God of the Hills & Valleys

Transfiguration Sunday

Today's readings: Exodus 24:12-18; 2 Peter 1:16-21; Matthew 17:1-9

Grace and peace to you in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Today is Transfiguration Sunday and this story of Jesus’ glowing revelation on the mountaintop bookends the season of Epiphany.. does anyone remember what story makes up the other bookend/where we started Epiphany?.. The story of the magi following a great light to the Christ child, followed by the baptism of Jesus. We began Epiphany with a great light, the revelation of GOD to humanity and with the voice of God proclaiming, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.’ It makes sense then that we end the season of Epiphany once again with a great light, the revelation of God to humanity in the person of Jesus Christ. On the mountaintop, for the second time, we hear the voice of God say, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased. Listen to him!’

Listen to him, God adds!

Listen to him.

Jesus had been ministering for a couple of years now and to say that people didn’t "get it" would be an understatement. The disciples were often confused, the religious leaders of the time were confused and angry, the ruling government (the Roman Empire) was angry. Humanity was not totally receptive to Jesus, to GOD, to their Creator. Instead they wanted to kill him.. to hang God from a cross. On that mountaintop, before descending back down to the city where Jesus would soon be sentenced to death, God pleads one last time.. listen.

We have spent the season of Epiphany in the radiant light of Christ, the overwhelming light of God that shines in the world, in our lives, and in our hearts. We, like the magi, have followed the star to the cradle of our God and offered the only gift we have available – our lives. We, like John the Baptist and his disciples, have seen God in the flesh experience baptism, washed in the same waters as you and me. We, like the disciples, have listened to our God teaching on the mount that WE are the light of the world. We, like Peter, James, and John, have followed Christ to the mountaintop. We have seen God burning bright and bowed down before our Maker. God has been revealed to us in the person of Jesus Christ and we are in awe..

but guess what?

God doesn’t leave us there.

Mountaintop experiences are moments we see God and truly believe. Mountaintop experiences are moments we are blinded by the love, grace, and goodness of our Lord and we don’t want to leave. We want to build a dwelling place, a home there and never leave. We are all Peter saying to Jesus, ‘It is good for us to be here, Lord. Can I build a dwelling for us to stay?’ But what happens next?

Part of me wishes that Jesus would have just stayed aglow; that his face, continuing to shine like the sun and his dazzling white clothes, just faded into the background and Jesus was somehow magically just swept up into heaven like the crazy weird story of Elijah (2 Kings 2). Part of me wishes that Jesus would have ascended that day, right there from the mountaintop, peacefully and painlessly.. but instead God chose to stay.. to dwell with us, not on the mountain, but back down in the valley. Jesus touches Peter, says do not be afraid, and walks back down the mountain with his disciples.

God never stops choosing us, no matter the cost.

Life is a mixture of mountaintops and valleys, of highs and lows, joys and sorrows, and the God who created you doesn’t just want to meet you on the mountain. God walks with you down the mountain into the valley below every time, a light upon your path. On Wednesday we begin the season of Lent, the liturgical season of the valleys of life. We are called to reflect on Jesus’ 40 days cast out into the wilderness. We are called to reflect on the times in our own lives wandering alone in the desert. Oddly enough, Lent was a huge draw for me to Christianity. Lent takes seriously the deaths and valleys and brokenness of our lives – the very brokenness God chose not to ignore, but to lean fully into and experience.

So often in life we try to ignore the valleys, pretend they aren’t real, or walk through them alone.. but that is backwards from the faith we proclaim. We proclaim belief in a crucified God. A God who went down the deepest, darkest valley.. who was betrayed, beaten, and hung on a cross to die one of the most excruciating deaths known to humankind.. who descended to the dead. Why do we belittle or ignore death and the dark nights of the soul when Christ himself walked willingly into them?

This is unique to Christianity and this is a huge reason I am a Christian. For my God did not belittle my grief or gloss over my suffering, but came to me in the midst of it.. warmed me with the light of Christ.. and promised to be my guide back to life.. but I don’t mean that in the past tense as if I was lost and now I’m found – one and done – bing, bang, boom, everything’s better now – No, that’s not how life works. You may climb out of one valley and up a hill, just to trip and roll down the other side. But again I remind you, God does not leave you there. God journeys with you, up and down, over and over again, holding you when you just need to cry, carrying you when you are too broken to continue, and dusting you off when you’re ready to try again.

God’s love for us is so expansive that God chose this journey with us. For some reason, bigger than my mind can comprehend, God chose the trenches and transformed them into holy ground. God chose to bring hope to the hopeless, light to those drowning in darkness, and redemption to the broken. This is the God revealed to us in the cradle, on the mountain, and on the cross; the God who brought life out of death. Christ Jesus fearlessly descended into the valley, entered death, and redeemed the irredeemable, transforming death into life.

We worship a God who turns death into life!

Who makes all things new!

Who chooses US. EVERY. TIME.

Hold on to this light, this hope as you descend from the mountaintop of Epiphany into the valley of Lent.

Listen to Christ.

Listen and hear God profess love beyond measure FOR. YOU.

See that love poured out on the cross.

Taste that love as you ingest the wine and the bread.

YOU, dear friend, are God’s beloved, with whom God is well pleased and FOR WHOM God died.

‘Get up and do not be afraid.’

Christ goes with you.

This is most certainly true.

Amen.