Transfiguration Sunday
Mark 9:2-9
February 11, 2018
“It's good to be here.” Peter is
one of those guys who has to say something in every situation. When
everyone else is puzzled or awed or too fearful to utter a sound,
Peter's mouth opens up and the words just start flowing out. Maybe
some of you can relate. Sometimes this works out well for Peter. He
was, after all, the one to exclaim, “You are the Christ, the Son of
the Living God”. Peter confesses boldly! Sometimes, not so much.
But if there's a chance to say anything, odds are, Peter is going to
be the one to say it. And so here on the mountain, with bright
shining Jesus, with Moses and Elijah, a glorious glimpse of heavenly
reality, Peter blurts out, “it is good to be here”.
And this time, his words convey more
than he likely meant. This time, he spoke a truth more profound than
he imagined. But in another way, these words leave something
lacking, they beg for something more, they are a shadow of something
even better, yet to come. Let's consider those words as a theme this
morning, “It's good to be here”.
We say that phrase, or something like
it, often enough. It's a throw away greeting, like, “nice to see
you”. But even so, they're truer than we mean, aren't they? It's
good to be here. It's good that God has created me and given me this
life. It's good that God has placed me here, in this creation he
called “good”. On this planet he created, with the sun and moon
and land and sea and plants and animals. It's good to be here,
another day, breathing and eating and working and playing – an
existence we owe to God. Sometimes it's nice to stop and smell the
roses of our very being – that God has made me, and still sustains
me each day. This life is a gift. Thanks be to God.
And there are many places we'd rather
not be. It's good to be here in a country that allows us the freedom
to practice our faith. It's good to be here in a land of plenty,
where we want for no bodily need. It's good to be here in a time of
medical miracles, technological conveniences, and relative peace and
prosperity that the world has never known. At least it's good on
some level, and yet do we thank God for the gifts of his creation?
It's good to be here, wherever we are,
but some places are better than others. And Peter found himself on a
mountaintop – in more ways than one. It's a spectacle, for sure,
something that must have gobsmacked this simple fisherman. But what
does it mean? Why is it so good to be here?
“After six days...” the reading
starts out. But that begs the question of context. What had
happened just six days before? We read:
And he began to teach them that the
Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and
the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days
rise again. And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and
began to rebuke him. But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked
Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you bare not setting
your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”
And calling the crowd to him with
his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let
him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
The Transfiguration begins to look a
little different in its immediate context. Peter had just confessed
Jesus to be the Christ. Jesus began to tell them what that actually
means – suffering, death, and a resurrection. Peter tried to
rebuke him but Jesus made it clear – if anyone wants to follow him
– it means self-denial, it means a cross, and then a resurrection.
Also after they came down from the
mountain Jesus told them not to speak of it until after the
resurrection. And they wondered amongst themselves what he meant by,
“rising from the dead”.
Peter's words, “It's good to be here”
show us the temptation common to all men – and sadly to many
Christians – to see Christ's glory apart from the cross. We like
the bright and the shiny. We like the successful and powerful. We
like the mountaintop moments, the high points, the glory. But the
cross? Suffering? No thanks, that's not for me. In fact when it
came time for Jesus to die – most of his disciples scattered like
roaches. Would they stand at the foot of the cross? Only John
remained. Would they stay with Jesus then, and say, “It's good to
be here?” No.
And you can see this in the churches
people flock to, and the books that sell in Christian book stores,
and the preachers that get all the media attention and the examples
that are held up for us of growth and health and success. But if
there is no cross – it's a sham, and a shame. If there's no Christ
crucified for sinners, all the worldly glitz and glamor, all the
bright and shiny trappings of success are only a distraction and a
detriment. They can get behind Jesus, Satan. No cross means no
Christ.
Yes, it's good to get a peek behind the
veil. Yes it's good to see Moses and Elijah testifying to Christ.
Yes it's good to see a glimpse of his true glory as the Son of God,
and to hear the Father's voice confirming it. Yes, in a sense, it's
good to be here. But we may not remain, as they hymn says. This is
just a pit stop on Jesus' journey, for his true destination, his
ultimate goal, was not the mount of glory, but the hill of calvary,
the place of the skull, the place of death – our place.
Could you stand there, watching Christ
suffer and die, and say those words, “It's good to be here”? To
watch as he cried out, forsaken by God, to hear him mocked by men?
To see him thirst. To watch him bleed. And finally to cry out,
commending his spirit to God? As the sun darkened and the earth
shook and the curtain ripped and the tombs opened. You might say,
rather, it's good to be anywhere else. But here was God's salvation
accomplished. Here, at the cross, the ultimate good for sinners like
you and me. Here in the darkness, not the light, Jesus brought us
back to the light.
The Epiphany season begins and ends
with the voice of the Father, “This is my Son”. First at his
baptism, now at the Transfiguration, the Father confirms exactly who
this Jesus is. But now, in today's reading, he adds this little
phrase, “listen to him”. And if we listen, closely, to what
Jesus says and teaches and preaches. If we sit with his disciples at
his feet and learn – not who we want him to be, but who he says he
is – we will hear him plainly showing forth the cross. A
sacrificial death, a substitutionary atonement – one man's life
paid as ransom for many. This is why he came. Any time we hear this
good news – his Gospel – we can say those words of Peter, “it's
good to be here.”
This is why we gather. This is why we
come to his house each week. It's good to be here – not to be seen
by men, so that our friends and neighbors think of us as good
church-going types. It's good to be here – not to get all the
answers of how to live the good life, the happy family, health,
wealth, and all the success of life. We come not for the glory.
It's good to be here, because here we hear of the Jesus of the cross.
Here we listen to him – and he speaks to us – not just words of
condemnation, but finally a word of restoration, reconciliation, even
resurrection.
It's good to be here – in his
presence. Wherever he is, that's where you want to be, Christian.
And he is here in a special way for you, today. A real presence, a
sacramental presence, bodily and bloodily here for you in bread and
wine. Here's your mountaintop – at his altar. Here is your peek
at true glory. Here's your word from heaven. Here – listen to him
– when he says, “This is my body; this is my blood, given and
shed for you – for the forgiveness of your sins.”
“It's good to be here.” We can say
that now, for Christ is with us always, even to the end of the age.
But we can say it all the more, and with all of its fullness, at the
end of the age - when he comes again in glory. Then, it won't just
be a glimpse of his glory, a peek behind the veil for a small group
of his disciples. It will be Christ coming in the clouds with an
angelic entourage, the trumpet call of God and the shout of the
archangel. Then all eyes will see him, every knee will bow, and
every tongue will confess that he is the Son of God to the glory of
God the Father.
There in the mansions of heaven, there
in the eternal home of our God, with God himself wiping every tear
from your eye, with no more hunger or thirst, no sun or scorching
heat, with the Lamb at the center of the throne our shepherd, where
there are streams of living water, the tree of life with its fruit in
season, and leaves for the healing of the nations. Where rest and
life and joy are eternal, there we will be home forever.
There all the righteous will dwell –
not in temporary tents, but in a glorified body no longer subject to
death. There we'll be clothed in the righteousness of Christ. And
there we'll live in perfect communion, along with the prophets, the
patriarchs, Moses and Elijah, the martyrs and apostles, even Peter,
James and John. But most importantly we will in the presence of our
God who sits on the throne, and of Jesus. And we can truly, and
finally, and most profoundly say, “it is good, Lord, to be here”.
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