Transfiguration Sunday

I think that - like much of Revelation and so on, what’s really happening is that, just for a moment, the disciples are seeing Jesus as he looks all the time from heaven. The curtain is twitched back, and they get an angel’s eye view.

Moses and Elijah aren’t generously letting Jesus stand with them. They’re the ones who are being welcomed into his presence. Through their work God has prepared the way and now it’s fulfilled. It’s not that Jesus gets to stand with them for a moment, it’s that they get to stand for a moment alongside Jesus on earth.

And that’s the authority with which Jesus speaks when he’s the carpenter from Nazareth, when his clothes aren’t white like a laundry advert but gray with the dust of the Galilee road.

What next?

Down the mountain into the mess, the chaos, the human need and the failure.

He’s the same Jesus. He’s just as present in the mess as on the mountaintop. And that’s where most of life is lived - Jesus’ life as well as ours.

And lots of people in that mess haven’t been on the mountaintop. Peter, James and John have . And they have hope and confidence to share.

And Peter never forgot. This was one of the few experiences of his life with Jesus that he wrote about in his letters, the memory of that moment on the mountaintop stayed with him for the rest of his life.

Glory in the ordinary

So how about us?

Well, treasure those mountaintop moments, and enjoy them when they come; put yourself in situations where you know you find it easy to experience God’s presence.

And when they come, treasure them and remember them, thank God for them. But don’t try to hold on to them. Don’t stay there, hoping that the experience will come back. And don’t think that this was somehow a moment when God was more with you than any other.

Because most of life happens when you come down the mountain, into the mess. With people who haven’t glimpsed God’s glory, and who need the hope you carry.

So enjoy the mountaintop, and remember how it feels. Hear the voice from the cloud, and listen to Jesus and come down the mountain with him. SHare his glory, his love and his hope. He’s there with you, just as truly as he is when for a moment you see him shining in white.