Luke 9:28–36

²⁸Now about eight days after these sayings he took with him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray. ²⁹And as he was praying, the appearance of his face was altered, and his clothing became dazzling white. ³⁰And behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah, ³¹who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. ³²Now Peter and those who were with him were heavy with sleep, but when they became fully awake they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. ³³And as the men were parting from him, Peter said to Jesus, "Master, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah"- not knowing what he said. ³⁴As he was saying these things, a cloud came and overshadowed them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. ³⁵And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, "This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him!" ³⁶And when the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and told no one in those days anything of what they had seen.

We have come to the end of our course. Six weeks ago we set out to discover who Jesus Christ is. At his baptism which we celebrated on the First Sunday of Epiphany God himself spoke from heaven and said: "This is my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased." Since then Jesus revealed who he was by changing water into wine, then by reading from the prophet Isaiah. He was declared the Son of God by the demons and then by Peter after a great catch of fish.

Now today we come to the end of Epiphany: Jesus is alone on a mountain with three of his disciples and once again, as if to bring to a conclusion what began at his baptism, God spoke from the cloud that overshadowed them: "This is my Son, my Chosen One. Listen to him." Epiphany begins and ends with the voice of God himself declaring that Jesus is his beloved Son.

As Jesus stood there his face shone brighter than the sun. His clothes were radiant and beaming. The cloud that overshadowed them was the real presence of God; the same God who was present in the cloud that led the Israelites through the Red Sea and wilderness. The same God who dwelt among his people Israel in the cloud that overshadowed the tabernacle. The same Holy Spirit that overshadowed the Virgin Mary when she conceived her first Son. Now her Son stood there in that cloud, clothed in his full glory and splendor. It was literally heaven on earth. For where God is, there is heaven. Heaven is not a place, it is a relationship with God; it is full communion and fellowship with God. Salvation is not just going to a better place when you die, it is living in the presence of and communion with God. This was heaven. This was Eden restored. Here the monsters that haunt us in this world were gone. The monsters that inhabit our sinful hearts are cast out. The loneliness and lack of love in our world disappears. All sorrow and death are vanquished. Here all tears are wiped away. Here the beauty of God's goodness and his good creation is restored to what it was in the beginning. Here order is created out of the chaos of our world and lives. Here broken lives are fixed and broken relationship are reconciled. It was heaven, because where God is present there is heaven.

It was good to be there. Peter wanted to stay there and why wouldn't he? It was heaven. God was there.

And that is exactly where you are this morning. God is here. God is present in word and sacrament. God delivers himself to you and pours out his gifts on you in worship. Here in worship is heaven on earth. For a brief moment we are in heaven. Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them. Here through his word and sacraments he gives you his gifts of forgiveness, eternal life, and holiness. Jesus is present in, with and under the Word as it is read, spoken and sung. Jesus is present in, with and under the bread and wine in the Sacrament. His real presence is here as his church gathers to become his body.

Here is where we are joined to God in full communion and joined to each other who is in communion with God as well making us one family, one body of Jesus Christ himself. Sharing each other's burdens and carrying each other's loads. It is true harmony and a short taste of heaven. It is truly heaven on earth. Wouldn't it be nice to stay here forever?

But Peter and James and John couldn't stay there on that mountain. Soon the cloud disappeared, Jesus changed back to normal and they were walking back down the mountain into the valley of the darkness of a fallen world. The first person they met when they got back was a man and his demon possessed son. They had returned to the world filled with monsters. Back down to where loneliness, fear, and uncertainty roam the world. Where violence, murder, terrorism strike fear in our hearts. Where poverty, unemployment, and homelessness threaten. Where sickness, old age, and death will eventually overtake each and every one of us for we are dust and unto dust we shall return.

Back to the world where the most terrible monsters dwell in our hearts and thoughts. The monsters of envy, self-interest, greed, lust, adultery, racism, bigotry, gossip, disagreements, fighting, and addiction lurk in the dark corners of our hearts. Not only are our own lives broken, but we have broken the lives of others as well.

The disciples came down from the mountain back into this world of poor, hurting, broken people. A world lost in sin and under the curse of death. Oh, that we could just stay there in heaven!

But we can't. Nor did our Lord stay in heaven. He came into our world and took on our human flesh and became a part of our lives of brokenness to absorb our hurt and pain into himself. He came into our world full of the monsters of sin and death to confront those monsters himself. To be wounded by them as he stood in our place and gave his life on a cross as our substitute. Jesus Christ is the one and only solution for the poor, the broken and the hurting of the world and all of us are in that category. God is not against us, he is for us. God has not stood at a distance to watch, he has become part of our world and become one of us to take our suffering, our loneliness, our sin and our death in his own human flesh and nail them to the cross.

Where there is brokenness he fixes us. Where there is hurt he comforts. Where there is despair he brings hope. He reconciles us to God and restores us to life. He reconciles us to others, those who have broken our lives and those whose lives we have broken. He restores us. And to do this he came down the mountain of heaven and entered into our dark and broken world.

And so we too do not merely stand on the mountain and say, "It's good to be here Let's build a place to live so we can stay here forever." Here in word and sacrament we are formed into his body. Eternal life has begun for us in Baptism. Here in his presence we are in heaven, but that is merely the beginning of our journey. That is the beginning of life, but now we too must come back down the mountain and into the world as Jesus did.

Here, in worship, in the presence of Christ, we are drawn into the body; into the life and being of Jesus Christ. We are formed into his people and into the likeness of Christ here, and then we go back out into the world to touch the poor, hurting and broken world with the love and forgiveness of Christ. We give our lives as a living sacrifice as Christ gave his life as a sacrifice. We are the presence of Christ in the world; in our homes, in our neighborhoods and communities and to all nations. We bring God's solution, God's healing, God's life giving word to all the lonely, the unloved, the poor, and the slave. We, like Christ, stand and face the monsters of this world with boldness and faith. Knowing that they cannot defeat us because Christ is in us.

That is our cross to bear. We sacrifice our lives in loving service for one another as Jesus sacrificed his life for us. We bear the burdens and carry the loads of one another as Jesus bares our burdens and carries our loads.

We were created to live in Eden; on the holy mountain where heaven touches earth. So every man, woman and child longs and yearns for that Eden. It is our true home and it is built into our being from creation. But since Adam and Eve were cast out of Eden, mankind has desperately wanted to find its way back.

But, where is back? It is back to Christ, for Christ is the only way back to Eden. Where Christ is, there is Eden. Christ is incarnate in his body, the church. We are the incarnational presence of Christ in the world; in the daily cycle and rhythm of life. We are the incarnational presence of Jesus Christ to save and give, for our God is a saving and giving God. Life after death starts at baptism. Now we are living eternal life. So we come back down the mountain after beholding the beauty and glory of Christ. We come back down into the midst of suffering and sin to touch people with the healing grace of Jesus Christ.

Amen.