Transfiguration of the Lord On one of his many travels across the United States Charles Kuralt unexpectedly spent a night on Mount McKinley. He had planned just a day visit, but the plane that carried him to the glacier was unable to bring him back. Since it was getting late Charles and Izzy, a photographer who worked with him would have to spend the night. Charles admits a feeling of fear swept over him in that strange deserted place.
There was a cabin on the mountain not too far from where they were, their pilot told them. They would be able to spend the night there. The men hiked for nearly an hour before they found the simple cabin. The cabin was small, six-sided and half buried in snow. Inside there were sleeping shelves along the walls. What seemed strange to Charles when he first arrived was the large windows. After eating stew the men were ready for bed. But then they looked out those same windows. They were taken by surprise by what they saw. For one night only they had the best seats on the planet for nature's most spectacular show. They stayed up watching in delight and wonder. The scene faded away only with the rising of the sun. Both of them were left awed and exhausted. That morning Charles began to wonder if maybe the pilot left him on the mountain on purpose. Maybe the pilot sized them up as a couple of guys who thought they were in a bigger hurry than they really were and would benefit from a night to slow down and look around and think about this place where they were. (1) It would be a night Charles Kuralt would never forget.
Such experiences are never really planned; they just happen, and when they do we are grateful. The disciples needed some time on the mountain. It was quite a shock when Jesus spoke so plainly about what lay ahead. This wasn't a time for cute parables or riddles. He told them he would, "undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again." The disciples were both shocked and confused. This wasn't what they thought would happen the day they decided to drop everything to follow Jesus. Thus when Jesus called his inner circle, his closest friends, Peter, James, and John, to go with him up the mountain, they were ready to go. Perhaps in the rarefied air their minds would clear.
There was no way the disciples could have prepared for what would take place on that particular mountain. They saw a sudden change come over Jesus. He appeared in a brilliant light. As Mark tells it, "His clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them." The disciples knew Jesus was special, but they had never experienced anything like this. Jesus was transfigured right in front of them.
As if this weren't enough, they saw Jesus talking with Moses and Elijah. Moses, you will recall, gave the people the Ten Commandments and led them to the Promised Land. Elijah was the first prophet, and was taken up into heaven in a chariot of fire. The Jewish people believed that Elijah would return one day in the same way he departed, on the wings of a chariot. These two men represented the Law and the Prophets, the sources of authority in Jewish life.
THERE ARE TIMES WHEN GOD SUDDENLY BREAKS INTO OUR LIVES. The confused disciples were given a preview of what was to come. They were given a glimpse of what the future held. At that very special moment they saw an amazing sight, a combination of heaven and earth, time and all eternity. All Peter could say was, "Rabbi, it is good for us to be here!" Such mountaintop experiences are rare, but they do happen.
William Boggs' grandfather played a very important role in his life. Grandpa Boggs had been blind for nearly twenty years. Grandpa would tell you quickly that the way the world was going he didn't much care to see it anyway. He did have one regret however. He had never seen his grandson.
Sensing death closing in on him, William's grandfather began praying more intensely for the Lord to give him sight, just long enough to see his grandson before he died. The doctors had told him that it was an impossibility because his eyes had long since turned a milky blue from a disease.
One day Grandpa was playing with his grandson when suddenly he could see. The whole family ran out into the yard to see what all the fuss was and quickly grew quiet as it become apparent that his vision had returned. Grandpa picked up his grandson, whom he had never seen, and stared at him with an intensity that frightened the child. William remembers holding his face between his small hands while both of them cried. Then in the most frightening moment of all, Grandpa saw something in William. It was an unbelievable, once in a lifetime experience. Grandpa looked his grandson in the eyes and softly said, "a preacher." That was all he said. Just those two words so quietly uttered with a tone of surprise. Thirty years later William wonders which was the greater miracle ” that he could see or that he could see something so deeply hidden in William and William's distant future. (2) William believes that his grandfather's voice that day was the voice of God. God breaks into our lives suddenly and distinctly. AT SUCH TIMES OUR PERSPECTIVE IS CHANGED.
The disciples were actually there ” with Jesus, Moses and Elijah. Peter, never at a loss for words, approaches the Master and blurts out, "Let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah." It was an awesome moment. Peter was both frightened and inspired by what he saw.
No sooner had Peter spoken those words than Moses and Elijah disappeared. One moment Jesus was talking with them and the very next moment they were gone. Now they were alone with Jesus. Then a cloud appeared. The Jewish people associated God with a cloud, remembering how God led the ancient Israelites in a cloud through the desert. The voice of God thundered from the cloud, "This is my son, the Beloved; listen to him."
At that moment Peter heard what he did not want to hear, "Listen to him." Peter had rebuked Jesus earlier when Jesus had spoken of his suffering and death. But now God was saying, "Listen to him." Peter didn't want to listen ” not to news of Christ's death. This was an awful truth he did not want to confront, but he knew he must. There are some truths that necessarily mean change.
Have you ever been confronted with a message that changed your perspective? One church chose as its Lenten theme, "Forty Days of Love." Each week members of the congregation were encouraged to show their love and appreciation in different ways. The first week they were encouraged to send notes to people who had made positive contributions to their lives.
After the first service a man in the congregation wanted to speak to his pastor. The pastor describes the man as "kind of macho, a former football player who loved to hunt and fish, a strong self-made man." The man told his pastor, "I love you and I love this church, but I'm not going to participate in this Forty Days of Love stuff. It's OK for some folks," he said, "but it's a little too sentimental and syrupy for me."
A week went by. The next Sunday this man waited after church to see his pastor again. "I want to apologize for what I said last Sunday," he told him, "about the Forty Days of Love. I realized on Wednesday that I was wrong."
"Wednesday?" his pastor repeated. "What happened on Wednesday?"
"I got one of those letters!" the man said. The letter came as a total surprise. It was from a person the man never expected to hear from. It touched him so deeply he now carries it around in his pocket all the time. "Every time I read it," he said, "I get tears in my eyes." It was a transforming moment in this man's life. Suddenly he realized he was loved by others in the church. This changed his entire outlook. "I was so moved by that letter," he said, "I sat down and wrote ten letters myself." (3)
Receiving that letter was a transforming experience for Mr. Macho. It came from a mailbox rather than a mountaintop, but the effect was the same ” his perspective was changed. God breaks into our lives and we are changed.
This brings us to the last thing we want to say. MOUNTAINTOP EXPERIENCES PREPARE US FOR LIFE IN THE VALLEYS. The time came for Jesus and his three disciples to come down off the mountain. As Peter, James, and John descended the mountain they pondered the significance of what they had just experienced. My guess is that they walked back down in silence ” they were too filled with awe. As they came down off the mountain, Jesus instructed them not to tell anyone of their recent experience, "until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead." The time would come when they would tell everyone, but the time wasn't right yet. Jesus and the disciples still had work to do. Jesus needed the disciples' help. This mountaintop experience played a major role in the lives of these three disciples. However brief the experience was they were given a glimpse of the future. Those who have seen the future are better prepared to live in the present.
Former American hostage Terry Anderson recalls the fall before he was captured. For some reason he felt drawn to an old church. It was the fall of 1984. Terry and his fiancee, Madeleine, were visiting her father in Sunderland, England. Terry looked forward to some peace and quiet from his hectic career as a journalist. He was so dispirited that it took him some days to settle down even in the pleasant atmosphere of this English hamlet. As he walked through the streets with Madeleine, inhaling the crisp air, he noticed a church steeple outlined against the pale blue sky. Terry had been brought up in the church but had drifted far from God and, in his own words, considered himself an agnostic. That afternoon he wondered why that church had captured his attention. After a few days he decided to walk over to the church. He opened the heavy oaken door, stepped in and sat down in a worn pew. Looking up at the altar and cross gleaming in the shadows, he suddenly had a strong sense of coming home. He knew that was where he belonged. Terry reaffirmed his faith that day.
For the next six months Terry wondered why he was drawn to that church. He thought perhaps God was calling him to do something ” but what ” he wondered. He was beginning to sense a closer relationship with God, when one morning on a street in Beirut he was shoved at gunpoint into the back of a green Mercedes. His face was pressed to the floor and a blanket thrown over him as the car accelerated. The date was March 16, 1985. While in captivity Terry began reading the Bible. The Bible characters came to life! He came to know them as living beings. (4) Terry Anderson found the strength to endure years of captivity because God was with him. The mountaintop experience in the little English church was preparation for what lay ahead.
"And Jesus was transfigured before them...." What a difference that made to the three disciples who witnessed the event and what a difference that can make for us. God breaks into our lives sometimes. When it happens, our perspective on life is changed. Such occurrences prepare us for life in the valley. Such experiences tell us that whatever the situation, we are not alone.
1. Charles Kuralt, A LIFE ON THE ROAD, (New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1990), pp. 180-184.
2. William Boggs, SIN BOLDLY, (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1990), pp. 16-19.
3. James W. Moore, HEALING WHERE IT HURTS, (Nashville: Dimensions for Living, 1993), pp. 54-55.
4. "Small Graces," Terry Anderson, GUIDEPOSTS, September 1993, p. 2-5.