Luke 9:28-43a

Good morning and welcome to the Sunday of the Transfiguration. Today marks the final Sunday before Lent begins. Our great journey through the desert is nearly here.

This morning we celebrate one of the most glorious events in the life of Jesus. The Transfiguration. The Transfiguration of Jesus is hard to oversell. It was an astounding miracle.

Reading and praying with the Transfiguration can leave us feeling like Peter, James, and John did that day on the mountain. We know something great happened on that mountain, but we don’t quite know what or why or how it happened. The mystery of the Transfiguration is just as awesome as its glory.

Peter, James, and John went up that mountain with Jesus to pray. I love imagining what they thought was going to happen. I always wonder if they had any idea that a miracle was about to occur or if they thought it was going to be an ordinary day hike.

We are told that at some point on their journey on the mountain, suddenly, Jesus was transfigured. His face changed in appearance and his clothes became dazzlingly white. Not only that, the prophets Moses and Elijah appeared and spoke with Jesus.

One of my favorite parts of this story is Peter’s reaction. Peter sees this glorious transfiguration and the presence of the two prophets and says to Jesus that they should build three dwelling places for them right then and there. I love this reaction from Peter. It is as if something awesome happened and he said hey let’s just stay here forever.

Now personally I know that feeling, and I think you do too. That feeling when it is as if heaven and earth have kissed. Everything feels perfect and you just want to stay there. We want to hold on to these dazzling moments because they are just so beautiful. In those moments say things like I could just die right here and I’d be happy.

Who could blame us for wanting to hold on to God’s glory? We spend our lives relentlessly pursuing God and in those moments when we finally feel closest to God, of course we just want to stay there. We don’t want to leave that moment, we don’t want to go back to life, we want to stay high on that mountain forever.

I felt that way one time during my first Holy Week at SSJE. I was a postulant and was given a very important task – I had to carry a platter of brownies and a platter of stuffed mushrooms to the guesthouse. Now this was Good Friday, so we Brothers were fasting, but we wanted to serve food to our guests in the guesthouse.

As I made my way from the kitchen to the guesthouse, I passed through the Holy Spirit chapel. As I walked in the door, the sight of the sunlight hitting an icon made me stop. Maybe it was the angle of the sun, maybe it was Holy Week, or maybe I was just really hungry, but there was something about the beauty of that icon shining that just killed me. I stopped and stared, mushrooms and brownies in hand, and just couldn’t pull myself away. I don’t know how long I stood there, but I remember eventually someone called my name from another room, probably wondering where I was, and I snapped back to reality.

The beauty and glory of the Transfiguration is hard to oversell, but that’s not the whole story. Our Gospel this morning had two halves. One half on the mountain, and one half back down the mountain.

One of the best and worst parts of life is that it keeps going. The worst parts of life don’t last forever and the best parts of life don’t last forever. No matter how high we climb that mountain, at some point we are going to have to come back down.

We cannot stay on our mountaintops just as much as I can’t stay stopped staring at icons during Holy Week.  It’s that walk back down the mountain that makes us who we are. It’s that walk back down the mountain where we take what we have seen and enter back into the world. It’s that walk back down the mountain where the glory of God meets the reality of humanity.

When Jesus walked back down that mountain after his transfiguration, he was immediately met by a crowd. Jesus was met by a crowd and a father with a sick child. This child, a boy foaming at the mouth and shrieking, needed healing and the disciples had been unsuccessful in helping the child. This is another image I just love. Jesus, fresh from the glory of his transfiguration, met by this messy situation.

Jesus then says to the crowd “you faithless and perverse generation, how much longer must I be with you and bear with you?” Have you ever said anything like that before? On your walk back down the mountain and back into the real world, only to see the fear and the frustration all around you, and you just want to say oh God.

Fear and frustration are realities of the human condition. We may look at ourselves, our neighbors, our coworkers, our country, our world and be full of fear and frustration. One of the greatest challenges of our life is to experience the glory of God while simultaneously experiencing the harsh realities we live in. It can feel impossible to rectify.

So what do we do? How do we maintain our relationship with God in this era of fear and frustration?

Start by focusing on your own experiences with God in your own life. When in the past have you felt the closest to God, the most intimately connected to the glory of God? Remember all those times you gave great thanks God and praised God for all God’s glory. Remind yourself that all of those experiences were real, they were true, they had meaning.

Remember, also, the times of immense suffering in your own life. The times so dark, that the glory of God felt impossible. Perhaps you felt forsaken by God and forgotten by the world. Be on speaking terms with that darkness, that fear and frustration, that anger and desperation, and remember it was all real, it was your lived experience.

Finally, remember here you are today, breathing and alive, and remember God was equally present at your greatest moments, your darkest moments, and right now. This is a mystery beyond our understanding, yet we know it to be true through our own experiences. This is just as true for you as it is for all human beings throughout time.

The transfiguration of Jesus is astounding. We will never fully understand it. What we do understanding is somehow, someway the glory of God sneaks through our lives and transfigures us. On the mountaintop, in the valley, at home, at work, from the cradle to the hospice, God’s glory is present, real, and true. Seek God with everything you have. Amen.