"Surprises on the Mountaintop"

Scripture: Mark 9:2-9
Preacher: Rev. Ross Purdy
Date: February 26, 2006

I don't think Peter, James and John had a clue what Jesus was going to do in their lives.   All they knew is that Jesus asked them to go with Him on a day hike.   They left the others and followed Jesus up to a high mountain.   They were all alone.   I don't know how long it took them to get to that mountain or how long they were upon the mountain before the next incident happened.   What I do know is this: the disciples were tired. They were weighed down with sleep (see Luke 9:32).   What I also know is this: in the next few moments, they would not be sleepy anymore.   Something great was about to take place.

I can imagine Jesus asking His friends, earlier in the day, to come because He desperately wanted them to know who He is.   I can see Jesus excitedly climbing the mountain with a smile on His face, saying, "Come on, guys, hurry up!   We're almost at the top."   I can see His friends following with heavy puffs of breathing to catch up, complaining, "Are we almost there yet?"   I see Jesus again, turning back to look as He jumps from rock to rock taking bounding steps.   I can feel Jesus' heart as it beat wildly, not so much from the journey, but because He had friends along with Him.   Great things happen when Jesus invites us to follow.

Huffing and puffing, the disciples wanted to lie down.   Then it happened.  

In a moment, Jesus transfigured before them.   It was almost as if Jesus pulled off His outward appearance and showed them who He really is.   His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them. The actual wording, from Mark's gospel ( stilbow ), is that He radiated.   He glittered in brightness.   Their eyes could barely look upon Him.   Then, as He appeared to them just as He is, the fullness of the Kingdom appeared as well.   Moses and Elijah stood next to Him.   The great lawgiver and the great prophet stood on His left and right.   It was as if they were pointing to the fact that all of the laws and all the words of the prophets spoke of this Jesus who was now in the middle.   He was the fulfillment of all the "law and the prophets", a common phrase that Jesus used to signify God's plan within the world.

I think it's also interesting that Moses appears on that mountaintop.   After being given the law and finding himself in disobedience to it, as we all do, Moses was forbidden to enter the Promised Land.   He died outside.   But now, when Jesus came, he was found in the Promised Land.   Whenever Jesus appears, we all get to the Promised Land.   Before Him it is impossible.   After Him it is too late.   With Him we enter the fullness of God's promises.

Then, as Peter began to interrupt, "Jesus, James, John and I would like to honor you, Moses and Elijah".   (How did Peter know that it was Moses and Elijah since they lived hundreds of years prior and there were no images of them?)   Could it be that when Jesus ushers in the Kingdom there is no need for introductions?   Have you ever met someone in Christ and felt like you knew them their whole life...even though this was the first time you met them?   Could it be that when we're on the mountain with Jesus we simply know the others on the mountain?

As Peter interrupted Jesus, The Heavenly Father spoke, "Stop, Peter.   This is my Son, whom I love.   Listen to Him!"   Suddenly, it was all gone.   Jesus was standing there with Peter, James and John.   Oh, what an interruption!   But it was enough...for now.   They had seen the Kingdom of God.   They had seen Jesus for whom He really was.   And they will never forget.

That's why the rest of the journey for Jesus doesn't make any sense!   Why would this Jesus, the Son of God, the King of Heaven, full of glory and truth, brightness and light, be journeying toward the cross?   Peter would have a difficult time with this.   Here was Jesus, God incarnate, yet He would die.   How can this be?   How is it possible for this one, bright as light to be snuffed out?

I want to be very clear this morning.   There is only one reason.   Jesus came to earth to be snuffed out so you who were being snuffed out could receive His life.   You're dying.   I'm dying.   We are all infected with a disease that is incurable.   It is called sin.   We disobeyed God and we are condemned to die.   The illness that lives within me and you will consume us.   But there is hope.   Jesus, the Light of the world, the Life, has come to exchange His life for your death.   He will take your death and destroyed it upon the cross.   But you have to give it up.

"For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him." (John 3:16-17)

One day a monk was asked to preach one day to the people of his parish.   As the people of his village gathered to hear his message in the church's sanctuary, the monk simply walked to the front of the church lit and candle and walked up to the crucifix.   He held the candle and moved it from the top down illuminating Jesus hanging upon it.   When he finished this short action, he looked at the people, blew out his candle and walked down the aisle leading out from the church. The message was over.   What more needed to be said?

All of heaven trembles with joy before the cross.   All of hell trembles with fear before the cross.   Our world, the earth, is basically indifferent to the cross.   But the world is passing away and the reaction of either heaven or hell will be the reaction of your eternity.   The cross makes the greatest person tremble when he or she encounters it.   But tell me this morning is it a trembling of joy or of fear?   Do you belong to heaven or hell?

One well-known Scottish preacher peppered his sermons with gracious words and loving messages for several decades.   But one day his preaching changed.   In it was found the passion of the cross.   Instead of drawing beautiful analogies that inspired others to feel good about themselves, he simply walked to the pulpit and delivered this message:

After all that Jesus Christ has done for you in giving his life so you could be changed forever, why is it then that you don't receive the urgency of the Gospel message?   If you do not accept the work of Jesus Christ in your life, the free gift that God is offering you, eternal life...then die and go to hell.

Then the preacher walked away from his pulpit.   I suppose what he said in that very last sermon spoke the message of the Gospel more clearly that particular morning than the thousands of eloquent words he had ever spoken in the untold hours of his life.

This is the message as clearly spoken as I can make it: if you don't give your death to Jesus you're going to die forever.   But, if you give your death to Him, He'll give His life to you.   It's as simple as that.  

This morning we come to remember and receive what Jesus Christ has done by sacrificing His life, the life He should have had in eternal glory.   He left it all behind because He couldn't bear to live without you.   He lived a life of poverty.   During His three years of ministry He lived in open fields and slept on the bare, cold, hard ground.   What king has ever done this?   He preached and taught, healed the sick, hugged the filthy, kissed the beggars and called them His family.   He gave up everything.   He was criticized constantly.   He was slandered and rebuked, ridiculed and scorned.   But He did this for you.   He can't bear to let you die.  

He was taken at night by force, beaten and scourged until no one could recognize Him.   Then He agonizingly died upon a cross.   We get a word from that pain He suffered - excruciating ( ex - out of, crucis - cross ).   And, as He hung dying upon it He cried out, "Forgive them.   They don't know what they're doing."   Even until the very last breath He cried out hoping and believing that if He gave His life willingly, you might give your life to Him in exchange.   He would take your death and replace it with His life.  

He had the glory.   He gave it all up to you.   What are going to do with it?   Will you exchange your life for His?   In a moment we're going to remember what Jesus did upon the cross.   His body was broken, torn apart as bread, for you so that you could be nourished.   His blood ran freely, poured out on the cross, so that you could receive the forgiveness of your sins.   There is life in the blood.   Drink from the cup, the fruit of the vine which represents the life blood of Jesus and receive new life.

And, if you have given your life to Jesus I want to encourage you to keep your eyes open to the things that Christ will do in your life.   Jesus, though He died, He also rose again.   He lives even now and promises to give you something even more than forgiveness of sins.   Here's the surprise if you dare climb to the mountaintop to meet Jesus, this morning.   Even though He died, He rose from the dead.   This is the new surprise: that even though we celebrate His gift to us on the cross where He took the effects of our illness away from us, we have, now, the possibility to receive the power of His resurrection.   This means that if you come forward, you, too, can be given not only the release from your burdens, but also the power to live like Jesus, the One who burst forth with brilliance and radiance.  

So many times we miss the surprises Jesus has in store for us because we don't expect much to happen.

Did you know that God wants to reveal Himself to you?   There are surprises at the mountaintop.   Come and receive something wonderful.

Amen.