This sermon was preached at St. John and Hauge Lutheran Churches, Decorah, Iowa on February 23, 2020. It’s based on Matthew 17:1-9. If you’d prefer to listen to it, find it at https://soundcloud.com/stacey-nalean-carlson.
Matthew 17:1-9
1Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves. 2And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white. 3Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. 4Then Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three dwellings here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”
5While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud a voice said, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!”
6When the disciples heard this, they fell to the ground and were overcome by fear. 7But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Get up and do not be afraid.” 8And when they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus himself alone.
9As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus ordered them, “Tell no one about the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”
In Living with a Wild God, Barbara Ehrenreich writes, Presumably the Hebrews would not have accepted the Ten Commandments if they came in the form of a memo. The commandments had to be delivered by a bearded prophet whose mystic credibility had been conferred by the burning bush and who came down from the mountain accompanied by a terrifying display of thunder and lightning. Somehow human authority is never enough; we must have special effects.
I don’t know if the disciples on the mountain with Jesus needed special effects or not, but it’s certainly what they got. Peter, James, and John received quite the show when Jesus was transfigured before them, his face shining like the sun and his clothes becoming dazzling white. And then, as if that wasn’t enough, suddenly Moses and Elijah (long-dead) appeared on the scene.
These special effects confirm what the disciples already know: Jesus is, without a doubt, the Messiah, God’s chosen one.
What is unique to Matthew’s telling of this story, however is that it isn’t this special effects transfiguration that terrifies the disciples, as it does in Mark. Nor is it the overshadowing cloud that fills them with fear, as Luke recounts. Here, in Matthew, it is the voice from the cloud that causes fear in Peter, James, and John. From the cloud a voice said, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!” When the disciples heard this, they fell to the ground and were overcome by fear.
Just six days earlier, Jesus had asked his disciples, Who do you say that I am? And Peter answered correctly, You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.
But when Jesus then began to share with his disciples for the first time that his path–their path–was leading to Jerusalem to undergo great suffering and be killed and on the third day be raised, Peter began to rebuke Jesus. God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you! And suddenly Peter, the star pupil from moments before, is now being called Satan by Jesus himself, a stumbling block because he is setting his mind on human things instead of divine things.
I imagine Peter, in that moment, feared not only for the life of his beloved teacher, but also for his own life. What would it mean for him to continue following this one who was headed toward incredible suffering? Would he also suffer? Would he also die?
Peter’s rebuke leads Jesus to address all his disciples: If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.
These are the words that must have been ringing in the disciples’ ears when the voice from the cloud speaks to them on top of the mountain. The voice confirms what Peter has already confessed. Jesus is the Son of the living God, the beloved, the one God has chosen to bring God’s reign of peace and justice to earth. And now the disciples are commanded to listen to him.
Listen to him.
Now they know, without a doubt, that what Jesus has been speaking about is not only true, but something to which they must listen and must respond.
Yes, he is the Son of God. But also, yes, he is going to suffer and die.
This path that they’ve been on since they left their fishing nets to follow him…this path is leading not to glory, not to military victory, not to a life of wealth and privilege, not to safety and security, but to death.
The price of taking on the powers that be and proclaiming God’s steadfast and abiding love for all people…is death.
The price of standing up for what is true and right, persisting in ushering in God’s reign of peace and justice…is death.
The cross is neither a figure of speech nor a special effect designed to compel us to action. It’s a reality that awaits not only Jesus, but those who dare to follow him.
Listening to Jesus will lead to death.
Is it any wonder, then, that they’re overcome with fear? How could they not be afraid?
When the disciples heard this, they fell to the ground and were overcome by fear. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Get up and do not be afraid.”
Only in Matthew’s account of the transfiguration does Jesus speak these words. And for that reason, Matthew’s account may have just become my favorite. Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Get up and do not be afraid.”
Jesus doesn’t scold them for being afraid. Nor does he abandon them to their fear. He continues to be their shepherd and their guide. Get up and do not be afraid.
And they did. And when they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus himself alone.
Jesus alone. The one they would follow to Jerusalem. The one with whom they would go to Gethsemane, falling asleep while he prayed to his Father that this cup of suffering and sorrow might be taken from him. The one they deserted, fleeing out of fear, as he was betrayed by Judas and arrested. The one Peter denied not once, but three times, claiming he did not know the man.
They got up. They followed Jesus off the mountain. But they could not overcome their fear. When Jesus died, as he said he would, none of them were there to bear witness. They were held captive by their fear, unable to listen. Unable to act. Unable to be the disciples they had been called to be.
And yet…it was these fearful ones, these sleeping ones, these deserting ones that Jesus returned to in the end.
Yes, his path…their path…our path…leads to death. The way of Jesus is not for those who want glory or security or wealth and privilege. But it is for those who want what God wants. It is for those who seek after justice and peace for all creation. It is for those who want what is true and right. And though it leads to death, the way of Jesus also leads beyond death to life. Life abundant.
After his resurrection, Jesus directs his disciples, again, to a mountain. Even in that moment, some still doubted. Some were still captive to their fear. Some were still terrified. And yet, Jesus comes to them and entrusts them with responsibility beyond all measure: Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.
Teach them, Jesus might as well have said, to listen to me. Teach them to get up and not to be afraid.
Disciples of Jesus today, these are Jesus’ words to you. Get up and do not be afraid. When following me gets you into hot water…when you pay the price for pursuing peace and justice…when it would be far easier to sit down and be quiet…get up and do not be afraid. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age. Amen.