How many of you here this morning have heard of the phrase “Mountaintop Experience?” How many of you here today have had at some time in your life what you’d consider to be a “mountaintop experience?” They can take on many forms, moments where we consider ourselves to be “on top of the world”. For some of you, that day may have been when you graduated from high school or college, got married, became a parent for the first time, earned that promotion or finally got your dream job. These are moments in our lives where there’s cause for great joy, celebration, and the feeling that nothing can get better than this! Sports teams can go through that as well. For either the New York Giants, or the New England Patriots, today is going to be a “mountaintop experience” for one of these teams and their fans, depending on who wins the Super Bowl later today.
From a spiritual standpoint, there are a LOT of people who are out there, seeking a “mountaintop experience” in their spiritual lives, a time and place where they feel they experience God like they never have before, and that God is more present there than anywhere else. There’s a lot of people doing it, and a lot of preachers telling you to go out and find your “mountaintop experience”. But is that the right way to approach our faith? In our Gospel reading for this morning, we read of a “mountaintop experience” that Peter, James, and John had with Jesus. As we look at this mountaintop experience, we’ll learn that the focus isn’t so much about the moment, but about what was spoken to them on that mountaintop and where Jesus was headed once he left that mountain.
As our text opens, Jesus takes Peter, James, and John up a mountain. It starts out as a seemingly uneventful trip up a mountain, perhaps to find some solitude and quiet. Then, suddenly, it happens! Moses and Elijah are present on that mountain, appearing out of nowhere, and they’re talking with Jesus! Now there’s something you don’t see every day. Moses had died approximately 1400 years before this event took place, and Elijah had been taken up to heaven in a chariot about 850 years earlier. Yet here they are. Now that had to have been an impressive sight for these three disciples! Can you imagine the thoughts that were racing through their minds at that moment? It had to have been a moment like no other they’d experienced in their lives up to that point.
Now if that were not enough, something spectacular happened to Jesus as well. While all of this is going on, Jesus’ face turns a bright white, and he’s radiating light from within. This isn’t the sun or some other outside source of light reflecting off of Jesus, this is Jesus shining light from within Himself. Visible proof that he is indeed “The Light of the World.” Up to this point, Jesus had appeared just like any other man. Isaiah had told us that the messiah’s appearance would “have no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him.” (Isaiah 53:2b) Yet here, he’s glowing this bright white from within. It’s pretty clear who Jesus is.
Now before we move on, there’s great significance in this picture we have on this mountain. The Old Testament scriptures are often described as “The Law and the Prophets” by Jesus himself in the New Testament. Here on the mountaintop, we see them represented. Moses, you may recall, was the one who led the people of Israel out of Egypt. After they left Egypt, Moses made his own trip up a mountain, in this case, Mt. Sinai, and it was there that God gave Moses and the people of Israel the 10 commandments, the Law. In fact, the first five books of the Old Testament, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, were considered to be the books of the Law, the “Torah” as the Hebrews called it. So Moses appearance there represented the Law. Elijah had the reputation among the Jews as the greatest of the Prophets. Who can forget the great things he did in his ministry? There were others who followed him as prophets, with John the Baptist being the last of them, yet Elijah was the personification of the Prophets. His presence on that mountain represented the Prophets and their writings of the Old Testament. So, we have Moses, representing the Law, and Elijah, representing the Prophets, and they’re on this mountain, talking with Jesus? And what exactly are they talking about?
Are they talking about this spectacular show they’re putting on for Peter, James, and John? Are they encouraging Jesus to stay on this mountain and be the “Super Human Trinity”? No. Luke’s account of the Transfiguration gives us the answer: “And behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.” (Luke 9:30-31) His departure at Jerusalem. Notice they’re not talking about Jesus’ glorious appearance, they’re not talking about how they’re equal, they’re talking about Jesus upcoming journey to Jerusalem, the way that Jesus would become the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets. This is pretty important, because this journey to Jerusalem was the very topic of discussion among Jesus and his disciples just a few days earlier.
If you back up a chapter in Matthew’s gospel, Jesus asked his disciples who they thought He was, and it was Peter who was bold to proclaim, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” (Matthew 16:16) But just a few verses later, Jesus then tells them why he had come. He told them he’d have to go to Jerusalem, suffer many things, be killed, and rise again. What was Peter’s response to this? “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you!” (v. 23) Peter essentially told Jesus “not if I have anything to say about it. Jesus, I’m not going to let that happen to you, you’re not going to go to Jerusalem, or suffer, or die. I won’t let that happen!” That didn’t sound too glorious to Peter. But do you remember what Jesus said to him? “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” (v. 23) You see, Peter wasn’t one for suffering. To him, suffering wasn’t glorious, it wasn’t what Peter was looking for. He wasn’t looking for a suffering servant, he was looking for a glorious leader, someone who would be great in the eyes of the world. Yet, Jesus was quick to tell him, “It’s not about the things of the world, Peter. You missed the point, you’re not listening to me!” Peter was so preoccupied with glory the way the world sees it, that he lost his focus on the things of God, which were revealed to him through the Word.
As Peter sees this great sight on the Mount of Transfiguration, he can’t help but be excited. Who wouldn’t be? It’s his “mountaintop experience”. Maybe this is what the crowning achievement of following Jesus was going to be! It’s got all the bells and whistles the world looks for in an experience that seems to be from God. So naturally, Peter wants to keep ahold of it as long as he can. He says “Lord, it’s good for us to be here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” (v. 4) Peter wants this experience to last, he’s going by what his eyes see, not what his ears are hearing. He’s ignoring the conversation that’s taking place between Moses, Elijah, and Jesus. He’s back to his old way of thinking. He wants this visual glory to last.
Yet while he’s asking to set up these tents, a cloud approaches the mountain and overshadows them. A voice comes from this cloud, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him” (v. 5). This wasn’t the first time a cloud came along and a voice from heaven spoke over Jesus. You may recall a few weeks ago when we had Jesus’ baptism as our Gospel reading, that a cloud came, and the Father said “This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.” Now, just as Peter is all wrapped up in the glorious appearance of the Transfiguration, before he can decide this must be what Jesus was destined to do, he hears God the Father Himself say “Listen to Him!”
How many times to we get wrapped up in outward appearances? Have you ever decided that a particular church wasn’t “with it” spiritually simply because you didn’t feel a certain way when you were in their building, or you didn’t like the music, or the Pastor didn’t dress the way you wanted him to? I participate in a few online sermon discussion lists, and every year when the Transfiguration comes up in the readings for the day, there’s always a group that says “the point of the Transfiguration is that Jesus took Peter, James, and John up that mountain to have an experience, and you should be out there, seeking some sort of emotional experience so you can feel close to God too!” There are a LOT of religions based on emotional experiences. There are even many within the Christian church who claim you need to have a “mountaintop experience” in order to find God. Yet, what happened in our reading for today? Did God the Father say “This is my beloved Son, climb this mountain, and do these things, and you’ll see this vision too?” No, the Father said “Listen to Him.”
It’s no coincidence that once the Father told those disciples on that mountain to listen to Jesus, that everything was gone. Moses and Elijah were no longer there. Jesus’ appearance was the same as it had been before the transfiguration. No bells, no whistles, no angels, no bright lights, no nothing. Just the way it was before. But, just because all the overwhelming stuff wasn’t there anymore, did that mean Jesus was no longer with the disciples? No, he was right there. He didn’t disappear. His Word didn’t disappear. The disciples left that mountain with a simple command, “listen to Him”.
Dear friends in Christ, that’s what you come here to do every time we gather for worship. It’s easy in a sinful, fallen world that looks for glory in external things to be sought after. Professional sports teams that win usually draw more fans to their games than teams that have a losing season. People who are judged to have better outward appearances are deemed to be better dates than those who have great personalities, but have some physical flaws. Our world has made it the same way with religion, if it doesn’t feel like you’re close to God, then you must not be following the right way. There are a LOT of folks who would tell you that you’re out of your mind for coming here this morning, to listen to some old scripture readings, a sermon based on those readings, sing some old songs and scriptural responses in the liturgy, and then kneel at this altar rail, where you get a little piece of bread and a sip of wine. They’d try to tell you God’s not in this place, that Christ isn’t among us here, that you need to be out somewhere else, maybe looking out at a mountain range, or somewhere that manipulates your emotions so that you feel something, whatever it happens to be. Yet, as Christians, we don’t live by sight, we live by faith. Just as Peter was rebuked by Jesus for looking for glory in the world’s eyes, we are to repent of the times we ignore Christ’s presence with us through his Word, and instead, seek it out in other experiences, experiences where He hasn’t promised to be.
You come here week after week to do what God the Father told Peter, James, and John to do, “listen to him.” Through the scriptures, we hear what our Lord has to say about himself, and what He did for us. It may not be glamorous in the eyes of the world, but through the preaching of the Word, God is brining you to faith in Christ, or strengthening your faith in Christ. Do you want a God who is only present with you when everything’s right, or do you want a God who promises you “I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20) Do you want a God who you may only experience once in your life, or a God who comes to you every time you gather to worship in His house around His unchanging Word?
While Peter didn’t get the point of the transfiguration that day, later on, in our Epistle reading, he wrote about that day on the mountain. “For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain. And we have something more sure, the prophetic word, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” (1 Peter 1:16-21) Peter realized that his experience on that mountain top didn’t bring him any closer to God than anyone else, but that command “listen to Him” was fulfilled in paying attention to the Word. We may not have been on that mountain with Peter, James, and John, but Peter, an eyewitness of that account, tells us we have something even better, his Word.
On Wednesday evening, we will be moving into the season of Lent as we gather for Ash Wednesday. On that day, and throughout the season, we will hear of the journey to Jerusalem that Jesus was talking about with Moses and Elijah on that mountain in our text for today. We will be reminded of the wages of our sin, and our need for a Savior. During the season of Lent, and always, I want to highly encourage each and every one of you to continue to come to the Lord’s house, and listen to Jesus. Listen to Jesus, when you have that little black cross drawn on your forehead tell you “remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” Listen to Jesus speak from the cross. Listen to Jesus suffer, die, and rise again for you. Listen to Jesus. Not just today, not just during Lent, but always. Because when we listen to Jesus, we know we’re experiencing something that no mountaintop or other experience in the world can ever offer. Amen.
