Matthew 17:1-9 NIV
17 After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and
John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by
themselves. 2 There he was transfigured before
them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the
light. 3 Just then there appeared before them Moses
and Elijah, talking with Jesus.
4 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.”
5 While he was still speaking, a bright
cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I
love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!”
6 When the disciples heard this, they
fell facedown to the ground, terrified. 7 But Jesus
came and touched them. “Get up,” he said. “Don’t be afraid.” 8 When
they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus.
9 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.”
Talk About Shine!
After six days. God
created everything in six days. This makes me think that something special is
happening here. Just prior to this event, Jesus had told the disciples about
His suffering, death and resurrection, so, was there again here, in time, going
to be a big reveal on the seventh day? A reveal that would take place with just
a few of Jesus disciples. Were these disciples handpicked to witness something
new? After all they were going up a mountain, and mountains tended to bring on
special encounters with God.
It’s nice to spend
time alone with God, with just a few people. It’s like a time to get prepared
for something. Almost like when you go on a retreat to learn insights into
those that you work with. Was this what was taking place? Was this like
preparation and planning?
Remember how I just
stated that Jesus had just revealed what was about to take place? Jesus was
about to be crucified and die and rise again. Jesus has just told the disciples
this. Well, talk about a punctuation mark before a select few of His disciples!
Jesus was transfigured right before their eyes, and His face shone like the sun
and His clothes became white as light.
This mountain was
traditionally known as Mount Tabor, some suggest possibly Mount Hermon, but
this brightness reminds me of what Moses must have witnessed at Mount Sinai
that glowed from his own face after listening to God.
Exodus
34:29-35
29 When Moses came down from Mount
Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands, he was
not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the Lord. 30 When
Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, his face was radiant, and they were
afraid to come near him. 31 But Moses called to
them; so Aaron and all the leaders of the community came back to him, and
he spoke to them. 32 Afterward all the Israelites
came near him, and he gave them all the commands the Lord had given him on Mount Sinai.
33 When Moses finished speaking to them,
he put a veil over his face. 34 But whenever
he entered the Lord’s
presence to speak with him, he removed the veil until he came out. And when he
came out and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, 35 they
saw that his face was radiant. Then Moses would put the veil back over his
face until he went in to speak with the Lord.
Well,
this was just what happened to Moses in the presence of God. Think about what
happened to the disciple’s faces in the presence of Jesus. This shining was
God! Jesus IS God!
Jesus
will shine once again and forever…
Revelation
1:16 NIV
16 In his right hand he held seven
stars, and coming out of his mouth was a sharp, double-edged
sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.
And
think about those clothes! White! White of heavenly hosts in a multitude around
the throne of God.
Revelation
7:9 NIV
9 After this I looked, and there before
me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe,
people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb.
They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their
hands.
I think
this is a hard thing to put into words. I think it is a hard thing for me to
imagine. This is the glory of God. This Jesus is the fulfillment of the Law and
the Prophets. This is God’s very own testimony about His Son. This is the
bright Light hope of the resurrection, on this mountain. What a sight! Talk
about the fear of God!
Here a bright
Light in, of, around, and through Jesus, shining to Moses, Elijah and the
select disciples. How’s that possible? This is weird now. This has become
supernatural. This is without a doubt unbelievable to simple human-kind. It’s
like Jesus is making the point of all points. Hey guys, you didn’t get it when
I told you I must suffer, die and rise again; so, look at this. How can you
doubt my words now?
Here’s
the Moses and Elijah of your own Bibles of the day, right here before your
eyes. They are the Law and the Prophets that you studied all along in your own
version of Sunday School. Talk about an object lesson for the kids! Here they
are, appearing with Jesus’ right before your eyes! Here they are combined all
into one with Me. I’m the God they were talking about all along. Jesus IS God!
There is something in the unity of Law, Prophet and fulfilled Gospel in Jesus
on this mountain. It’s like Jesus giving full proof of God’s power and grace
through His upcoming suffering, death and resurrection. Talk about Jesus
witness to Himself! Prepare yourself guys!
And then there is
Peter. Good ol Peter. Thinking like I would too, about the here and now of my
world. Thinking about the Building Committee. Peter being as human as you can
get. Peter being down to earth and practical. Peter, doing his best to bring
honor and glory to Jesus in his worldly way. Peter doing maybe, just maybe what
he thinks Jesus would want him to do. Build a few shelters for these guys.
There was a Jewish
Feast of the Tabernacles, that made people remember how God supplies all that
is needed, especially in the wilderness travels of the Israelites in Moses’
day. Let’s honor that joy, and think of this moment now, of how God has
supplied this sight before our eyes. For, here we have gathered all that God
could ever supply for humanity, Moses, Elijah and Jesus.
Peter tries to
capture the moment. But this moment is eternity.
And then, I can just
imagine a thought bubble above Peter’s head being burst wide open. A voice
coming from a bright cloud, speaking loud and clear, “This is My beloved Son,
in whom I am well pleased. Listen to Him!”
That cloud of God
that leads His people forth in joy to salvation out of the wilderness of sin
and death. A cloud that leads His people into The Promised Land. What a gift!
What a joy! What a fear that brings forth respect, and honor, and glory to God
in Jesus! Here and now, stop and see and hear God’s exclamation point.
This distance
between God and mankind is eternal, yet also, as close as you can get. How’s
that? Fear strikes when we are in the presence of God. Fear and respect and
honor and glory are present in the presence of God, and we can’t take that! We
fall face down. Can’t help ourselves. Yet, at that same time and at that same
moment, God came to these few disciples in human form. God came to them in the
closeness of Jesus. Jesus knows exactly how it is to be human, and at the same
time knows exactly how it is to be God. So, terror and love combine as one in
Jesus. It’s beyond what I can understand. That’s a God thing, and I know my
place. Yet, God chooses to come to me in Jesus. God chooses to take care of me
and love me and bring me in His presence in all eternity.
Out of compassion
Jesus touches His disciples. He assures them that He has all of this under
control. And He urges them to get up. This “get up” can displace the fear of
sin and suffering and death, to be a clue to what Jesus will do for these
disciples of His and for all the world. Someday we too, disciples and believers
throughout time, will hear the call of Jesus to get up. We will rise to be with
God in eternity at our very own resurrection. So, for today, as we fear doing
and acting on God’s call, let’s listen to this “get up” from Jesus. Let’s get
up and go, doing what God calls us to do with our lives, using the gifts God
freely gives to us, as we love God and neighbor in the worlds in which we have
been set.
And when they “get
up,” and we “get up,” on this day, all we see is Jesus. No need to “Point to
Jesus” here; for Jesus is all we can see. Jesus will lead and guide His
disciples into the world. As the disciples have seen the bright Light of God’s
glory, they too see the direction that Jesus will guide them.
So, as this small
group descends from the mountain, Jesus commands them to wait, to not say
anything (my paraphrase). Why? There is a time for everything. Jesus will soon
reveal His glory to all the world. But, first a few things will take place.
When the time comes, the rest of the world will know that Jesus is God and Lord
of all.
The glory of God
sets up on the Mount of Transfiguration. Look, see, listen, this Jesus IS God.
Listen to Him!
This is My Son!
Listen to Him! See Him! Worship Him!
Peter heard the
Father speak. Peter heard the voice of God on that sacred mountain. So, Peter knows
that prophecy comes from God, not mankind. Prophecy of the Light to all the
world comes from God. But what part do we play in all of this? God has shown us
too, His Light, and we are called to talk about that Light to all the world.
Jesus told these few disciples to be silent until after His resurrection. That
has happened. So, like Peter, we are called to tell of the Light of Christ.
Tell of forgiveness. Tell of the defeat of sin at the cross of Jesus, and tell
of the defeat of death and the tomb of Jesus. Why? Because all this was freely
given to the world, so that, all may believe in what God has done. So, let the
Light of Christ shine in and through you to all the world.
So, with all of
this, I would be negligent not to tell the story of my life. No, I didn’t see
the bright shining Light of Jesus, blinding me. What I did see in my mind’s eye
of a dream was more closely related to the very last verse of this passage. The
“As they were coming down the mountain…,” part. So here goes…
I must have been
somewhere between 5 or 6 years old at the time of this dream, or recollection,
or whatever it was. I suspect that in my young mind, I had heard bits and
pieces of Pastor Swinehart’s sermon on the Transfiguration. But I can’t be sure
of this. I remember Pastor Swinehart, in my young mind, being a passionate
preacher and always excited about his messages. Another words, I pictured him
as a fiery preacher.
So, to this dream
that has been with me through life. A dream, or whatever it was, that I have
used to guide me in my walk with Jesus.
I heard a knock at
the door of my family’s house on Washington Street in Sidney Ohio. I was
excited to hear this knock, thinking that perhaps some of my friends were at
the door, maybe it was Larry and Ernie Tate, I don’t know. As I answered the
door, standing there was Jesus, Moses, Elijah and some other guy I didn’t
recognize.
Yea, sure! How would
a 5- or 6-year-old kid recognize this cast of characters? But somehow, maybe
even if over some time, as this dream developed and changed in my memory, I
did. Next is what Jesus said to me that has caused me to run down some path of
discipleship for my entire life until now. Jesus simply says, “Can Billy come
out to play?” Really? Didn’t Jesus know that I, standing before Him was Billy?
I guess it really doesn’t matter.
I’ve always thought
of this throughout my life growing up. Sometimes it spooked me, sometimes it
guided me, sometimes I ran away from it all. But I’ve come to accept the
message that Jesus wants me to go out into the world and be with Him, to follow
Him, and to join in with all the Saints, like Moses, Elijah and whomever this
other guy was, to do the will of God with what God has given to me. And all in
the way of playing too! How great is that? So, I love to think of Jesus
laughing and playing all the while as He takes me to the cross with Him and
beyond into death and the resurrection. Fearful stuff, for sure, but always
ending in the joy of playing with Jesus and His friends for a lifetime.
Was I a mixed up,
confused child at the time of this dream or whatever it was? Maybe. But I
really don’t care. I didn’t see that blinding white of Jesus transfiguration,
but I did hear the voice of Jesus in my life.
And, I think if you
too, listen to the voice of Jesus. Spend time in the Word, and see how Jesus
comes to you in Holy Communion and Baptism; you too will be invited out to
play. I would love to have you along with me as “that other guy” as we walk
with and “Point to Jesus” … today… tomorrow… and forever … all the while
playing in the love and joy and forgiveness that Jesus offers, and having a
blast at it! Thanks be to God!
I really enjoyed
this YouTube Music Video this week
Jesus Laughing
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