I had a late night. Maybe not the latest kind of night. Some nights never end. Still, I’m tired, and I get tired of this kind of thing, putting God in the clouds with dead people appearing out of nowhere. Not to mention lighting up Jesus in the middle of it. Transfiguration you call it. Put a big term on it and call it glory. Give it a rest, please.

Let’s say this as lovingly as one can. (In other words, some frustration has to be swallowed for this to come out right.) Last weekend the nation and beyond watched what is billed as the biggest night of football and maybe America. Anyone driving down a street saw in windows that weird light emanating from big screens. You won’t find anything else this year with more hype and spin. But tell a story about a revelation of God, and you get tired?

Sorry. Accept my apology please. It’s just that so many want a big show, a few feel good moments in song and commercials, spectacular halftimes, and hard-fought competition. There’s nothing bad in any of that, but still, when it’s over, does it get you through the next day, week, life? Has it helped enrich and sustain your relationships? In the long run, is the world getting better because of it?

You see, what happened that day was more than a show of the spectacular. Only a few best friends got to experience it. Peter, James, and John were brought along for a trek up a mountain. Once they reached the top, it wasn’t panoramic views that held them in awe. Something both strange and wonderful happened to Jesus as he prayed.

Faith with Doubt Built In

Six days earlier. Six days to think it over. Six days to sit with what he’d said. Six days with good news and bad news to swirl in their heads, and no real way to reconcile one with the other. It was another crisis in understanding.

Jesus does this all the time. He drops out these crumbs, and his disciples can only wait for what’s next. Out of the clear blue, he had asked them what people were saying about him, and then he’d turned the question back on them, “Who do you say I am?”

Next, he’s saying he’d be killed in Jerusalem and then rise on the third day. What could you possibly say back to both your worst fear and the most inconceivable thought ever? When Peter tried to reset him back to his right mind, Jesus basically called him a devil.

Then comes the challenge: “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must put aside your selfish ambition, shoulder your cross and follow me. If you try to keep your life for yourself, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for me, you will find true life.” What was this, a suicide mission?

Promise follows: “I assure you that some of you standing here right now will not die before you see me, the Son of Man, coming in my Kingdom.” Some relief that is, supposedly.

For six days that’s what they had, day and night, back and forth in their heads. Suddenly, he wasn’t the man they had known and followed.

Where was he going with this? Or rather, where were they going with him?

“You are seeing things merely from a human point of view and not from God’s.”

New Heights, New Sight

He must have sensed their questions and quandary. Characteristically, he does not give answers that calm and satisfy. Big questions should never be masked. Instead, he leads them to new heights and levels. This time, it literally is up a mountain.

Peter, James and John were the first disciples he’d called to come be with him. While they watched, a vision happened, or maybe it was their vision that was altered. A fierce, blazing light came over Jesus, a light that didn’t seem like it was shining on him, but rather coming from him such that, “His face shone like the sun, and his clothing became dazzling white.”

Next, they realize Jesus isn’t alone. Two figures join him, two who are recognized as the most influential and revered prophets God had ever produced, Moses and Elijah. A conversation was taking place between them. It seems Jesus wasn’t there to experience this vision but rather to play a part in it. These prophets weren’t just talking to him, bringing him a message, but talking with him. Note the present tense. What was before is now with what is present. All of God’s plan seemed complete.

Glory Upon Glory

Finally, glory comes upon glory. A cloud, no, a bright, overpowering cloud comes over them. A voice from the cloud, an unmistakable thought, maybe even knowledge beyond thought, speaks. “This is my beloved Son, and I am fully pleased with him. Listen to him.” Holy terror freezes the three; their faces hide and hit the dirt. They knew they were as good as dead.

In a Flash

Peter, James and John were very sleepy, maybe even in a spiritual trance. Coming out of it, Peter wanted it never to end. But it had, gone in the same flash in which it had come. He wants to build some kind of shrine for each of them. Honestly, Peter didn’t know exactly what he was saying, except that he was afraid of the power displayed as well as afraid it would not last.

Jesus touches them. “Don’t be afraid,” they hear him say. It was over, gone as fast as it came. Gone in the same flash in which it had come. Down the mountain they went. No one speaks of this until a long time later.

Any who have ever had a mountaintop experience will tell you, it’s nothing that can be planned, arranged, or scheduled. Spiritual encounters come out of the blue, filled with insights, revelations not previously perceived but somehow needed and relevant to a moment or period of life. And they never last. If anything, they serve as touchstones reminding of the source of that power, power greater than oneself in God who was, is and always will be.

Can’t Stay in the Clouds

As Jesus’ humanity fell away, Jesus changed into something they may have sensed, even struggled to believe about him. He became not just the Son of Man, but the Son of God.

Yet, that’s not the most significant part of the mountaintop. The path always leads down again to where the ground is level, the road of living and journey before you. The experience never gives all the answers complete and packaged up for reference. Still, it does gives direction.

All these three men had was a glimpse, a short-lived moment. It flashes out as does the sun rising over the horizon taking away breath and raising fervent desire it would stay just there. It does, but only for the time it takes to realize its full luminance, then mellows into the morning and day. It’s not gone, but not seen in the same way.

This moment was just that glimpse, a flash of clear vision into God’s vision or point of view. It overcomes the common, everyday plodding through life. When Jesus is seen or realized in a new light, it floods the mind and soul. Love is known in clearer, fuller ways.

Listen to him, the Voice had said. Listen to the words of Jesus, learn from him, get totally behind him, and in the low days and high mountains of life, follow him. Learn for yourself who Jesus is.

Follow that flash of light given to you.

Matthew 16:13-28 Matthew 17:1-9

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The Trouble with Jesus: Considerations Before You Walk Away by Constance Hastings

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