I thought my heart would skip a beat I was so excited. I was sixteen at the time. It was a magic moment. We all held hands around the campfire. The wooden cross stood out against a moonlit sky. The waves of the lake seemed to beat against the shore in perfect time with the music. Our hearts were united as we sang chorus after chorus. The Bible camp leader led us in prayer. We added our own prayers. No one wanted to leave the campfire. The moment was just too perfect. "It is well to be here," I thought to myself. I felt as if I had, at that very moment, a glimpse of God’s glory. I wanted to stay beside that campfire forever!

Many of you have had a similar experience. I am certainly not the only person to have had a powerful religious experience at Bible camp. And such experiences are not confined to Bible camp. Once in a while (it may be at Christmas or Easter) we experience an overpowering service of worship. The music is majestic. The preacher is inspiring. We feel the very presence of God in our midst. We are so caught up in praising God that we hardly notice that the service lasts an hour and a half. "It is well to be here," we think to ourselves. "We have glimpsed God’s glory. If only we could stay here for a while!"

We have those experiences when we are alone as well. It may be our prayer time. Sometimes those times alone with God seem charged with an aura of excitement. We can feel God’s presence within the room. There is holiness and mystery in the air. God seems so close we feel we could almost reach out and touch God. "It is well to be here." That is our overpowering feeling. We have glimpsed God’s glory. It would be good to stay here all day!

Mountaintop experiences. That is what we usually call such moments. Mountaintop experiences. We get that expression from the story in Mark’s Gospel on which this message is based. Jesus had revealed to his disciples that he, "... must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again" (Mark 8:31). Bold Peter rebuked Jesus for such words. Jesus then explained to his disciples that the way of the cross was the path for himself and for his disciples. "If any one would come after me, deny (yourself) and take up (your) cross and follow me" (Mark 8:34b).

Six days later Jesus took the leadership trio of disciples, Peter and James and John, to a high mountain. These disciples were to have a mountaintop experience with Jesus himself. This mountaintop story stands almost precisely at the center of Mark’s Gospel. It is the only story of Jesus on a mountain in Mark’s entire Gospel. We are to understand, therefore, that this story is very important in our understanding of Mark’s Gospel.

On the mountain Jesus was transfigured before the discipies’ eyes. His garments glistened with intense whiteness. Then there appeared beside Jesus two of the main characters from the Old Testament story of God and God’s people. There was Moses, the lawgiver, and Elijah, the prophet. It is not difficult to read the symbolism of this powerful event. The law and the prophets form the major portion of the Old Testament. Now here stood the lawgiver and the prophet in the company of Jesus. The disciples, if they had their wits about them at all, could only conclude that their master, that Jesus, was the One who had come to fulfill the law and the prophets. They could only conclude that Jesus was the promised Messiah.

Whether the disciples got the point or not, I do not know. Mark tells us that their main reaction was fear. They did not know what to say. Peter (naturally it would be Peter) thought they should say something. "Master," he said, "it is well that we are here." We have had our own experiences of glory. We know something of what Peter experienced. We always want to remain in that glory. Peter continued. "... let us make three booths, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah" (Mark 9:5b). The last words we had heard from Peter were words of rebuke. He rebuked Jesus for his announcement that he must suffer and die. Peter did not want anything to do with that. Peter did not want anything to do with the cross. But the glory. Ah, that was different. Peter loved the glory. Peter got a glimpse of God’s glory. He wanted it to last forever.

Peter was wrong both times! Jesus had called him Satan ("Get behind me Satan," Jesus had said to him) when Peter wanted to rid Jesus’ life of suffering. On the mountaintop, in the moment of glory, God’s voice followed Peter’s booth building proposal. "This is my beloved Son; listen to him." Such were God’s words of revelation. With this revelation, with the revelation that Jesus is God’s Son, the transfiguration experience came to an abrupt halt. "And suddenly looking around (the disciples) no longer saw any one with them but Jesus only" (Mark 9:8). So much for Peter’s plan to live in the glory. That is not the way it was meant to be. As quickly as it began, it ended. The disciples accompanied Jesus down from the mountain. Before long, Jesus was telling them again that he, "... will be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him; and when he is killed, after three days he will rise" (Mark 9:31).

Jesus Christ, God’s Son, was sent into our world from the world of God’s glory to carry out a mission. His mission was confirmed in this transfiguration story. "This is my beloved Son. Listen to him." That is what God said to Jesus. It is from the words of Jesus that we get a sense of the nature of his mission. Jesus will suffer in carrying out God’s mission. He will be killed. The principalities and powers of evil that rule this world cannot abide the presence of God’s Son in their midst. The power of death seeks to do away with him once and for all. These powers had their way with God’s Son; they had their way for a day. But God had a surprise in store for the principalities and powers of evil and death. God raised Jesus on the third day. The principalities and powers of evil and death were dismayed. They had been defeated. They had been stripped of their power. Human life could once again begin to blossom and grow. Jesus came to suffer and die that all the forces that stand arrayed against human life might suffer and die with him. Jesus came to give us life, to give us life abundant, to give us life eternal.

The mission of Jesus Christ in this world is to defeat all those forces that threaten human life. Those forces have been destroyed for us, for you and for me. As recipients of this gift of life, as recipients of life that cannot be destroyed by the principalities and powers of evil and death, Jesus enlists us in his mission. "If any one would come after me, deny yourself and take up your cross and follow me." Jesus calls us to walk his path of suffering. Jesus calls us to join him in his mission. Human life is still threatened by the last ditch stand of the principalities and powers of evil and death. "Join me in my struggle for human life." That is Jesus’ call to us. "Join me in making this a better world for people to live in. Join me in giving your life for your neighbors. Join me in offering abundant life to all the peoples of the world. Take up your cross and follow me."

But how shall we follow such a call to suffering discipleship? What can give us the courage to risk our lives for others? What can motivate us to lay down our lives for the sake of others? The answer is clear. We have had a glimpse of God’s glory. We have been to the mountaintop. At Bible camps and in worship services and in quietly powerful times of prayer and at other times as well, we have glimpsed God’s glory. Jesus Christ has beaten back all those forces that would snuff out our human life. Jesus Christ rose from the grave as victor over the forces of evil and death. His victory is our victory. His triumph is our triumph. His resurrection glory is our glory. We have, indeed, glimpsed God’s glory. "It is well to be here," we say when God’s glory enfolds us. "It is well to be here," we say when we catch a glimpse of the reality that Christ’s victory is our victory as well. Alleluia. Jesus lives. We, too, shall live. We could bask in the glory of this victory forever.

But Jesus Christ will not let us bask in the glory. He would not let Peter and James and John build booths on the mountain of transfiguration. Neither will he let us dwell in the glory at this time. "Come with me down from the mountain," Jesus says to us. "Deny yourself. Take up your cross and follow me. Let the moments of glory be your inspiration for years of service in this world. Life in this world is not lived on the mountaintop. Life in this world is lived mostly on the plains and in the valleys. This world can be a better place to live. You can make it so. Your neighbor’s life can be lifted from despair. You can make it so. The light of my victory over the principalities and powers of evil and death can shine upon lives caught in the darkness. You can make it so."

"It is well that we are here." That was the response of Peter and the disciples on the mountain of Christ’s transfiguration. "It is well that we are here." That is so often our response to the mountaintop religious experiences of our lives. We would like to build a booth and stay there.

Jesus Christ has something more in store for us. He calls us down from the glory. He invites us to take up the cross. When we take up our cross, Jesus says to us: "It is well that you are here." Jesus sees us working in the valleys for a better world. Jesus sees us giving of our lives for our neighbors. Jesus sees us bearing witness to his resurrection triumph. Jesus sees the service we offer in the ordinary flow of daily life. "It is well that you are here," Jesus says to us. "It is well that you are here."