A Glimpse of Glory - Matthew 17:1-9
“Is this Heaven?”
“This is Iowa.”
John was so impressed with the love
and beauty and opportunity of the baseball diamond in the Field of Dreams that he question whether he was in heaven. His son (though he didn’t know it was his
son), Ray, responded that they were in Iowa.
When pressed as to whether Heaven was real, John said, “Oh yeah…It’s the
place where dreams come true.” Ray looks
around and his dad and his family and responds, “Maybe this is heaven.”
Later on, Ray would be confronted with
loss, pain, and suffering, which should have convinced him, that while the
feeling of love and joy in that scene might have been a glimpse of Heaven, it was
not Heaven (for we know that when we will truly find ourselves in Heaven, we
will encounter, “…the home of God is among mortals; He will dwell with them as
their God; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them; he will
wipe every tear from their eyes. Death
will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first
things have passed away.”[i]
Iowa isn’t heaven. There are probably plenty of folks who live
in Iowa, where in Dyersville, Iowa (the location where the baseball field was
filmed) the temps this weekend are quivering between the single digits above
and below zero without factoring in the wind-chill and where more snow is
piling up…adding to their seasonal total of over 50 inches (when they normally
average less than three feet for a season).[ii] However, like I said, what Ray and John may
have experienced in that sense of overwhelming beauty and joy, may have been a
true glimpse of Heaven, a glimpse of glory.
Catching a glimpse of Heaven or a
glimpse of glory is a timely subject as TriStar pictures, timing it with
Easter’s arrival next month, is releasing a movie adaptation of the popular
book Heaven is for Real based on a
little boy’s accounting of what is believed by many to be a trip into Heaven
before returning to his earthly life.
Colton Burpo is not alone in this type of experience. Baptist minister Don Piper shares his account
of a similar experience in 90 Minutes in
Heaven and neurosurgeon Dr. Eben Alexander, moved from critic to believer,
offers us, Proof of Heaven. I am not going to debate the validity of any
of the books—whether those folks truly went to Heaven and returned, whether
they were dreaming, or whether God granted them a vision of some sort—because
it really doesn’t matter. They each were
blessed with a powerful experience that changed their lives, real or vision,
they each were given a glimpse of glory.
In this morning’s reading from the
Gospel of Matthew, Peter, James, and John were all giving an amazing gift—an
experience, a vision, an unbelievable glimpse of glory. Jesus had taken them up the mountain, many
scholars for the last 1800 years have believed it to be Mount Tabor, without
really explaining to them why they were going up the mountain. By this point, though, the disciples that Jesus
tended to favor, had learned that when Jesus said, “Come with me,” or “Follow
me,” or “Do this,” it was usually in their best interest to do what Jesus
asked. It would make sense that they
would—I mean if they were willing to simply walk away from their livelihood to
follow Jesus, it would only make sense
that they would want to go wherever and do whatever Jesus asked—they wouldn’t
want to miss anything. So Jesus calls
them to come with him up to the top of the mountain, and once there, they had
an experience that, short of the resurrection encounters, could ever be
topped. They were truly given a glimpse
of glory.
Jesus’ appearance is changed right
there before them. His face began to
shine like the sun. His clothes became a
dazzling, blinding white. As if that
experience wouldn’t have been enough, Peter, James, and John witness as Jesus
is joined by the greatest of God’s people to that day. Moses—the one who lead God’s people from
slavery to freedom and who brought the Law from God to His people, and
Elijah—the prophet of all prophets, the one who dared to challenge and then
defeated those who served as prophets of the pagan god Ba’al, when he called
fire down from Heaven to consume a water-drenched sacrifice; the prophet who
dared confront evil to its face in the person of Queen Jezebel. Can you imagine the reaction of Peter, James,
and John?
We actually don’t have to. Matthew shares with us their response, or at
least Peter’s response. Peter never
wants to leave from that spot. He wants
to take that glimpse of glory and make it everything. Peter turns to Jesus and says, “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.”
Peter can’t imagine anything greater than this experience. He sees Jesus in his glory and Moses and
Elijah, likely as they appeared in their prime, much like Ray’s experience on
that ball field as he encounters a vision of his dad as a young baseball player.
The placement of this story and Peter’s
response is significant. This scene as
Jesus leads them up the mountain follows right after Peter has confessed Jesus
to be the Messiah, Jesus proclaiming that the Messiah must suffer at the hands
of men, Peter rebuking Jesus for the thought of the Messiah suffering, and
Jesus giving Peter a tongue-lashing of his own by telling Peter that he had his
mind focused in the wrong place. Jesus
goes on to teach the disciples that those who wish to save their lives must be
willing to lose their lives and that to follow Him, means a willingness to pick
up their cross and come after Him. Is it
any wonder that Peter, catching this glimpse of glory, wants to stay on that
mountaintop? Here with a glorified Jesus
and Moses and Elijah—the pure power of God on display—there are no crosses
here, no suffering here, it is all majesty and awe.
Jesus doesn’t respond to Peter’s call
to build the dwelling places on that mountain.
In fact, God the Father, cuts Peter off as Peter is talking. “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am
well pleased; listen to him!” There was
no affirmation of Peter’s suggestion.
There was no, “that’s a good idea, but….” Peter evidently hadn’t taking the words of
Jesus and the forecast of suffering to heart, so God says, “This is my Son…You
are right Peter, this is the Messiah…I am pleased with Him…He’s doing what He’s
supposed to be doing…Listen to him!”
Then, once they came down the mountain, after a brief encounter in which
Jesus casts a demon out of a child, our scene is bookended with Jesus telling
the disciples once again, “The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into human
hands, and they will kill him, and on the third day he will be raised.” I really believe on that mountain that as
they were given that glimpse of glory, God is trying to get through to the
disciples, be prepared, listen to Jesus, don’t fight him on this, don’t tempt
him to do otherwise, listen to Him…He is on the right path.
Yet we can sympathize with Peter. How many times have we encountered something
so amazing, so beautiful, so comforting, so powerful, that we just wanted to
stop everything right there and never move from that spot—especially if we had
that experience after hearing some troubling news or having a difficult time,
or we knew that trouble was on the horizon.
I am sure that not many of you
remember your first taste of fruit baby food.
I don’t. However, I firmly have
to believe that it was so much better than just plain cereal. If we had our way as a baby, we would
probably have insisted that this was the most wonderful thing we had ever had
that we didn’t want to go back to the cereal; we would be content just eating
pureed peaches for the rest of our life… “Mom, Dad, let’s build a dwelling
place right here.” How many of you are
glad that didn’t happen? Sure we had to
move on to other foods…sure we had to endure brussel sprouts and liver…but when
we finally experienced Key Lime Pie aren’t we glad we didn’t settle for an
lifetime of baby food.
What about that first boyfriend or
girlfriend? You know, the one you had
when you finally realized that girl’s didn’t have the cooties and boys weren’t
all gross. Maybe it was simply a
crush…maybe it was an experience of being liked by someone other than your
family members that had to like you…maybe it was the one who checked the box “I
like you too,” and sent the note back by way of your best friend. How many of you wish you had decided to live
right there on the elementary school playground for the rest of your lives,
holding hands and swinging, and listening to all the “Suzie and Johnny sitting
in the tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g”’s. How many
of you are glad you didn’t settle for that glimpse of glory known as first
love? Sure you had to go through
break-ups and broken hearts? But now
that you have been married for your true love for twenty or thirty or forty or fifty
or more years or maybe your single and you look back and having run into that
first love at a class reunion and seen that they haven’t matured in those
thirty to sixty years, aren’t you glad that you didn’t settle for puppy love?
There are times it happens in our
spiritual or faith lives. Maybe that
glimpse of glory was a Sunday School class when we finally realized who Jesus
really is—not just a story, but our Savior.
Maybe it was at a church camp or retreat where instead of kids that
bullied us around because we were different we were surrounded by a community
of folks who loved us just as we were.
Maybe it was during worship, when a high and holy moment truly touched
us, lifting us from the depths of depression caused by financial woes or the
loss of someone we loved or an illness that had come upon us. We caught that glimpse of glory and were
ready to stop right there in our lives.
We wanted to stay in that place, in that community, in that moment. We didn’t want to go back out into the world
where we would experience more pain, more sorrow, more abuse, and even
challenges to our faith. We wanted to
build dwelling places…we were ready to settle for that glimpse of glory.
I always used to wonder about the last
verse of the passage we read this morning, Jesus ordering the disciples to keep
quiet, “Tell no one about the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised
from the dead.” I think it is very
likely that if the other disciples and all of those that were following Jesus
had heard of this mountain encounter, they would have been so caught up in the
wonder of that experience that they would have wanted to settle for that
glimpse of glory. Those that hadn’t
heard God’s command to listen to Jesus would have likely built a shrine to the
experience on that mountain and never wanted to stray any further. However, Jesus knew they had to head to
Jerusalem…they had to experience the betrayal…they had to experience His
arrest…they had to witness the crucifixion…yet on the other side of the
cross…they witnessed the resurrection.
Don’t you think in seeing the power of the resurrection that they were
glad they didn’t settle for that glimpse of glory on the mountaintop?
Truth be told, though, even the days
of Jesus walking and talking with them after the resurrection was simply
another glimpse of glory. It was a
foretaste of what it will be like when He returns for good, a sampling of what
it will be like when the New Jerusalem erupts in the midst of God’s new
creation and we stand or fall prostrate in the very presence of God Almighty,
as we are changed in the twinkling of an eye…and the glimpses give way to the
Glory of God’s Kingdom.
In the Name of the Father and of the
Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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