A mountaintop experience

After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus.

Peter said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters--one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah."

While he was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!" When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown to the ground, terrified. But Jesus came and touched them. "Get up," he said. "Don't be afraid." When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus.

As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus instructed them, "Don't tell anyone what you have seen, until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead" (Matthew 17:1-9).

When was the last time that you went on a trip to spend time with someone special? I don’t necessarily mean a long trip; what I’m talking about is a time where you left behind your work and your home and spent quality time with someone you love. It may have been a trip to your grandparents. It may have been a trip to the home of your parents, or a brother or a sister, or one of your children. Perhaps it was a trip to an old friend’s place. In any event, the time there was special. You didn’t worry about your job or cooking or schoolwork; you just enjoyed the company of someone dear. It was a happy time, and when it came time to return home, a part of you didn’t want to go.

Or perhaps you have taken time away to attend a convention, conference or seminar. You had the chance to mingle with people who all shared similar interests with you, even though they were strangers. As the hours went by, you found many people who shared your passions and could relate to your problems. You listened to speakers who got you excited about what you could do with your life. In the car returning home, you reflected on everything you’d seen and heard and wished that the conference could have gone on for just one more day.

These are just two examples of having a "mountaintop experience". The classic mountaintop experience is the feeling that a mountain climber gets when he finally reaches the summit. There is a rush of emotion that sweeps away all exhaustion and pain. The climber is overcome with joy and wants nothing more than to just stand where he is, enjoying the bliss of the moment. Many people have these kinds of experiences. Recently, many athletes from around the world felt such bliss when they won a medal at the Olympics. Many couples wish that their honeymoon would never end. Many parents wish that their babies would stay little just a few more months. When we experience something wonderful in our lives, we don’t want it to ever go away.

Peter, James and John had a mountaintop experience. They experienced something so wonderful, so awe-inspiring, that they didn’t want the moment to end. These three disciples, Jesus’ closest friends, were privileged to see the glory of God, to hear the Father’s voice, and to see with their own eyes the greatest prophets of history. Peter, James and John received an experience so special that it was reserved only for those closest to Jesus—and yet they misunderstood the purpose for this mountaintop experience. The three disciples wanted to stay on the mountain and continue to enjoy their wonderful experience, but the purpose of Jesus’ Transfiguration was to prepare them to leave the mountaintop.

Why did the Transfiguration take place? To understand this important event, we must look back to the verses just preceding it. In chapter 16, verse 21 we read "From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life." How did the disciples react to this startling news? In verse 22, Peter speaks for the group when he says, "Never, Lord! This shall never happen to you!" It is clear that the disciples will go through a very hard time while they watch their beloved Teacher endure arrest, trial and execution for crimes that He did not commit. Jesus knew that His heavenly Father hated sin. Jesus also knew that because His Father loved every man, woman and child, He did not want to send them into eternal darkness. So the Son of God volunteered to take on a human body and the responsibilities that went with it. Jesus agreed to become a man so that He could stand between His Father and all of mankind, asking His Father to punish Him for the sins of every man, woman and child standing behind Him. Jesus volunteered to come into our world to suffer and to die. Jesus knew that very soon He would enter Jerusalem to bring the work of His suffering to its bloody climax. And Jesus knew that His disciples would all desert Him as His final hours drew near.

Jesus did not want His suffering and death to leave His disciples completely without hope. Jesus selects the three disciples who are closest to Him and best able to understand what would happen, and leads them up on a mountain where they would have privacy for what was about to take place. Jesus takes three, because under Jewish law it took two or three witnesses to establish the facts in a legal case; when Jesus later ascended into heaven, the testimony of these three men would prove to their listeners that the Transfiguration really happened just as they described it. While they were on the mountaintop, Jesus is changed. All His life, Jesus was at the same time truly and completely God as well as truly and completely human. Under ordinary circumstances, people could only see Jesus’ humanity as He walked and taught among them. But on this day, some of the Lord's divine glory briefly shines through His human body. His face glows like the sun, and even His clothing becomes dazzlingly white. For a brief time, Jesus appears to the human eye as the glorious Son of God that He is. Jesus’ true glory was revealed to the three disciples to show them who He really is, in order to strengthen their faith in Him.

But the revelation doesn’t stop there. Next, God the Father sends the two greatest prophets of history to stand and converse with Jesus. Of course, no one living knows what these great men looked like, but God miraculously makes sure that the disciples recognize Moses and Elijah. Moses had led the Israelites from slavery in Egypt to the Promised Land. Moses had gone up on Mount Sinai and stood in the presence of God as he received the Ten Commandments from Him. Moses’ leadership had been questioned and rejected by the Israelites while on their desert travels. Yet Moses was so loved by God that God buried Moses personally on a mountain overlooking the Promised Land. Elijah was sent by God to lead the people back to faithful worship, at a time when most of Israel had become idol worshippers. Elijah had been marked for death by the Israelite leadership. Elijah had gone up on Mount Horeb, where God appeared to him to strengthen him for his work. And Elijah was so loved by God that God took him directly to heaven, without first dying. Together, Moses and Elijah represented the Old Testament’s teachings about the Messiah: that He would lead the people to God, that He would stand in the presence of God, that He would be persecuted for His work on God’s behalf, and that God would bless the ending of His life. The presence of Moses and Elijah was intended to show the three disciples just who Jesus really is—the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy.

As if all this wasn’t enough, God the Father brings a bright cloud upon the mountaintop and speaks. The Father conceals Himself from human eyes using the cloud because no sinful human can look upon God and live. From the cloud, God the Father lets His voice be heard: "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!" The presence of the Father, veiled as it is, is overpowering: the disciples fall to the ground, terrified. The Father has told them that He is pleased with everything that Jesus is saying and doing, including His announced intention of going to Jerusalem to suffer persecution and death on behalf of sinful mankind. The message is this: don’t argue with Jesus, as Peter did recently—listen to what Jesus says, and trust that He is doing the right thing. No matter how bad things will look in the days ahead, it is all according to God’s plan and will turn out for the best. And so in a third way, the three disciples are being strengthened in their faith.

In spite of all this, the disciples misunderstand. Yes, this is a wonderful event: they see some of the true glory of their Master, they stand with the great prophets, and God the Father speaks to them personally. But they fail to understand the reason for all this. This event was not arranged to give the disciples a religious holiday. The disciples have been equipped to descend the mountain and enter Jerusalem with Jesus to be witnesses to His suffering and death. Without Jesus’ suffering and death, no one could ever receive forgiveness of their sins. Without their witnessing of Jesus’ suffering, death and resurrection, the disciples could not spread the truth of the Good News of salvation--that those who admit to their sins and trust in Jesus as their living Savior will spend eternity in God’s life-giving love. Without witnessing Jesus’ Passion and victory over the death of sin, the disciples could not have written the four Gospels that you and I hold so dear today. The disciples were not invited by Jesus to go to the mountaintop to stay;
they were invited so that their faith could be strengthened for the days ahead.

The Christian church is our Mount of Transfiguration. The world outside doesn’t understand who Jesus is. Some say He was a wise human teacher, like Confucius or The Buddha or Muhammad. Some doubt He ever lived at all. The people of the world cannot see the glory of God that lies concealed within Jesus’ human flesh. But Jesus invites us to join Him on the mountain. In the sanctuary of the Church, away from the eyes of unbelievers, we see Christ’s glory revealed. Through the reading of inspired Scripture, through preaching, through Christ’s body and blood in the Holy Sacrament, we see Jesus for who He truly is—the living Son of God, who paid our debt of sin. In the Church, we hear from those who witnessed Jesus’ suffering, death, and resurrection, that we might have life, and have it to the full.

The Mount of Transfiguration strengthened the disciples for the hardships that would come from following Jesus. Similarly, our time in the sanctuary of the Church prepares us for the hardships of being Christians in a sin-filled world. Jesus does not invite us to church just to give us a religious holiday; He invites us there to strengthen our trust in Him, so that we can go out into the world and spread the Good News of salvation just as the disciples did. Jesus knew that we will face tough days as we confront temptation and suffering and persecution because of our commitment to Him. That is why we can return to our Mount of Transfiguration, Christ's Church, every week for refreshment and revitalization. Jesus wants no one to fall away in the hour of testing; in His church, you can find all the joy and peace and love that you will ever need to make it through this life, until our Savior welcomes you into heaven.