February 23, 2020 – Matthew 17:1-9
Matthew 17:1-9
Jesus on the Mountain, Jesus in the Valley
Transfiguration of our Lord – February 23, 2020
First Lutheran Church – Winnipeg, MB
An amazing thing happens on the mountain.
Jesus begins to shine, brightly, burningly, magnificently.
On the mountain, Jesus is fully revealed for who he really is: God, in the flesh.
Fully God. Fully human.
The fullness of God, the fullness of a human being.
Jesus shines fully with God’s light.
After weeks and months of trudging around with Jesus,
listening and learning, healing and feeding –
after dry dusty days and sleepless nights and
the uncertainty of where there next meal will be coming from.
After having left their homes and their families to follow this strange, compelling person
who insists that God’s reign of justice and peace and mercy-giving and manna-sharing
is very near and is even now breaking into the world. . .
After all this, they are finally given a glimpse of Jesus’ glory.
And it is probably beyond their wildest expectations.
And here, too, are Moses and Elijah, confirming that Jesus’ program is
completely in tune with Old Testament promises and expectations.
The disciples even get to hear God’s voice –
which almost never ever happens in the New Testament.
Who could blame Peter for just wanting to stay there?
Surely they have reached the goal of Christian life!
Glory, serenity, light, magnificence!
Who could blame Peter for wanting to build dwellings for Jesus, Moses and Elijah and
just stay there.
“It is good, Lord, for us to be here.”
No kidding! It is great!
Part of the amazingness of being human is having these moments of profound ecstasy and joy.
Part of the amazingness of being human is, well, mountain-top experiences.
When everything seems right and as it should be.
When things seem certain and our highest hopes are fulfilled.
It is good to experience such things.
It is amazing and sustaining and strengthening.
And we should always be thankful for such things.
Peter’s mistake, though, is his wanting to hang on to it.
The mistake, Jesus knows, is the desire to look back
on this and think,
“Oh, remember when God was
with us, that day back on the mountain?”
Jesus will not allow the vision to continue – it is over as quickly as it began.
He stops shining, the voice subsides, and Moses and Elijah vanish.
And there they are, back on the mountain, and what do they have? Jesus, and one another.
And that will be enough.
Christian theologians, thinkers, and scholars these days tend to look back at Christian history
for the glory days of the church – they look for a time when they think the church was
vital and true to its calling, looking for a key as to how to regain that.
The early church, perhaps, or the 11th century before secularism took hold,
or maybe the 16th century, the time of the Reformation.
You know: the glory days.
It is just like some North American Christians who look back to church life in
the 50s and the 60s when worship spaces and
Sunday Schools were full on Sunday morning.
There is a strong tendency to want to hold onto those “glory” times.
To mourn their passing, and to try and replicate what it was that led to that glory.
But Jesus is much wiser than that.
He will not let Peter hold on to the glory time – it simply vanishes.
But the one thing that remains . . . is Jesus.
Jesus never leaves them.
Yes: Peter and James and John should be thankful for what they have experienced.
But what they should be really thankful for is that Jesus never leaves them.
Jesus takes them back down the mountain – and remains with them.
And there they continue their mundane work – healing, feeding, forgiving, including, gathering.
And hopefully, they are the ones who have been transfigured –
hopefully they are the ones who have been changed.
Hopefully they have the eyes now to see what Jesus wants them to see:
that God is on the mountain – yes, certainly – but God is also in the dark valleys.
There is glory on the mountain, but there is also glory in the valley.
God created the mountain – but God also created the valley.
God is in the light – but God is also in the darkness.
If I ascend to the heavens, you are there, writes the Psalmist.
And if I descend to the depths of where the dead are, you are also there.
Here is the thing: if want to hold on only to the glory, if we think God is only on the mountain,
we will grieve our time in the valley and long to be somewhere else and
we will miss how God is also wondrously present right where we are,
right in the dark valleys of life.
When the disciples go back down the mountain with Jesus, he is right beside them as they work.
And as it will be revealed in Matthew’s Gospel,
Jesus will be present even when they do not think or know he is!
Jesus seems to vanish after the resurrection –
but, at the end of time, he says he was present all along.
When I was sick, you visited me, when I was hungry you fed me, when I was a stranger
You invited me in – for whatever you did for anyone in any need,
no matter how unimportant they seemed – whenever you did that you did it to me.
Jesus is there, God is there – always – if we attend to him, if we pay attention.
If we are fully present: to one another, to those we serve, to ourselves, God is present.
We need not look to some golden age, we need not look back to some past glory –
we just need to look around and look within.
When I was in seminary I was part of a committee hosting a distinguished group of older, retired
theologians who were will quite active.
At a reception I was cornered by a couple of them and engaged in a conversation.
They were speaking of the strength and vitality of the church in the 50s and the 60s.
As I was soon to graduate and they wanted to know what I was going to do to recapture that
sense of vitality and relevance that the church seemed to have back then.
What was my plan, they wanted to know? What program would I use?
I have no idea, I said.
They were very disappointed in me. Shocked, even.
But I said that not because I hadn’t learned anything – indeed, I learned a great deal in seminary.
I said it because I had learned a great deal: about the living God who is always with us.
I said it because I had learned that in the place I was going to, God would be present, uniquely,
in the people and in the neighbourhood I would be serving.
There is no cookie cutter program that will make the church relevant and strong.
There is no magic bullet.
What there is is God, and people. What there is is Jesus.
What we are called to do is go to a place, discern how the Holy Spirit is already present,
see what gifts people have and what the needs are, and just figure it out together.
What we are called to do is trust that God is present with us and that
God will provide us with everything we need to do the thing God is calling us to do.
We just need to attend, be present, discern how Jesus is present within us,
and within those we serve.
We don’t need a program that is outdated the minute it is printed for some place far from here.
What we need are big hearts, and smart and nimble brains, and
a will to be part of God’s inbreaking reign right here, right now, at Sargent and Victor.
You just need to figure it all out, in a local setting, with the people God gives you. That’s it.
You have got to figure it out for yourselves – God is not in a program, God is in the people.
You have to trust that and you have to have faith in the people.
They were not buying what I was selling – but that is what I said – and that is what I have done.
To look back is a trap.
To look forward can give hope – but to look around and be present is the most important thing.
Jesus is in the person next to you, right now, travelling with you.
Jesus is in the people we serve day in and day – in those we feed and welcome and visit with.
Jesus is in the bread and wine, right now, right here, as we share together what gifts we have.
That is all. And that is enough.
Amazing things happen on the mountain, for sure – and we should be thankful for them.
But amazing things happen in the valley, day after day after day.
It is good to be on the mountain – but it is also good, Peter, to be right here, right now.
Jesus is with us, Jesus is always with us, whether we are on the mountain or in the valley.
And we are with one another.
So let us keep working, let us keep volunteering, let us keep sacrificing, confident that
God is working and that God is with us.
Let us be present to God’s presence in one another and those we serve.
Let us be present to today – and together let us say, “Amen.”
Pastor Michael Kurtz
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