SERMON 486
TRANSFIGURATION SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 26, 2006
2 KINGS 2:1-12, PSALM 50:1-6, 2 CORINTHIANS 4:3-6,
MARK 9:2-9
THREE MEN ON THE MOUNTAIN!
Beloved in the Lord, grace
and peace be unto you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus
Christ, and from the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life!
This is transfiguration
Sunday, the Sunday at the end of the season of Epiphany, and the Sunday just
before Ash Wednesday and the Lenten Season. In Epiphany we celebrated the light
that shone forth in Christ for all the nations of the world. As we move into
Lent we follow our Lord as he heads toward
But before we move into Lent
we go up the mountain to see our Lord transfigured before our eyes. We see much
more than that. We see Jesus the Redeemer in conversation with Moses the law
giver and Elijah the prophet, THREE MEN ON THE MOUNTAIN, all of them in conversation!
That, by the way, is our theme for this sermon, THREE MEN ON THE MOUNTAIN!
One of the reasons that I was
so pleased to move to
There are many mountain
ranges in the world and there is probably no mountain that has not been climbed
by some one. They are there to be seen by some and they are there to be climbed
by others. So what is so special about this mountain and the three men in
conversation? It was not a particularly high mountain, in fact we are not quite
sure which mountain or large hill that it was.
But an important mountain it
certainly was because God was there revealing his glory as God had so many
times before in the history of redemption.
Consider Moses. He had seen a
bush burning brightly on the mountain side and when he went to find out what
was going on the Lord God called him and sent him on a journey to rescue his
people out of
He came down with the two
tablets of stone in his hands on which was inscribed in God’s hand writing the
ten commandments. But he came down to a terrible mess. His people had formed
and worshipped a golden calf and the camp was out of control. Before he brought
it back into control Moses and the Levites had to kill 3000 people. The lesson
is plain. Be careful. If God calls you to come to the top of a mountain to
speak with him, you can be sure there will be a terrible mess waiting for you
when you get back.
Moses went right back up the
mountain to get a fresh copy of the commandments and to see God’s glory. Moses
asked to see God face to face, but all that Moses was given to see was the
glory of God as God passed by. No one can see God’s face to face and live. But
again Moses came down to a turmoil, with just about everybody wanting to be in
charge, everybody complaining about everything (does that sound familiar?), and
one revolt after another.
At the end of his life, after
forty years of leading his people to the Promised Land, Moses was called back
to the top of the mountain. With God at his side Moses saw all the Land that
God had promised to his people. Moses died there and God buried him, where we
do not know.
Just as Moses the law giver
and leader of his people is called to go up the mountain, so also was Elijah,
one of the prophets. You well remember the story of how Elijah met the Priests
of Baal on top of
But as we said when you go up
the mountain to see God you come down to a real trouble. Elijah managed to put
300 of the priests of Baal to death that day but then he heard that Queen
Jezebel had sworn to take his life. He fled and asked God to take his life, to take
him out of the life threatening problems. But God told him that you don’t go up
the mountain to see God and avoid the problems. But just to further prepare
Elijah, God took him on a 40 day journey by foot to the mountain where God had
appeared to Moses. On top of that mountain Elijah, from a cave, was witness to
the power of God in earthquake and fire and wind, but God was not in any of the
three. God spoke to Elijah in a still small voice and told him what he must do
to help clean up the disorder. Elijah did as he was told. By the way, if we are
tempted to think that we are the only faithful one left, we are to remember
Elijah. Before God sent him back into the idolatry of the land, he told him
that there were many others who had not bowed their knees to the Gods of this
world.
At the end of his life,
Elijah went up a different sort of mountain as we see from our lesson. God came
in a fiery chariot and took him away, one of two persons that we know of whom
it can be said that God came and took them.
But this time there were
THREE MEN ON THE MOUNTAIN! Moses and Elijah, who had been there before, came to
visit with Jesus as Jesus was glorified by the Father and received the
commendation of the Father. Jesus was truly the Son of God with whom God was well
pleased. But as Jesus was the Son of God, one with the Father and the Holy
Spirit, so also was Jesus the son of man, brother to all of humanity. So God
arranged to have two of Jesus brothers come and speak with him too. God chose
the two who had been on the mountain with him before, the two who knew what it
was all about and how they too saw the glory of God before they went back into
the real problems of the day.
Jesus was not just going back
into a real mess, Jesus was going back into an inferno. Moses had had to kill
3000 men when he returned, and Elijah had slaughtered 300 priests of Baal.
Jesus was himself going to be slaughtered for the sins of human kind, the sins
of the 3000 men Moses had killed, the sins of the 300 priests of Baal as well
as the sins of all of us. God was there in his glory, as were the two of Jesus
brothers, who knew what was going to happen and why. What a conversation it
must have been!
But there was another
conversation going on at the same time. The three disciples, Peter, James and
John had accompanied Jesus on his journey up the mountain. They were also
witnesses to this glory as Jesus was transfigured in their midst. They had no
idea what was going on. They had absolutely no idea as to what even to say.
Peter comes up with this knee jerk idea that they build three booths, one for
each one, Moses, Elijah and our Lord. The truth of the matter was that they
were terrified in the presence of the glory of God. But we would have been
terrified as well if we had been there. We would have been lost for words as
well. Nothing out of our mouths would have made an iota of sense.
God’s ways are not our ways.
God’s plans are not our plans. The glory of the living God has been hidden from
our eyes. The plans that God has in store for his people are completely beyond
our comprehension. We shall see that glory one day and be terrified, but for a
moment. The plans that God has in store for us will be revealed when he comes.
In the mean time the one thing that we know and have been assured of is the
love of God for us, manifested in Jesus Christ, God’s own son.
THREE MEN ON THE MOUNTAIN!
They all saw the glory of God and they all came down to face enormous
challenges.
But let us not ignore the
fact that we too have been called up the mountain and we too have seen the
glory of God. The glory that we have seen is the cross of Jesus Christ and his
resurrection from the dead. That cross is the power of God for salvation for
any one who believes. In that cross God was in Christ reconciling the whole
world to God.
But not everyone can see the
glory of God in the cross of Christ. That glory is veiled, hidden, from those
who will not believe that Christ died for their sins and that God raised him
from the dead.
Yes, we too have seen the
glory of God. We have seen the power of God redeeming all of human kind. We
have actually joined the conversation with Moses and Elijah and Jesus for it
was that very cross that was the center of their conversation. That is what
they were talking about. The cross that Jesus was to bear was to bring an end
to the turmoil and rebellion and disobedience of human kind. Jesus had come to
clean up the mess.
So in a very real sense we
too have been on the mountain. We too have seen the glory of God in Christ
Jesus. There is only one thing left for us to do. Moses came down the mountain
to the real world and so did Elijah. And Jesus came down the mountain to take
up the cross.
Jesus has invited us to take
up the cross and follow him. It would be so nice to just sit around in booths,
with a cup of coffee or two, and wait for the glory of God to be revealed in
God’s time. But Jesus has invited us, nay called us to take up the cross and
follow him.
We are called to come out of
our booths and live in the real world of sin and suffering, of disobedience and
rebellion, of trouble and turmoil, of belief and unbelief and take up the cross
and follow him.
We have good news to share.
We have good news to live as we forgive and bear the sins of others. We have
trouble to face as we stand up for the rights of others, the poor and homeless
and unjustly treated. We have discouragement to overcome as we face families
and friends walking away from the holy one. We have prayers beyond number to
offer up for the sake of the lost and sick and suffering. And when we ourselves
are weary and faint and out of breath we have a place to go, a mountain like
retreat, a place where we share the word and the water and the body and the
blood, for forgiveness and life and strength to meet the tasks that the morrow
will bring.
We have seen the glory of the
Lord. We have joined the conversation with the three men on the mountain. We
have the call to take up the cross and follow him. What more could we possible
ask for than all of this?
AMEN!