Matthew 17:1-9
February 10, 2002
Sermon preached by Rev. Donald Ng at the First Chinese Baptist Church of San Francisco.
When you come into our house, the very first thing you would see is a view of the bay and Belvedere behind it. But upon coming onto the deck, you can see on the right the peak of Angel Island and on the left Mt. Tamapais. Although I haven’t had the opportunity to climb to the top of either one of these peaks that make up our spectacular view yet, I can imagine how it might feel to be on top of the world. At Christmas time, there’s a lighted Christmas tree on top of Angel Island but I’m sure no one sits around that tree singing carols or opening Christmas gifts!
The church’s annual trip to Yosemite National Park has become a ritual journey of climbing on the trails to get to a higher point so that on a clear day, we can see forever. For the experts, scaling the stone face of El Capitan gives us shudders while we skim stones across the river and worship God with songs and prayers. For two nights, we have “mountain moments” playing on top of the mountains. But before we know it, we all need to come down Highway 140 to the valleys where we live.
The high mountain is the closest place to heaven that one can get on earth. In Scripture, it often symbolizes the border between heaven and earth, the place where God and humans meet.
Moses and Elijah
It was on Mt. Sinai that Moses spoke with God and received the Ten Commandments, which were to govern the life of the people of Israel. For Moses, the people have forgotten the agony of Egypt, they no longer believe the vision of the promised land, they have become bitter and tired so they started worshipping the golden calf. Moses’ mountain moment kept him going, reminding him of God’s faithfulness and giving him the vision, the energy, and the hope to not give up.
The prophet Elijah journeyed to Mt. Horeb when he was discouraged and fearful for his life. There at Mt. Horeb God spoke to him, giving him encouragement and direction for the tasks that lay ahead of him. When Jezebel was threatening his life, Elijah stood on the mountain top before the Lord. Not a great wind, not an earthquake, not a fire, but Elijah heard the sound of sheer silence when God passed by. When God said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” Elijah told God that his life was being threatened. But God said to him get off this mountain and go to Damascus through the wilderness down in the valleys and do your job.
For Moses and Elijah, the mountain top experience of intense communion with God was a one-time event. Its purpose was to equip them to be leaders of God’s people in the valleys—in the ordinary places of life, where the presence of God seemed less vivid.
For them, the mountain was the place God gave instruction and encouragement and then sent them back into the world.
You see we like to be on top of a mountain. Heaven seems closer. The cares and concerns of earth are farther away. The mountain offers a place of quiet and peace, of sanctuary or escape. From Glacier Point in Yosemite, it seems as if the world stops spinning and time stands still.
The Transfiguration
In our Scripture for today, we read that Jesus went up a high mountain when he realized that his earthly ministry was nearing an end. The time has come to set his face toward Jerusalem—there to suffer and die. Six days earlier, he had told his disciples about the fate that awaited him in Jerusalem—and about the similar suffering they would have to endure as his followers. Jesus told the disciples, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”
Matthew doesn’t record what took place in the days between Jesus’ announcement of his suffering and the trip up the mountain. But we can imagine that the disciples were confused and frightened. They shuddered at the idea of being crucified. They probably bombarded Jesus with all kinds of questions of what he meant about “taking up their crosses.” And when Jesus rejected all of their possible answers to avoid suffering and death, the disciples struggled with their own doubts and fears.
When Jesus went up to the mountain to pray, the disciples Peter, James and John were glad that they were invited to come along. They were hoping to have a mountain moment that might change what Jesus predicted would happen.
On this mountaintop, something extraordinary happened. Right before the disciples’ eyes, Jesus was transfigured! His face shone like the sun and his clothes became dazzling white!
This sounds fantastic. But when people experience real communion with God, a transformation takes place—a transformation that is visible in their faces and evident in their lives. Like Moses and Elijah and now Jesus, their whole being reflects the glory of God. We don’t know what Moses, Elijah, and Jesus were talking about but we can imagine that they reminded Jesus of their own mountaintops. These mountain moments would give him strength and guidance for the road ahead.
Moses and Elijah probably also told Jesus that this will only be a temporary sanctuary for him. Like their mountain tops, Jesus can only momentarily leave the world for a mountain moment, but he can’t permanently escape from the world.
Freezing the Moment
But the disciples—or at least Peter saw things differently. He said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three dwellings here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” You can almost see Peter’s excitement. At last, here was an alternative to the way of suffering and death. Let’s freeze the moment. Let’s stay in Yosemite for another day. Let’s build three worship altars right on this spot where people can come up the mountain, away from the cares of the world, and see and know the true majesty of Jesus! Surely, this would be much better than the cross!
But God rejected Peter’s plan. A voice in a cloud said simply, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!” When the disciples heard this, all three of them fell to the ground in fear—realizing that they were in the very presence of God. But Jesus came and touched them, healing their fear, and raising them up again as if from death itself. And when they looked around, they saw no one on the mountain except Jesus.
Our Mountain Moments
Have you had mountain moments-transfiguration experiences in your life? I am absolutely convinced that God gives such mountain moments to all of us.
I wish I could tell you that I regularly meet God on the mountain and that God’s presence surrounds me day in and day out. But the fact of the matter is that I have only had a few such moments in the over fifty years of my life. Yet each of these moments has made my face shone brightly.
In 1966, I attended a BYF convention in Hyannis, Massachusetts when we were the very first group of young people to use the new auditorium of a Catholic high school. Growing up in Boston, I felt the constant presence of conflicts and tensions between Protestants and Catholics. But when I participated in Holy Communion with Baptist ministers and Catholic priests presiding over the Lord’s Table, tears rolled down my eyes. It was a mountain moment.
In 1987, I was directing a National Youth Gathering at Redlands, California named Quest-God Seeks Us, Let us Seek God! On the last night of the conference, standing in the back of the amphitheater, with 2000 youth singing under the bright stars, I felt God’s awesome presence near to me. It was a mountain moment.
In 1996, I received an unexpected call from my sister-in-law in Boston. She told me that my mother was in the hospital and that her cancer has come back and spread throughout her body. They don’t expect for her to leave the hospital this time. Suddenly everything in my Day-Timer was not important anymore. I spent two weeks beside my mother’s hospital bed—telling each other stories about her growing up in China and my growing up in Boston, giving thanks for what has been and what is still to come, and for me it was my time to apologize for not being home enough. It was a mountain moment for me that I will never forget.
And in 1998, when I had come to a point in my ministry feeling that I have completed my work in the denominational offices, God mysteriously led me from the hills of Valley Forge to the hills of San Francisco. Coming to FCBC and standing on Sacramento Street where I feel that I am on the top a mountain, I continue to sense God’s presence and glory surrounding me. When I look into your eyes, I also see holy mountain moments in you.
One mountain moment is all we need to convince us that God is real, that God cares, that God is present no matter how wild the storm, no matter how dark the night. One mountain moment is all we need in order to be changed forever.
When Peter, James, and John’s mountain moment was over, they followed Jesus down into the valley once again. And waiting at the foot of the mountain was a young boy, seized and wracked with convulsions. Jesus healed him—and went on his way to Jerusalem, teaching and healing as he went.
Frederick Buechner tells an unforgettable story of sitting in a mud hole in the midst of the Korean War. Hungry, drenched by a bone chilling drizzle, Buechner noticed a turnip buried in the mud. He grabbed for it, and started to eat it and immediately experienced an epiphany. There in the messy muck, he realized that all of it was good—the mud was good, the turnip was good, the drizzle and the cold were good.
Mountain moments don’t just happen on the mountain. They also happen in the valley, and in the desert, in the workplaces and family places and ordinary places. Mountain moments happen at Catholic high schools, in a youth conference, in the hospital, and on Sacramento Street. Mountain moments happen at the foot of the mountain where the mud and muck exist. And we shudder.
For the sake of that young boy and for our sakes, it was good that the moment on the mountain was not the high point of Jesus’ life. What good would it do us, if our faith in Jesus Christ were limited to the dwellings on the mountaintop when we are living in the valleys?
Glory of the Cross
Jesus filled with and transformed by the glory of God, came down the mountain—into the valleys where we live and suffer and die. Jesus came down the mountain to commune with us in our suffering, to offer healing, to take our deaths upon himself, and to touch our lives with God’s glory.
Transfiguration Sunday is a transition from the season of Epiphany when we see God’s revelation in Jesus to the season of Lent when darkness falls on earth and we seek repentance before the brightness of Easter morning. Beginning on Wednesday, we invite you to participate in our 40 Days of Prayer and Fasting emphasis. There’s a calendar and a sign-up in the vestibule for you to commit yourself for a time of fasting.
By praying and fasting, we take a deliberate step to say to ourselves and to God that we are coming down from the mountain and will look seriously at our devotion and faithfulness. And if you are like me, I have a need to repent and ask God for grace and forgiveness. And here in the mud and muck of life, God’s presence is also here—surrounding you with his glory.
We must never forget that the moment we remember that identifies us as Christians is not the dazzling glory on top of a mountain. We want to freeze that moment. We want to build worship centers up there. We want to stay on top of Yosemite just a bit longer. We want to sing Christmas carols around that big tree on Angel Island. There’s a reason why we can’t make our homes up on top of those mountains. It’s not the dazzling glory of a mountain moment but it’s the hidden glory of the cross that our faith is found.
When Jesus came down from the high mountain and climbed the Calvary mountain, he took away our sins and God forgave us. We shudder in what we see. Our salvation is made possible on the road that we must follow—not only because life leads that way, but because that way leads us to life. This new and eternal life is in the presence of God.
Let us pray.
Precious Lord God, thank you for the mountain moments in life when we come face to face with your glory and mercy. We are grateful that our Lord Jesus Christ came down to where we are and dwelt among us. In his love for the world, we have everlasting life. Lead us in this season of Lent to seek repentance for our sins and to renew our faith in you. In the name of Christ Jesus we pray. Amen.