- Sermon - Mickey Anders

Text: Luke 9:28-36

Fire! Fire on the mountain! Some of our members associate this title with a song by the Charlie Daniel's band, and the "deadheads" remember a song by that title from the Grateful Dead. But I thought of this phrase immediately when I read our text about the Transfiguration.

The story of the Transfiguration comes in the middle of an incredibly busy chapter in Luke. This chapter has twelve different subject headings in my Bible.

Chapter 9 begins with the mission of the Twelve in which Jesus tells them to take nothing with them - no staff, no bag, no bread, no money. Then the scene switches to Herod who is perplexed about Jesus and asks, "Who is this about whom I hear such things?" Jesus feeds the five thousand. Jesus asks, "Who do you say that I am?" And Peter answers, "The Messiah of God."

After that proclamation, Jesus immediately foretells his death and resurrection, "The Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised." Then he adds, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me."

Finally, we arrive at verse 28, "Now about eight days after these sayings Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray."

In the Bible, mountains have a symbolic meaning. We find most of the significant events taking place on mountains, some famous, some anonymous as in our text for today. The Psalmist said, "I will lift up my eyes to the hills…" (121:1). The Biblical characters looked to Mt. Moriah, Mt. Horeb, Mt. Sinai, Mt. Zion, Mt. Nebo, Mt. Carmel, Mt. Gilboa, the Mount of Olives, the sermon on the mount, and a hill call Golgotha.

Mountains seem to be an appropriate place to meet God. Mountains are much like church steeples which point toward the heavens. Climbing a mountain lifts us above the normal plain of activities. From there incredible vistas are observed, and direction can be discerned. The mountain takes us up to the very presence of God. And from the mountain, we find God's viewpoint on the matters of life. The view from the mountain puts the valley into perspective.

Jesus was there to pray, as was his custom. He took with him his three favorite disciples. Peter, John and James seem to be the inner circle of the disciples. They were the only ones with him when Jesus raised Jairus' daughter, when Jesus would later pray in the Garden of Gethesemane, and here on the Mount of Transfiguration. No doubt, these disciples had often gone with Jesus on such prayer excursions, so they didn't expect anything unusual.

But suddenly Jesus' appearance began to glow as if there was a spiritual fire burning within him, bursting out the seams, and making his clothes glow bright. The three disciples must have thought to themselves, "Fire! Fire on the mountain!"

Here in Luke, the scene is described this way, "And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white."

Luke says that Jesus was "changed," but Matthew and Mark use the word "transfiguration," which is literally translated "metamorphosis." Just as a cocoon experiences a metamorphosis into a butterfly, even so Jesus somehow experienced a dramatic, indescribable change. But the biblical writers never give us a satisfying description of the metamorphosis. As often happens, the Bible doesn't satisfy our curiosity.

Instead, Luke moves on to the appearance of Moses and Elijah. Suddenly Jesus has company, and not just any company! We can't help but wonder how the disciples knew who these men where, but Luke indicates that there was no confusion. Moses, the great law-giver, and Elijah, the greatest of the prophets, stood there with Jesus, the greatest of them all. All three of these men had profound spiritual connections with mountains.

Moses was a man who knew the mountains, and he had seen fire on the mountain. Once, while Moses was tending the flocks of his father-in-law Jethro, he wandered up on Mt. Horeb, the mountain of God. There he saw a blazing bush, but the bush was not consumed. So Moses turned aside to see this strange blazing bush. That's when God called out to him, "Moses, Moses!" He replied, "Here I am." Then God said, "Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground." Yes, Moses knew the mountains could be holy ground. And he had seen fire on the mountain.

Later he would climb that same mountain, now called Mt. Sinai, to receive the Ten Commandments. In Exodus 24, God says to Moses, "Come up to me on the mountain, and wait there; and I will give you the tablets of stone…" So Moses and Joshua went up to the mountain of God. There a cloud covered the mountain, the glory of the Lord settled on Mount Sinai. And Exodus 24:17 says, "Now the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel. Moses entered the cloud, and went up on the mountain."

And Moses had once known a kind of transfiguration in the presence of God. In Exodus 34, we read the story of Moses returning from the mountain of God. After spending many days in the presence of God, he has the two tablets of the covenant in his hand. What he doesn't know is that his appearance has been changed. He did not know that the "skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God." When Aaron and all the Israelites saw him, they were afraid to come near him. Afterwards, Moses put a veil on his face whenever he spoke to the people.

Obviously, these stories are echoed on the Mount of Transfiguration. But on re-reading Moses' mountain stories, I came upon a story in Exodus 33 where Moses begged that he might see God's glory. God replies, "I will do the very thing that you have asked; for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name."

Moses said, "Show me your glory, I pray."

And God said, "I will make all my goodness pass before you, and will proclaim before you the name, ‘The LORD’; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. But, you cannot see my face; for no one shall see me and live. See, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock; and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by; then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back; but my face shall not be seen."

Moses has been forbidden from seeing the full glory of God, but there he was on the Mount of Transfiguration witnessing what he had yearned for thousands of years before. Now he is there to see the glory. The writer of the Gospel of John says it this way, "And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth."

But why Elijah? Not only was he a great prophet, he was also a man of the mountain. Unquestionably, the most dramatic scene of Elijah's life came on Mt. Carmel. In the middle of his on-going conflict with Ahab and Jezebel, Elijah challenged 450 prophets of Baal to a contest on the mountain. He famously asked the Israelites, "How long will you go limping with two different opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him."

Two bulls were prepared for a burnt offering. The wood was there, but there was no fire. The prophets of Baal danced around and cried, "O Baal, answer us." But there was no voice and no answer. They whipped themselves into a frenzy cutting themselves with swords and lances until the blood gushed out over them. But there was no voice, no answer and no response.

Then Elijah prepared his offering with the wood stacked just so. He asked for four jars of water to be poured over his offering. They poured the water three times until the water ran all around the alter and filled the trench. Then Elijah prayed a simple prayer calling on the Lord, and "the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering, the wood, the stones, and the dust, and even licked up the water that was in the trench."

And, like Moses, Elijah was once on a mountain in an attempt to see the glory of God. In 1 Kings 19:11, God says, "Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by." And the Bible records, "Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence."

Suddenly all three of these men acquainted with mountains, fire and glory are brought together - Moses, Elijah, and Jesus. Luke says, "They appeared in glory," which means they were with Jesus in the circle of white-hot light. Fire! Fire on the mountain!

Luke tells us the topic of their conversation was Jesus' coming death in Jerusalem, but they used the terminology from Moses day. They called it Jesus' "departure," or "exodus." Just as Moses delivered the people of Israel from slavery in Egypt, this exodus would deliver all believers from the slavery of sin. Jesus, the new Moses, would set God's people free from the bondage to their own sin and death.

Apparently, Peter woke from a deep sleep just in time to see these three glorified figures on the mountain. His first impulse is to freeze the moment. He wants time to stand still. He says, "Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah."

But then Luke adds, "not knowing what he said." Luke makes it clear that this was the wrong impulse. Perhaps it was wrong because Peter was attributing a kind of equality by building a structure for each of them, and Luke knows that Jesus is the greatest of the three.

Or perhaps it was wrong that Peter was trying to capture the moment. It was as if Peter wanted to photograph the moment for posterity. But such moments cannot be captured. God is dynamic, not static. Jesus will insist that the disciples go back down the mountain where he will cast out demons and explain true greatness.

But even more importantly, Jesus had a date with destiny. He had a cross to bear, and he predicted his death again within six verses. His moment of glory would not be on the Mount of Transfiguration, but on the hill called Golgotha. Luke 9:51 is a very important turning point in Luke's telling of the story, "When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem."

His destiny lay in Jerusalem, so he could not remain on the mountaintop. There would be no booths on this mountain. And everyone but Peter seemed to know it was wrong to stay on this mountain. Peter did not know what he said.

And it was God who interrupted Peter. Verse 34 says, "While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were terrified as they entered the cloud. Then from the cloud came a voice that said, "This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!"

This voice is familiar to us. We can recall a voice from heaven saying almost the same words. It was back at his baptism in Luke 3, "And the Holy Spirit descend upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came form heaven, 'You are my Son, the Beloved, with you I am well pleased."

Those words from heaven are so close in content. Listen to them again:

At his baptism, God said, "You are my Son, the Beloved, with you I am well pleased."

On the Mount of Transfiguration, God says, "This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him."

Both events occur at a significant turning point in Jesus' life. The baptism, of course, marks the beginning of Jesus' Galilean ministry. The Transfiguration comes just after Jesus has for the first time informed his disciples about his coming suffering, death and resurrection. From this moment, Jesus begins the long journey toward his fate in Jerusalem.

Our text concludes with a telling line, "And they kept silent and in those days told no one any of the things they had seen." No wonder. The frightening presence of God reduces them to silence.

Can you imagine what the three disciples were feeling when they saw all this? Whatever they had expected from this little prayer meeting on the mountain, they got more than they bargained for - a dazzling experience of the holy, an encounter with the transcendent, Christ transfigured before their eyes. Fire on the mountain!

Have you been to the mountain? Have you seen fire on the mountain? If so, you know that those are times that belong to the soul, times that must be accepted without question. Those are times when God has entered our lives and spoken. Those are times which cannot be captured, cannot be stopped, cannot be preserved, and cannot be held back. And those are times of transfiguration, of metamorphosis!

The call of Jesus is to go up to the mountain, to experience a holy presence, and to see the world as God wills for it to be. The call of Jesus is to come down the mountain and into the lives of all who are lonely and oppressed. Our call is to follow. Our call is to pay attention. Our call is to listen. Our ministry is to come out of the sanctuary and into the lives of the lonely and the oppressed.