Mountain Top Glory and the Descent
Mountains play a large part in the history of Israel. It was on a mountain that Abraham proved his faith in God in preparing to offer his son Isaac to God as a sacrifice. It was on a mountain top that God showed Abraham all the land of Canaan and promised him all he could see in every direction. It was on a mountain that Moses encountered God for the first time and then later received the 10 commandments; and on the same mountain God later revealed himself to Moses. It was on a mountain that Elijah overcame the prophets of Baal and on a different mountain again that he encountered God himself. And of course Jerusalem was established on Mt Zion. So it's not by chance that Jesus takes his inner circle up a mountain to witness what will be a most significant moment in their apprenticeship.
He takes them up a high mountain by themselves. This is not for the crowds to witness '? not even for the other 9 disciples. This is an event that's mainly for him but that needs to be witnessed by these three so they can tell people about it after his resurrection.
While they’re there, - Luke tells us that it’s while Jesus is praying, - he’s transfigured before them. That is, his face begins to shine and his clothes become dazzling white. The implication is that this is a manifestation of the glory of God in Jesus. The shining face is like the change that came over Moses when he’d been speaking to God on Mt Sinai or in the Tabernacle during the Exodus. It’s as though Jesus is transported into the presence of God. The bright clothes are a sign of purity and God’s glory, like the description given of the angels of God in various places. What’s happening is that the three disciples are given a brief glimpse of a reality beyond their human experience, a hint of the true nature of this Jesus that they’ve only recently proclaimed to be the Messiah.
It seems it’s less than a week since that occasion. It’s significant, I think, that all three of the synoptic gospel writers place this event immediately after Peter’s confession of Jesus as the Christ and Jesus’ explanation of his purpose for coming; that is, to die on the cross and rise again after three days. The disciples were distressed at the fact that Jesus would immediately begin to talk about his death. But they needed to realise that there was more to Jesus than they’d so far perceived; that their human perceptions were so far short of the mark that they needed to rethink them.
But perhaps Jesus also needed the reassurance that his understanding was correct. Here he was proclaiming the way of the cross, and those nearest to him were telling him he must be mistaken. Remember, Jesus was both human and divine. He had a divine insight into his future path, but he also had the human limitations of not knowing for certain what was ahead. So when his disciples started to question what he was thinking, perhaps he needed to be reassured. Remember how he told Peter “Get behind me Satan,” as though Peter was acting as Satan’s mouthpiece, putting doubt in Jesus mind, so that he’d question whether he’d got it right?
Do you sometimes experience that sort of doubt? Does Satan sometimes put questions in your mind that ask whether it’s all true, whether God really is there to protect you or guide you? That’s why it’s so important that we maintain constant fellowship with other Christians: because otherwise the doubts and pressures of the world wear away at us. Otherwise those who doubt the truth of the gospel, some of whom you’ll even find within the Church, begin to undermine your faith. We need to be reminded constantly of the God who came and died for us, whose Lordship is shown by his victory over death. We need to be reminded that serving him is worth any price.
So too, perhaps, Jesus needed to be reassured and his resolve strengthened for the task that lay ahead. And so God sends Moses and Elijah to speak with him. Luke tells us that they were speaking about his departure, literally his exodus, which he would fulfil at Jerusalem. These two men are significant because of what they represent. Moses represents the Law, which Jesus has come to fulfil. But he’s also the forerunner of Jesus, the one who first brought his people out of slavery to freedom in the Promised Land. It was under Moses that the people of Israel became a nation. So too, under Jesus the people would be freed from slavery to sin and a new nation would be formed. Elijah, on the other hand, represented the prophets, those whom God had sent to call his people back to himself. Jesus had come to provide the true way that people could be brought back to God. Elijah’s coming was to be the sign of the coming of God’s kingdom, which Jesus was now bringing in. As well as all this, both Moses and Elijah had made an unusual departure from this life. Moses just disappeared and Elijah was taken up alive to heaven. And so they were well qualified to minister to Jesus as he contemplated the suffering that lay before him. These two, more than any other, represented all of God’s painstaking care and preparation for the fulfilment of his plan for his people.
Well this is all too much for Peter. He’s so overwhelmed by the situation that he blurts out the first thing that comes into his head. Let’s put up three shelters for the three of you. Is he perhaps thinking of three memorials? Some way, that is, to capture the moment and preserve it. It’s a natural response of the human heart to the religious and supernatural to want to tie it down to something solid and visible, something that we can come back to later, something that’ll help us relive the moment. But as we read the account we realise just how inadequate such a gesture would have been. Just as God had forbidden the use of idols because no idol could possibly represent his power and glory, so no memorial could possibly capture the significance and wonder of what was happening here?
Oh, and in case we were in any doubt about the significance of this event, a cloud now comes down and envelopes them. What does that remind you of? It sounds like Moses on Mt Sinai, doesn’t it, surrounded by cloud, with thunder and lightning and trumpet blasts sounding. Perhaps too, we’re reminded of the people of Israel going off, while Moses was away, to make a golden calf as a symbol of the God they were following, and of God’s response to that attempt. Well there aren’t the sounds of thunder and trumpets, but there is the voice of God, loud and clear as a voice speaks from the cloud: “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him!” This is the icing on the cake isn’t it? If we were in any doubt about the significance of all this, that doubt is removed by this word from God. Jesus isn’t just a healer. He isn’t just a great wonder worker or a great teacher; not even the greatest of the prophets. This is the very Son of God, come to bring salvation to all people and to be crowned King forever. And what’s the appropriate response to someone like that? To listen to him!
And then, as quickly as it happened, it’s all over. The cloud lifts and they’re on their own. Only Jesus is standing there. Have they dreamt it? It all seemed very real, but was it? How would they know? Well, the truth is they won’t, until after the resurrection, when they see the evidence before their very eyes that this wasn’t a dream. That it was true. That God was giving them a taste before the event of what they would discover in the resurrection of Jesus. And so Jesus tells them to tell no-one about what they’ve seen until the Son of Man has risen from the dead. They of course don’t understand what he’s talking about. They wonder, in fact if perhaps he’s referring to Elijah rising from the dead to prepare the way for the Christ - a natural leap, having just seen Elijah on the mountain. But no, he explains, Elijah has in fact returned already. John the Baptist was Elijah and he’s experienced exactly what was foretold for him. He’s been rejected and put to death, just as the Messiah will be.
Well, how do you think the 3 disciples felt as they came down the mountain? Were they exhilarated by the events that they’d just witnessed? Events that hadn’t been seen in Israel for 2000 odd years. Were they perplexed once again by Jesus’ cryptic answers? Were they aware of the privilege they’d been given of being present when Jesus’ glory was revealed in this way?
What about Jesus? Was he encouraged and strengthened by this encounter? Did he come down the mountain with a renewed energy and enthusiasm for the task that lay ahead? That’s how we so often come back from a mountain top experience isn’t it? From a weekend conference, or a Belgrave Heights convention or CMS Summer Under the Son. We come back excited and fired up, with a new enthusiasm for doing God’s work, for being his witnesses back in the real world.
But so often we’re back for such a short time before reality hits. There’s some crisis at home, or someone immediately challenges our faith, or someone says something that makes us wonder whether it was all real. And that’s what happens here.
They’ve no sooner come down the mountain than they come across a public disturbance centred on the other disciples. There’s a large crowd, the teachers of the law are there arguing with the disciples and it’s mayhem all around. Then the people look up and see Jesus, and we’re told they’re overwhelmed with wonder. We can only assume that his face was still shining, the way Moses’ face used to continue shining after he’d come out of the tabernacle. Anyway, they run over to him and Jesus asks what’s going on. A man answers that his son is mute because of a spirit that continually throws him into a fit. He’d asked the disciples to heal him but they couldn’t.
Now remember that just back in chapter 6 Jesus had sent his disciples out 2 by 2 and they’d been able to drive out many demons and had anointed many sick people with oil and healed them. But this time they couldn’t do it. Jesus’ response may express his frustration with his disciples or it may be a sign that the reality of the real world has hit him sooner than he might have liked. It’s all very well to be on the mountain top, meeting with God, but the reality down below is far from perfect. He’s frustrated by their lack of faith, though it isn’t clear whether it’s the disciples or the crowd who lack faith.
The man says to Jesus “If you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.” The failure of the disciples to heal the boy hasn’t helped the man’s faith. But Jesus needs to know just how much faith he still has. He says “If you can? Everything is possible to those who believe.” Jesus has just been up on the mountain where he’s met with Moses and Elijah, and discussed the completion of his mission on earth. From that perspective anything is possible. If Jesus can overcome the power of sin and death, if he can rise from the dead, then he can certainly heal a boy who’s possessed by an evil spirit.
But the man’s faith isn’t what’s at issue here. It isn’t the degree of faith that’s important. That’s made clear by the man’s reply. He immediately replies “I do believe; help my unbelief!” Isn’t that a great answer? Who of us can say, in the face of long term disease, “We believe God will heal this person.” None of us can say that with any certainty. But we can say I do believe in a God of love. I do believe in the power of Jesus Christ over all evil in this world. I am willing to put my trust in Jesus that he’ll look after me, and the person I’m praying for. And I believe if he chooses not to heal that he does it for a good reason.
And do you see, that’s all Jesus needs. Immediately he’s able to heal the boy. What was needed was the Father’s trust in Jesus. It didn’t depend on the degree or quality or the quantity of faith that the man had. It depended on the relationship he had with Jesus. The man’s faith served to link him with the ministry of Jesus. It’s the power of the master with whom we’re joined by faith that matters, and of course within that relationship, there’s room for our faith to grow. The truth of all this is reinforced by Jesus’ explanation to his disciples. This type can come out only by prayer. Perhaps the disciples had already begun to rely on their own ability to heal, on their own faith. But the only thing that would budge a spirit like this was the power of God.
How do you cope with the realities of life that you come up against? Do you try to do it in your own strength like the disciples? Or do you rely on the power of God. Mountain top experiences are great things, but the test of them is when we come back to the real world, to a broken and hurting world where the glory of God is sometimes hidden. Then the question is whether we remember and trust what we’ve discovered on the mountain top. That everything is possible for those who believe in Jesus, because Jesus is far more powerful than anything we could ever imagine. That was the lesson the disciples needed to take with them from the mountain of transfiguration. This Jesus that they were following transcends any categories they may have had for him. He’s the Son of God. Everything is possible for him, and everything is possible for those who are joined to him through faith, because the name he has is far above every other name.
And when those times come where God’s answer isn’t the one we had hoped for, we need to remember even more clearly what we saw on the mountaintop: that Jesus is the Lord, the sovereign Son of God who came to die for us so he could change the future forever and who rose from death to assure us that his mission had been completed and that there’s now a life with God awaiting us in heaven with him.