I've Been to the Mountaintop

 Matthew 9:1-9  
Transfiguration 
February 11, 2024

Transfiguration
James K. Janknegt

 

Like most kids when I was young,

I hated going to the dentist.

I had lots of interesting things wrong

with my mouth and the visits usually didn’t go well.

But as I was in the dentist chair,

I was able to get through the whole thing

because I knew that after I was done,

I would get a trip to the treasure chest.

 

Oh, the treasure chest!

It was this giant  - well, it seemed giant at the time –

wooden treasure chest. Or maybe it was plastic.

And it was filled, filled with prizes:

little toys, bubble gum, candy, balloons, high bounce balls,

everything of my fantasies when I was a little kid.

 

Just knowing that the treasure chest was there

made it tolerable to have strange people

shove their hands in my mouth and cause me pain.

 

I could get through the pain and discomfort

because I knew that something good was coming up.

I had a vision of something better to come.

 

That’s what visions are for.

They get us out of our fear and pain,

out of the panic of right now,

and they give us a vision of a better future.

 

Visions can be powerful things.

Not only do they help us get through the bad times,

they drive us to create what we imagine and see.

A vision. Hope of what is to come.

 

 

This is Transfiguration Sunday,

We hear the story of how Jesus

brought his three closest disciples

onto the mountaintop to pray.

And when they get there, they see a vision.

 

Now they had been with him a while now.

We’re already in chapter 9 here Mark only has 16 chapters

The disciples had seen and heard some amazing things,

They had also seen and heard some scary things.

 

Immediately before this trip up the mountain,

Jesus tells his disciples that they would go to Jerusalem

and there he would undergo great suffering and be killed.

The disciples were surely anxious when they got

to this point in their journey with Jesus.

Peter, James, and John were probably

steeped in these concerns while they’re all up there praying.

 

Maybe they were wondering whether they did the wrong

thing, leaving their nets behind and following Jesus.

Maybe they should have just stayed home.

 

But then, as they were sitting up there praying,

they see their friend, Jesus –

The one whose ministry they were just doubting –

transformed, changed, dazzling white, glorified and perfect.

and standing with their two most beloved prophets:

Elijah and Moses.

 

This is not just a miracle for the sake of a miracle.

It is a vision. A vision of hope for the disciples to keep with them

in their back pockets as they go on their way and follow Jesus to the end.

I don’t mean to make it trite, but it’s the treasure chest

that they can remember when times get difficult for them.

 

We know that beyond this chapter,

the story is not so wonderful.

They don’t stay on top of the mountain in the glory of God,

they go back down the mountain.

They meet demons and evil spirits.

And then just two chapters later,

they do go to Jerusalem, and there they find

doubt, betrayal, denial, abandonment, great suffering, and death.

 

But the leaders of the disciples have this vision with them.

A vision of Jesus, Jesus resurrected.

A vision of hope for them to travel with.

Something that tells them that the trouble will all be worth it.

No matter how dark it gets, God’s will get the last word.

 

God has not left us alone in this world.

God gives us visions to help us on the journey.

As Christians, we don’t have visions of toys in a treasure box.

But we do get visions of justice done. We do see wars and conflicts end,

we do see people getting fed, we do see how far we’ve come

in terms of racism. How far we’ve come in terms of women’s rights,

and how LGBTQ people are treated today verses even 30 years ago.

There’s more to do, but we also get glimpses of what the world can be, 

the vision of God’s will done on earth as it is in heaven.

 

We have seen God’s glory here today.

Occasionally, just fleeting flashes. Never the full picture.

But those visions keep us going when times get tough.

  

Whenever I hear the story of Transfiguration,

and the disciples’ trip up to the mountain top,

I always remember this Martin Luther King Jr. speech.

It’s been called “I’ve been to the mountain top”

He gave before striking sanitation workers in Memphis.

 

He says:

I don’t know what will happen now.  We’ve got some difficult days ahead.  But it doesn’t matter with me now.  Because I’ve been to the mountaintop.  And I don’t mind.  Like anybody, I would like to live a long life.  Longevity has its place.  But I’m not concerned about that now.  I just want to do God’s will.  And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain.  And I’ve looked over.  And I’ve seen the promised land.  I may not get there with you.  But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people will get to the promised land.  And I’m happy tonight.  I’m not worried about anything.  I’m not fearing any man.  Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.

 It was a moving speech. And it’s all the more poignant because

it was given on April 3^rd, 1968.

The next day he was shot and killed.

 

Even though he knew there was still so much work to be done,

Even though he seemed to know he wouldn’t live much longer,

Martin Luther King had a vision, he knew that God would prevail.

 

Like James and Peter and John, he had been to the mountain top.

He had seen a vision of God’s glory.

That gave him confidence that his hopes would be reality one day.

Even in the face of death, it gave him the courage not to give up,

and he shared that vision with others.

 

God gives us visions. Visions of hope in our times of trial.

Visions of Easter in times of Lent.

Visions of peace in times of war.

Visions of life in times of death.

Even when all hope seems lost,

Our eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.

Link to see MLK's Speech, April 3, 1968