The whole week had been one big mountaintop experience for us all. It was July, 2008, and there were about 30 of us—both high school youth and adults from Redeemer and Immanuel Lutheran Churches from my hometown of Seymour, Indiana. We had been on a servant event trip all week at Lutheran Valley Retreat (a summer camp) in Colorado. I was a chaperone, and I’ve got to say—from the Bible studies, to the devotions, to the hard work from all the youth, to the worship with communion on the side of a mountain—it was a transformational experience for everyone! But how could it not be so transformational when you’re in the midst of God’s creation, serving alongside His people, unplugged from the world, tucked away in the middle of the Pike National Forest.
But the greatest, literal mountaintop experience of the week was just hours before we hopped on the bus and headed home. See, some of us woke up at about 4 am. It was cold. It was dark. We were exhausted. And I didn’t have any coffee. But, we were going to climb the small mountain, there!
We had climbed it one morning a few days before—so the terrain wasn’t entirely foreign. We helped each other along the way—especially on the narrow paths, and the occasional bouldering. And when we got to the top, over an hour later, we just sat there. I laid down and looked up at the stars. It was like God had poked a few holes in the canvas of heaven, allowing us to get a glimpse of His glory. And then, suddenly, there appeared in the distance an outline of mountains, hills and valleys, spotted with trees—as if God’s creative hand was tracing them for the first time with His heavenly light. And, within minutes, the sky lit up with an extraordinary palette of color: various hues of orange, yellow, red, pink as a luminous ball of light steadily scrolled upward over the distant mountains in the horizon.
I remember Brian, one of the adult chaperones, standing just a few feet away from me. And, he said something that captured the moment so perfectly; something so profound—and all of us on that mountaintop we were so caught up in the experience, so moved...that none of us can remember a single word of what Brian actually said. But I remember Brian reaching out to his son, Andrew, tears streaming down both of their faces. And they hugged, and I heard a father say to his child, “I love you, son!” It was a powerful, transformational mountaintop experience.
But the thing is, it didn’t last long, because we had to get back down the mountain, grab breakfast—and coffee—and get on the bus to go home. And as we made our descent, we were mostly silent at the time, still in awe and wonder at what we had witnessed. But we told everyone on the bus who didn’t go up with us that morning; we told everyone about it at home. Because, how could you not, after such an experience, witnessing God’s glorious creative work unfolding?! It was a powerful, transformational mountaintop experience for everyone.
But now, I look at Facebook, at some of those youth and where they are now, and I can’t help but think: “You should have known better!” Sure, one of those youth went on to seminary—he’s actually a vicar this year—which is fantastic. That’s an effect of that mountaintop experience, I'd say! A number of them are at least still Lutheran—and, in this day and age, I’d say that in itself is a win! That’s part of that mountaintop experience, too! But then the others…a few had a baby out of wedlock. A few moved in with their significant other, without getting married. A couple of them share awful, lude posts on social media constantly. A couple have already married and divorced. And one is currently undergoing another “transformation,” having surgery so that his anatomy matches the gender he feels like inside. And in all of this, I can’t help but think, “You should’ve known better!”
Have you ever found yourself thinking that? It’s easy to do. We look around and we can easily identify people who just should have known better. The girl who goes through the mountaintop experience of Confirmation; publicly declares she will stand in this faith even unto death—but she won’t step foot in the church again, because she thinks it hateful and hypocritical, and that culture should transform doctrine. The man who stands at the altar in the mountaintop experience of marriage, takes the vow “to have and to hold, to love and to cherish”--but then abuses his bride verbally, emotionally, physically. The foster parents who go out of their way, almost moving mountains, to have children entrusted to their care through adoption--only to neglect them, cruelly restrain them, not feed them. The doctor who goes through years of medical school, and takes an oath to “do no harm,” but inappropriately touches over 200 of his young female patients. Those are some big examples. But it’s easy for us to find the examples of people with great mountaintop experiences in life. All those who just should have known better.
We do it when it comes to Scripture, too. The people of Israel, of course, are an easy target; a great example of folks who just should’ve known better. The Israelites had a constant reminder of the Lord, right their in their midst. They had seen God’s handiwork through the plagues of Egypt, delivering them from slavery. They had the constant reminder of God’s presence with the pillar of cloud by day, and the pillar of fire by night. And then now, at Mt. Sinai, they’re encamped at the foot of the mountain, and God makes His glorious presence known through a cloud covering it on top. Moses went up to speak to the Lord. And, Exodus 34 tells of the second time he went up there. See, the first time, when Moses returned, He found them worshiping an idol. Woops! Should’ve known better, Israel!
But, in mercy, God gives them a do-over. Only this time, when Moses comes down it’s different. Exodus 34 tells us Moses’ face radiated God’s glory after that mountaintop experience. And this frightened the people—as it should. But that didn’t stop them from failing and falling short of the glory of the Lord. No, over and over, they would whine and complain—nothing was ever good enough; God was never good enough. And time after time, they returned to idols. They should have known better!
In the New Testament, some of the easy targets are the twelve disciples. I mean, the disciples had Jesus—the Son of God—with them. If Israel had a constant reminder of the Lord in their midst, the disciples had it even better! God in the flesh, right there! Jesus’ message and miracles radiated the glory of God. But so often, they just don’t get it. In Mark chapter 8, Jesus has already fed the 5,000, then another group of 4,000 come to Him hungry. The disciples question where Jesus could ever get enough food to feed that large crowd. And He even asks them, “Do you not yet understand?” In other words, “You should really know better by now.”
And just when it sounds like Peter gets it, making a profound confession of faith, “You are the Christ,” he blows it. Jesus predicts His own death, and Peter rebukes Him, as if HE knew better. A week later, our Gospel reading picks up. Jesus takes Peter, James and John up a mountain and His face was transfigured, His clothes became radiant—it was a Tide ad, turns out! And the Father embraced them in a cloud, and said of His child, “This is my beloved Son. Listen to Him!” And after all these miracles and predictions, after that transformational mountaintop experience, left speechless in awe and wonder, you’d think they’d get it…but that didn’t stop them from failing and fearing for their own lives, abandoning Jesus. So we shake our heads and think, “They should’ve known better.”
But then there’s us. See, we’re not exempt. We have the Lord with us always, just as He promised—even unto the end of the age. He lives in us. His Spirit graciously moves in us. He joins us in worship. And through Word and Sacrament we experience His grace and glory. Every time we hear the Gospel, the words of forgiveness, of life and salvation; every time we lift our eyes to the cross; each time we let our prayers and praises ascend—that is a glorious mountaintop experience. And we think, “It is good, Lord, to be here!” Because we are strengthened and inspired, edified and built up to go and make disciples, to live sanctified, holy lives. How could we do anything else?!
But, still, that doesn’t stop us from failing and, frankly, fooling ourselves. Because we come down from the mountain and into the world. And we don’t always remember what went on up there; or, we don’t know what to say or do, sometimes. The easy thing to do is to look around, pointing out the failures and faults of others. We can look at how awful it is that so many just walk away from the faith. But that’s not our job.
Our job, our responsibility is to radiate the glory of God that’s been revealed, unveiled to us. What’s difficult about that is, because of our sinful human nature, the glory quickly starts to fade. What we want people to see; what we want them to experience like we have—we find we’re incapable of showing them. That’s what happened with Moses. When you read Exodus 34, it talks about the people being afraid of Moses for his radiant face. And, you get the sense that he hid his face so that they wouldn’t be afraid. But Paul explains in 2 Corinthians that Moses veiled his face because the radiance was fading. Moses didn’t want them to see “what was being brought to an end,” he says—as if they would see it fading and not obey, thinking the glory of God had left him, so why bother paying any attention to him. Instead, it seems to have had the opposite effect. And, Paul says, the veil continues over their hearts. But for all who are in Christ, the veil is removed, and we experience His glory.
Because through another mountaintop experience, another transformation has taken place. God in Christ transformed before His fallen creation—as “He became sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” It happened on a hill, far away—a place called Golgotha, which we call Mt. Calvary—there, on the cross, in the midst of humiliation, Jesus is most glorified. A glory that, in hindsight, is far more spectacular than on that day of the Transfiguration. His flesh, once radiant, now pierced and wounded, dripping with blood and sweat. His clothes, once dazzlingly bleached white, now stained with blood and dirt, and being gambled for by pagans. The only ones talking to him now are those shouting insults; any friends present have no words to say, only tears. And the Father remains silent.
But it is through this death of the Life-Giver that we have seen His glory. Because through His death, He has redeemed us and reconciled us to the Father. The curtain is torn, and the veil separating us from the Father is removed. And by His resurrection, we now have nothing to fear, and nothing to hide—from God or from man. Because we have been redeemed to radiate!
As redeemed people, every day is a mountaintop experience. Luther says in the Large Catechism that “the Christian life is nothing more than a daily baptism, begun once and ever continuing.” Because every day, we need the grace of Jesus Christ. And so, every day, when we encounter temptations to sin, or when we feel like we’re drifting farther from God, like His glory is “fading” or that He is hidden and veiled from us—remember your baptism. Remember that you have been claimed by God as His own. Remember that it’s precisely because you should have known better that He sent forth Jesus. And that it’s because He wants you to know Him better that He’s continually calling out to you. So remember your baptism, and be transformed again and again, morning by morning, like a new mountaintop experience. And feel the Father embracing you, His child, saying, “I love you.”
And, as His baptized child, go out and try it again and again and again, led in grace by the Holy Spirit. Because it’s through the Spirit that we now radiate the life, the light and the love of Jesus. It doesn’t have to be any grand gesture, or anything. Just fulfill your God-given vocation. Love your spouse in actions, even if you’re not “feeling loving” that day. That’s radiating the light of Jesus. Be a good employee, even if you can't stand your coworkers and your boss isn’t your favorite person in the world. That’s radiating the life of Jesus. Be a good child—do your chores, care for your siblings, call your parents. Be a good parent—invest in their lives, show them what matters in life, and call your children. That’s radiating the love of Jesus. Forgiving others, repenting to one another, and looking with compassion—not judgment—on those we think just “should have known better.” That’s radiating the light, the life, and the love of Jesus.
We radiate Christ to the world so that others may know Him better; and be transformed by the mountaintop experience of His glory and love. There may be times we need to guide them back with a Word of God's Law. But, more than anything, they need to experience the love of God in Christ through you--no judgment on our part. Because the transfigured Christ is transforming lives still today.
This congregation has recently had the opportunity to radiate the light, the life, and the love of Jesus, too. This past December, several of you brought presents and monetary donations for "Arise Minsitries." This organization works with single mothers who are simply looking for answers in how to best raise their children. They're struggling financially, maybe physically, emotionally, even spiritually. We received a thank you letter from them recently, detailing the experience that the volunteers dropping off their gifts had. Here's what a few of them had to say:
+ "My present delivery was t a family where the mom is attending college and working. She's trying so hard to better the situation for her family. She hugged and hugged and hugged me in gratitude."
+ "My single mom I delivered to was amazing. And, she only lives down the street from me!" [Turns out you don't have to go far to radiate the love of Jesus!] "We have now formed a friendship, and she will be coming over for coffee and a Bible study, soon."
+ "I loved blessing this family with gifts. The mom is currently going through kidney dialysis and is quite ill. The children were precious and excited for their gifts."
And we also received a thank you letter from one of the mothers whose son received a gift. Here's what she had to say: "Thank you SO MUCH for purchasing the needed and wanted items for my son for Christmas. He was truly thrilled, as was I and his grandmother, as we watched him carefully open each item with anticipation. My son is 9, and to watch him slow down and enjoy the moment means a LOT! ... I am a single working mom. My mom and I are raising my son together. My mom retired a few years ago. I pay our living expenses. When holidays roll around, it's hard to know where the extra money will come from for gifts. Thank you for what you have done for my son. You have truly made this momma's heart happy and joy filled."
It may not seem like much. And this is not to say that you have to buy someone presents in order to radiate Christ's love...but it also shows that it doesn't take much to radiate. And that a simple little gesture can go a long way. Because Arise Ministries is working to make a difference in the lives of these single mothers who are in a dark place for whatever reason. And as the son of a woman who was a single mother raising four kids, I know firsthand that these single mothers get looks. They're on the receiving end of judgments. There's a stigma that goes along with being a "single mother." People start to wonder what "she" did to get in that situation; she should have known better. But that's not our job.
Our job is simply to radiate the light, the life, and the love of Jesus to this dark, hurting world all around us. Because, the transfigured Christ is transforming lives still today, through you, and through me. Come soon, Lord Jesus. Amen.
