Martin Luther said "All of life for the Christian is one of peaks and valleys." That perspective is realistic, helpful, strangely comforting. This will be our overarching theme for the next 50 days till Easter. During the midweek Wednesday services, we will look at some of the dark valley moments of the saints of old. On Sundays, we will examine the mountaintop experiences.
What is interesting to note is that some of the mountaintop moments are not all peachy. The double-edge sword of peaks and valleys run very close at times and can change in a twinkling of an eye. When I shake hands with the saints it is often a peaks and valleys experience. Some saints tell me of the trials that recently came into their lives; others share major blessings.
In our gospel reading from Matthew the disciples were going through peaks and valleys. There was that marvelous moment six days earlier. Then Peter confessed that Jesus was the promised Messiah the Son of God. Immediately Jesus explains what that means. He predicts to Peter and the disciples that He is destined to go to the Mountain of Jerusalem. There, Jesus will suffer injustice from the elders of Israel, brutality from the high priests and clergy of the day, and betrayal from the religious scholars. He will be treated more shamefully than any other human, mocked, and whipped brutally within an inch of His life.
As Jesus scales Mount Jerusalem, Mt. Zion, He will go through the deepest valley in history--death on a cross--bearing the full weight of the sins of the world.
How do we even begin to comprehend THAT?
Peaks and Valleys, death and resurrection, trials and triumphs were the cobblestones of believers paths in their journey to the New Jerusalem.
Now Jesus tells His disciples another prediction. He tells them that some of them standing there will not die until they first see a powerful display of Jesus' power. That display will be a foretaste of heaven.
Six days later, Jesus would make good on His promise. On the seventh day, the day of rest, Jesus would take three of His disciples to a holy mountain. Peter, James, and John ascended that mountain with Jesus. Tired, drowsy, they fell asleep. Luke tells us they slipped from the seventh day into the eighth day, language for the resurrection. On the 8th day Jesus would make an exodus from the tomb.
Evidently the bright light, dazzling, radiant, coming from Jesus and His two guests awaken Peter, James, and John. There, they saw Moses and Elijah--two of the greatest Old Testament figures. There was no introduction. They just knew Moses and Elijah, there wearing their heavenly bodies--stunningly beautiful. The disciples were seeing a measure of the power of the Kingdom of God in the Person of Jesus. This was more dazzling in many respects than when Jesus appeared to Moses in the Burning Bush (Ex 3) and when Jesus appeared to Elijah a 1000 years earlier (1 Kings 19) at the same place--on the Mountain.
Think of it! Jesus appeared to Moses at 1500 BC. Moses worshipped him. He took off his sandals. (Ex. 3) He received a commission to be Jesus' ambassador to take down the slave operation of Pharaoh and free the people of God. Jesus revealed to Moses how He created the universe, Adam and Eve, saved Noah, and saved Abraham.
Six hundred years later Jesus was with Elijah around 900 BC. He sent birds to feed Elijah in time of drought. He gave Elijah power to raise people from the dead. Both Moses and Elijah went through amazing Exodus experiences. Moses made an Exodus through the Red Sea when Jesus saved Israel by water. Elijah made an exodus to heaven in a fiery chariot sent by Jesus with uber horses from heaven.
Now Moses and Elijah have slipped from the dimensions of heaven into the dimensions of time and space. They are talking to Jesus about His upcoming suffering, death, and exodus from the tomb. It is a mountain top experience! When the disciples catch what is going on they are blown away. It is so wonderful, so beautiful, so spectacular, they don't want ever to leave this Mountain. Peter ever prone to putting his foot in his mouth wants to build three tabernacles. No. No. No. We are to worship God alone. Moreover, Jesus for us and the world must come down and must go up to Mt. Zion to be nailed on the cross for our sins.
Peaks and Valleys await Jesus. On this Mountain where Jesus' body becomes glorified, transfigured, radiant, the disciples will encounter a second major Messianic surprise. From heaven, the Father will speak; hear another Trinitarian text in the Bible. He will speak from the Cloud, "This is my dearly loved Son, the constant focus of My Delight. You must constantly listen to Him." [Matt 17:5]
When Peter, James, and John heard the voice of the Father, they were dazed and terrified and fell face into the ground. But Jesus walked over and touched them, "Get up and do not be afraid!"
I mentioned to the children in confirmation class that the most important thing in life we should do is constantly listen to Jesus by constantly hearing God's Word. There is no more important holy habit.
Suddenly Moses and Elijah were gone and the disciples saw only Jesus! [Matthew 17:8]. The only way to have a productive life on earth is to see Jesus, hear Jesus, be fed by Him. He alone paid for our sins; He alone is the One Who alone can bring us to the Father.
It is He, Jesus, Who brings us through all the valley's of life. To Him all the prophets bear witness that whoever believes in Him has forgiveness of sins (Acts 10:43). This Mountain experience is one to remember, recall, rehearse. It is a picture not only of the transfigured bodies we one day will have but how Jesus made the exodus from the tomb for us. The Mount of Transfiguration was also a down payment day for the day when Jesus paid for all our sins. Keep this mountain in sight when you find yourselves in the temporary but tough valleys of this life.
Amen.
