Pastor
Steve Geiger Transfiguration
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Matthew 17:1-9
1After 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 enveloped 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.”
Glory Comes through
Suffering Matthew 17:1-9
1. Climb up the
mountain with Christ
2. Climb down the
mountain with Christ
What beautiful days the Lord
has given us. So nice was the warmth
that I even out my tiki lamps and installed them temporarily on my deck.
After so many days and weeks
of winter, one is thrilled to be able to get away the brutal cold. Nice days are, in a sense, escape.
Weekends can be the
same. After a long five days of work,
you may look forward to a Saturday when you can rest, go fishing, take a trip
with your family. Escape.
Life can be hard. Hurts come in many different forms. We long for relief. We crave escape.
Would you call Jesus’ walk
up the Mount of Transfiguration escape?
Going to a place far away? Going
high, and to brightness and glory and thrill?
It certainly was different
from what the disciples had been experiencing in the days and weeks before.
The Transfiguration is in
Matthew 17. One chapter before, Jesus
had broken the news. Not that the
disciples had never heard this before--and they should also have known it from
reading Isaiah, the Psalms, the many many prophets. But Matthew reports, “From that time on Jesus began to explain to
his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands
of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be
killed and on the third day be raised to life.”
Peter says, “Never!” I’m not going to let that happen to
you! Jesus says, “Get behind me,
Satan.”
The disciples didn’t like
this idea of suffering and death. They
liked water changing into wine. They
liked the paralyzed being healed. They
liked stories on the side of a mountain, and five loaves and two fish feeding
thousands. But to be the followers of a
man planning to be captured, intending to be ridiculed, and certain of his own
death? That was not in Peter’s
playbook.
Peter’s playbook had been
edited by Satan himself. Jesus told him
so. “You’re not looking at this from
the perspective of God, Peter. You’re
measuring me by the standards of men.”
And then Jesus dropped the bomb.
“If you guys want to keep following me, that’s fine. But, to follow me means to be willing to
suffer with me.”
Six days later four friends
got away. They climbed up a mountain. A
very high one. And they did experience
something that no human on earth had every seen before. Jesus, in all his glory.
What a moment. Can you imagine! The other gospels describe the disciples as being tired, that
while Jesus was praying, they drifted off.
But their eyes soon began to open.
Matthew says, “His face shone as sun; his clothes bright as a
light--like a flash, like a lightning bolt hanging in the air, not fading
away. “And LOOK,” Matthew reports,
“Moses and Elijah, talking with him.”
Moses and Elijah. Moses and Elijah. Moses, he had died over 1,400 years before. Elijah, he had died over 850 years ago. Yet here they were, in glory.
Talk about escape. Talk about getting away for the
weekend. Talk about getting away from
all the trouble and fear of down below.
At the bottom of the mountain, this talk of capture. This talk of ridicule. This talk of death at the hands of
enemies. At the bottom of the mountain,
this talk of suffering with Jesus. To
follow meaning to endure. The
disciples, at the top. This is what we
signed up for. This is the Jesus we
know. Escape. Getting away from the talk of suffering.
Or were they?
Luke reports that Moses and
Elijah, visible in glory, were discussing Jesus’ DEATH which was about to be
fulfilled in Jerusalem.
Oh, man! Escape?!?!?
“This is escape?” the disciples may have been thinking. Yah, like a businessman taking vacation,
bringing along his cell phone and computer.
Escape? That’s no escape. Here Jesus was on the top of the mountain,
in the middle of heavenly glory, and STILL he was talking about death.
And Moses and Elijah were
too. How rude! They had come down for this “once in an
afterlife-time” experience, a conversation with the Savior they had foretold,
and they talk about death? What are
they thinking?
Do you see how contrary that
goes to our normal way of thinking?
Suffering we try to avoid. Death
we cringe at.
How could Jesus be so
different?
My friends, Jesus was so
right.
So often we expect life
without trouble. We feel that God owes
us. If we are child, we feel that God
owes us many friends and great popularity.
If we are teenager, we feel that God owes us a driver’s license, a
girlfriend or a boyfriend. If we are an
adult, we feel that God owes us the job we like, the family situation we’ve
dreamed of. If we are older, we may
feel that God owes us companionship.
And if we are older and very sick, we may feel that God owes us an end.
Wherever we are in our
lives, such great expectations are only one short step from great
disappointment. Who of us has achieved
everything we set our hearts on? And
sometimes we resent that. We see others,
and are envious. We see our own sad
situation, and are not content. We feel
sorry for ourselves and consider giving up.
We feel like we’ve been cheated, and we may even hold a grudge against
the Almighty.
Even worse it may feel when
we are asked to sacrifice something for the Lord. To take a step of greater commitment to the Lord. Should I risk my reputation to witness for
you? Should I bravely give a generous
gift of money when it might mean giving up a pleasure? Should I act in a God-pleasing way even
though it might mean that I suffer as a result?
We can hesitate.
Peter did too. Here he had signed up with the Messiah, and
Jesus told him that suffering and death were in the future. “That’s not why I followed you. God, that’s not why I was born, to suffer.”
Jesus says, “Get behind me,
Satan.” When we tell God that suffering
is not acceptable in our lives, that suffering is to be resented, that
suffering is evidence not of love, but of God’s forgetfulness or bad planning,
Jesus says the same to us. “Get behind
me, Satan. You do not have in mind the
things of God, but the things of men.”
How we fall far short of the
glory on that mountain. How far we fall
short of deserving anything but the fire prepared for Satan and those who
follow him.
How far we fall short. How far Moses fell short. He got upset with God for insisting that he
be patient though he was being despised, though he suffered as leader of
Israel, and he disobeyed by striking a rock.
Falling short of the glory of this mountain. How far Elijah fell short.
When Queen Jezebel threatened his life, and he ran into the wilderness,
and said to God, “I don’t need this suffering.
I would rather die,” he doubted the plan of God. And fell short of the glory of this
mountain.
How then did they get
there?
They got there because there
was one who understood suffering from a completely different perspective. There was one who expected it, and looked
willingly ahead to it. There was Jesus
Christ, who would suffer and not be afraid.
Who would face suffering and not be discouraged. Who would face suffering and not sin, but
would continue to do the will of God. He
faced the temptations we face, the temptation to bail in the face of suffering,
and he did not fall. He was our substitute. He did right as our substitute.
Marvel then at the good that
came from such bravery. His suffering
led to death, but it was his death that was at the heart of Moses and Elijah
being on the top of that mountain. His
death removed from them the guilt of their frustration in the face of
suffering, their running away in the face of suffering. His life and death were their
salvation! His life and death have
rescued you as well. Fearlessly Jesus
felt our punishment in our place. His
suffering brings our release.
It’s no surprise, then, the
topic of conversation on top of the Transfiguration mount. Would Moses and Elijah talk about the
weather? The great view? The disciples’ good health? Moses and Elijah talked about pain and
death. Because in doing so, Moses and
Elijah were talking about the key to their eternal life and yours. Glory would come through suffering.
How that must have left an
impression on Peter and James and John.
The Mr. “Jesus, I won’t let you suffer, and I certainly don’t want to
suffer either” had just heard Moses and Elijah encourage their Lord to do that
very thing. You going to disagree with
Moses, living after 1400 years? You
going to disagree with Elijah, living after 850 years? You aren’t going to disagree with them.
You are going to go down the
mountain and say, “All right. This must
be the way. Glory comes after
suffering.” So let me suffer.
And let every moment of it
be pure joy. As the writer to Hebrews,
speaking by the Spirit, so eloquently proclaimed, “Let us fix our eyes on
Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him
endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the
throne of God.”
Focused on the joy to come,
he ridiculed his troubles. For there
was no comparison.
The writer to the Hebrews,
the next verse . . . “Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men,
so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”
We may not know what
challenges await us tomorrow. News of
sickness? Financial challenge as a
family? Financial challenge as a
congregation? Discovering someone
sinned against you? Losing a job? Being made fun of for your faith?
Expect to suffer. But don’t grow weary. Don’t lose heart. For focused on the joy to come, our troubles are light and
momentary. We know of the glory at the
top of the mountain. Let us climb down
to endure willingly any trouble that might await us. For Moses knew. Elijah
knew. Jesus your Savior knows that
glory comes after suffering.
Amen.