Saint Luke's Lutheran Church

When Martin Luther King wanted to talk about his vision of a nation where people would not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character, he spoke of going to the mountaintop. Such mountaintops are places where we catch a glimpse of glory, a vision of things to come. Such mountaintops are times when hope is stirred by what lies ahead, so stirred that it gives us power to work, to sacrifice, to suffer, and yes, even to die so that the vision can become a reality, so that the hope can be realized.

Just before Jesus turned his face toward Jerusalem, just before he made his final journey to Jerusalem to save the world from sin and death, he went up a mountain to pray. And he took Peter, James, and John along with him. Later in Jerusalem, he would climb another mountain, Mount Calvary, and he did it alone, utterly alone - not only was he deserted by his disciples, but he was forsaken even by his heavenly Father.

But on this mountaintop, Jesus was not alone. Not only where his three disciples there, but so were Moses and Elijah. Moses - the great lawgiver who himself had gone up the mountaintop at Sinai and spoke with God face to face. And Elijah - the great prophet who walked so closely with the Lord that he did not die but was taken up into heaven in a fiery chariot. Moses the Lawgiver, Elijah the Prophet, Jesus the Messiah - it was like a spiritual Mount Rushmore. And they were talking about Jesus' departure - his death. Jesus did not go up to the mountaintop to escape reality. He did not go there to get away from it all and to forget, if only for a while, what was waiting for him in Jerusalem. No, he went there to focus on his future - to remember who he was and what he had come to do, to reflect on his mission and purpose in life, and to be affirmed by two who had prepared the way for his suffering and death.

Wouldn't you have loved to have been there, on that Mountain of Transfiguration? Wouldn't you have loved to have seen the faces of Jesus and Moses and Elijah, carved out of the granite of divine glory? Wouldn't you have loved to have heard the voice of God speaking from that cloud?

Over the years, pilgrims have spent a lot of time and money trying to have that kind of experience, wanting to catch a glimpse of that kind of glory, seeking to be touched by that kind of wonder and awe. So in spite of the dangers of travel in Israel these days, thousands of Christians still go to the Holy Land to walk in the places where Jesus walked, to stand in the grotto where Jesus was born, to break bread on the hillside where Jesus fed 5,000, to touch the limestone rock where he was crucified, to visit an empty tomb.

To some degree or another, we all want to stand in the presence of God. We all yearn for a glimpse of God's glory. We all want some sign of God's presence in our lives, some tangible evidence that God loves and cares for us. We want a vision of something greater and better than what we know now, and we want to understand how we fit into that picture. We want a hope that will give meaning and purpose to our lives, and we want to be empowered to help make that vision and that hope a reality.

When I was learning how to drive a car forty some years ago, railroad crossings were more dangerous than they are today. There were more trains and fewer lighted cross bars. So we were taught always to stop, look, and listen. This is one of the messages of the Transfiguration. Do you want to catch a glimpse of God's glory? Then stop, look, and listen. Do you want to signs of God's presence in your life? Then top, look, and listen. Do you want to know who you are and how you fit into the bigger picture? Then stop, look, and listen. This is how you will have the hope and the power you need.

The first step, of course, and perhaps the hardest to take, is to "Stop." When I listen to people today, the one thing that I hear over and over again is that their lives are so busy. The pace of life has been accelerating for decades until now there is so much to do, and we seem to have so little time to do it. Sometimes people talk about this as if they are victims - victims of pressures and a pace of life over which they have no control. But when people feel like they are victims, they allow themselves to be victimized. When they stop feeling like victims, they stop acting like victims, and that is when things can change for the better.

I have not seen a preview of Mel Gibson's movie, The Passion of the Christ. But I wonder if those who view it will come away thinking of Jesus as a victim - a victim of hatred and injustice, a victim of forces and events that were beyond his control. You certainly could get that impression looking at just the last 12 hours of Jesus' life. But when you see Jesus on the Mountain of Transfiguration, you realize that his suffering and death was not accidental. It was essential to his purpose and mission. He looked forward to it - not with eagerness, but with determination - and he talked about it with Moses and Elijah.

Jesus had this clarity of purpose and vision because he took time to stop, look, and listen. Jesus was a busy man. He had so much to teach his disciples and so little time to do it. He was constantly under pressure from crowds of people who wanted to hear him and those who wanted to be healed. It is for this reason that time and again, Jesus went away to a quiet place to pray. The Mountain of Transfiguration is just another one of those places where Jesus went to stop, look, and listen.

Like Jesus we need to stop, get out of the fast lane not just to rest or relax but to look. Unless we stop and look, will we never see God. Oh, I don't mean that you will be able to see God the way Moses did. After all God is a spirit, and we cannot see him in any direct, visual way. But we can see what God has done and what God continues to do, and through his handiwork, we can see God. So stop and look at the wonders of the universe. Go outside on a cold, clear winter night and look up at the galaxies. Stop and look at a delicate flower in bloom. Stop and look at a newborn baby. How can you not look at the wonders of the world in which we live and not see God?

But it is not enough to just look at these natural wonders. Jesus said that if we really want to see him, then we must look at the poor and the oppressed, and the people in need. In is in these little ones, the ones the world overlooks and discounts and marginalizes, that we can see God. In fact, Jesus says that what we do for the least of these his brothers and sisters, we actually do for him. Yet, these are people we will never see unless we take the time to stop and look.

Stop, look, and listen. Listening is the key. Unless we listen we will not be able to see. It is the word of God that opens our eyes to see, our minds to understand, and our hearts to believe. But we have to stop in order to hear. We have to stop the noise. For not only is our world a busy place, it is also a noisy place, so noisy that, as my mother used to say, we can't "hear ourselves think." Our ears are bombarded with so much noise that the voice of God can get drowned out by the cacophony of sounds.

What the voice of God said to Peter, James, and John on that mountaintop applies to us today. "This is my Son, my chosen. Listen to him." Listen to the word of the Lord. Stop and take time to hear God's Word, to study the Bible, to pray and to meditate with open ears. And when you listen, this is what you will hear. You will hear God say to you: "You are my child. I love you." When you listen to the prophets and the evangelists talking about Jesus' his suffering and death, you will hear how your sins are forgiven. Stop and listen and you will hear God promising to be with you always and to guide and keep you in all of your ways.

It is rather unlikely that any of us will ever be invited to go up a Mountain of Transfiguration. It is unlikely that we will ever get to visit any spiritual Mount Rushmore. But we don't have to. We can stop, look, and listen without climbing some physical mountain. When we gather for worship, when we kneel for Holy Communion, when we pray and meditate, when we study God's word - that is when we can get a glimpse of God's glory, that is when we can feel God's presence, that is when we can catch the vision, that is when we can be empowered for new life. Amen.