Scripture: Matthew 17:1-9 (CEB)

17 Six days later Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, and brought them to the top of a very high mountain. 2 He was transformed in front of them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as light.

3 Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Jesus. 4 Peter reacted to all of this by saying to Jesus, “Lord, it’s good that we’re here. If you want, I’ll make three shrines: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”

5 While he was still speaking, look, a bright cloud overshadowed them. A voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son whom I dearly love. I am very pleased with him. Listen to him!” 6 Hearing this, the disciples fell on their faces, filled with awe.

7 But Jesus came and touched them. “Get up,” he said. “Don’t be afraid.” 8 When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus.

9 As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus commanded them, “Don’t tell anybody about the vision until the Human One is raised from the dead.”

The Word of God for the People of God

Thanks be to God!

On April 3, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave the final speech of his life.  As a child, I was taught that Dr. King was a hero who ushered America into a new era of racial harmony.  As an adult, I learned that Dr. King was also the man who wrote in his Letter from Birmingham Jail “I have been gravely disappointed in the white moderate,” and who had a national disapproval rating of 75 percent at the time of his death, which came the day after he gave that final speech.   So it is worth our while to consider the faith of a man who in that final speech, stood in the face of fear, doubt, and rejection, and told his listeners “We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn’t matter with me now, because I’ve been to the mountaintop.  And I don’t mind.”

Dr. King knew his Bible.  In scripture, mountaintops are places where the line between heaven and earth seems especially thin.  This tradition goes back to Exodus, when Moses stood on a mountaintop, and God appeared in a cloud of smoke and flame to give him the first ten rules of what would come to be called “The Law,” which governed every aspect of the Israelites’ lives.  This was the start of a new chapter in the story of humanity’s relationship to God, and today, we get to watch as that chapter ends, and a new one begins.  Today, we see Jesus lead Peter, James, and John up to a mountaintop, and before the disciples, Jesus is transformed.  Moses–the one who received the Law–and Elijah–the first of scripture’s protesting prophets–stand beside Jesus, leading Peter to see them as equals.  Quickly though, Peter realizes that he is wrong.  Once again, a cloud descends, the power of God falls upon the mountain, and a voice calls out, saying of Jesus “This is my Son whom I dearly love. I am very pleased with him. Listen to him!”  

At first glance, this might seem to us like another commandment.  In the Old Testament, God gave Moses the Law, but then created “Case Law” through the prophets.  Jesus is the inheritor of these traditions, but what separates him from them in our passage for today is in what he says after the cloud has lifted, and Moses and Elijah have disappeared.  In Matthew 9, Jesus tells a paralyzed man to “Get Up,” and this command heals him of his paralysis.  Later, Jesus himself will get up, rising from the death of Good Friday, into the resurrection of Easter Sunday. And now, as Peter, James, and John cower, Jesus walks over to them, touches them, and says to them “It’s okay.  Get up.”  Jesus’ true purpose is not to be a moral teacher, but to show us that the triune God walks among us, that justice and mercy have come together, and that when we feel fear, we can know that the power of God is marching inexorably towards our final good.  

This is the message I believe Dr. King had in his heart on that April day, 60 years ago.  Dr. King knew that God was with him, and his faith gave him the courage to call out hypocrisy, confront injustice, and affect change.  Today, our society is badly divided, and to heal it, we need Dr. King’s faith.  But before we confront fire hoses and police dogs, we first need the faith to confront ourselves.  We need the courage to ask if as we call others hypocrites, we have not become what we condemn.  We need the courage to admit that we will happily talk about the importance of bipartisan dialogue, without actually engaging in it.  And we need the courage to accept that God’s justice is not the American justice of coercion, retribution, and punishment, but the restorative justice of The Cross, which opens the door to God’s grace both for ICE agents, and undocumented immigrants.  In the Kingdom of Heaven, God’s justice will ensure you see people you blame today for ruining this country.  Matthew 4:17 tells us that, in Jesus, the Kingdom of Heaven has come near.  The time to decide if you are really a disciple of Jesus Christ is now.  Leave your fear behind, and trust that, as you face yourself, God is with you.  

In the first few days of my job as a chaplain intern at a Children’s Hospital, I was constantly terrified.  Working in a hospital is a great time to find out you are a bit of a hypochondriac.  More than infectious diseases, though, I feared not being the perfect chaplain.  As my internship began, I often found myself going on pastoral care visits to sick kids and tired parents, and repeatedly thinking: “What am I supposed to say?”  Three years in seminary had not taught me an answer to this question, and in that absence, my desire to succeed overwhelmed me with anxiety.  For the first several weeks of my internship, each attempt to comfort hurting people saw me struggle through each word, each sentence, each broken conversation, as I chased perfection in each visit, and came out feeling like I had thrown myself against a brick wall.   

And then, one night, everything clicked.  I was preparing a message to share with my fellow chaplain interns, and I found myself drawn to the “Body of Christ” passage in 1 Corinthians.  That passage had been important to me for years, going back to my days as a Camp Counselor, when I drew from that text a message of empowerment and giftedness for my campers.  But that night, I realized that the true meaning of that passage had little to do with me.  My job as a chaplain was not to fix hurting people, but to give Jesus a body, so that through me, he can love his people.  The next time I visited a patient, I took a deep breath, introduced myself, and started a conversation.  I didn’t try to say the right thing.  I just tried to listen, be open, and hold space for God to comfort the hurting person sitting on the bed.  And as I listened, the patient began to speak, and to share with me, a total stranger, what had been going on in their life.  

That is how I survived that internship, as I supported multiple families through the deaths of their children, and difficult moments became thin places, flooded by the perfect love of Jesus Christ.  Our calling is uncompromising.  For us to heal this broken land, we first have to heal ourselves.  And yet, as we do this, we will come to know, ever more fully, that God is with us, freeing us to be the disciples we were created to be.  Get up.  Face the Living God.  Do not be afraid. And when you are ready to serve as a citizen of God’s Kingdom, look danger in the face and say “I’ve been to the mountaintop, and I don’t mind.”  Amen.