurance that their hope was not based on made-up myths but facts. But finally Peter pointed his readers to scripture. There, on a daily basis, their faith could be sustained. There in the “light shining in a dark place” they could find the guidance, the support, the voice of the living God, to help them keep on when the times were tough.
Mountain top experiences can give us perspective. We can see more clearly. They can fill us with joy, wonder and awe. Through these experiences the goal of discipleship can become more clear. But faithfulness is not achieved by freezing a moment but by following on in the confidence that God is leading and that God has even greater things ahead. The greatest challenges are back down on the road.