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Behind the Cloud

Pastor Jeremy Schultz
March 6, 2011

There was once a magician who delighted crowds on the biggest cruise liner the ocean has ever seen! His specialty was making things disappear. With a cloud of smoke, he made flowers, hats, boxes, even people disappear! Nothing was too tough! Yet every time the magician made something disappear, the captain's parrot would squawk. “Whaaa! He's a fake. He's a phony. That's not magic!” It was so embarrassing. But that's what the bird did night after night! “Whaaa! He's a fake. He's a phony. That's not magic!” And then one foggy night, right in the middle of the magician's disappearing act, the ship began to sink. And wouldn't you know it that the magician and this very same parrot found themselves in a lifeboat together! For days, the two of them floated out on the open sea, with neither one of them saying a word. Then the parrot finally broke his silence and said, “All right I give up...where'd you hide the boat?”

Because of the cloud in today's Bible reading and the change in Jesus' appearance, the Lord's transfiguration might appear like something of a magic trick. After all, the word transfigured literally is “metamorphosis.” Jesus underwent a complete change up on that mountain as Peter, James and John caught a glimpse, be it ever so brief, of His divine nature. We're told that His face shone like the sun and His clothes were white like lightening. But to really understand what's going on up there behind the cloud, we need to enter into the text.

Just after Peter declares, in Matthew 16, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, Jesus tells Peter that he's right...and blessed for this knowledge was revealed by the Father in heaven! And then Jesus goes on to tell them all what He, as the Son of God had come to do. Namely...to be betrayed and tried and beaten and crucified for the sins of the world. Then after three days, He would be raised. He wanted those closest to Him to understand that this was His life's purpose. But Peter didn't want to hear it. So he cried out, “Never, Lord! This shall never happen to You!” And just then Jesus give Peter a sharp rebuke. Such thinking as this, Jesus says, is of the devil and Jesus went on to tell Peter, “You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of man.” It was a hard blow for the disciple who loved Jesus so much! But in his desire to protect the Lord, Peter had missed the instruction on how Jesus would protect them.

We're now six days later. Six long and silent days for Peter. I picture him barely keeping up with the rest as they make their way south again toward the land of Israel. I picture Peter bruised and not really saying much of anything at all. But as they reach Mount Tabor, Jesus ascends to the top and He takes with Him, Peter...James and John. And while they're up there, the transfiguration occurs. Suddenly Moses and Elijah, the lawgiver and prophet from the OT, next appear and they are talking with Jesus. According to St. Luke's version, they're talking about His departure, which He was about to accomplish. And after those six days of silence, Peter finally speaks. “Lord, this is really exciting! I was thinking that I could build some shelters and we could stay up here forever!” But the voice from the cloud quiets him. And then there's only Jesus...the beloved Son of God, who does everything right. And they're supposed to listen to Him! Poor Peter, just as soon as his spirits go up...he's quickly hushed and they go back down.

The picture of clouds today in our readings provides us with some really rich symbolism! That's because clouds can represent both highs and lows. A high barometric pressure usually brings clear skies and sunshine. And a low barometric pressure brings clouds and rain. So sometimes we say that we are on cloud nine! That's when things are great and they couldn't be any better. You've just asked a girl out and she said, “Yes!” It's a euphoric state and we might say that you're head is “in the clouds.” But clouds can also represent the lows. And so sometimes we speak of living under a cloud when we're in a troubled or depressed state of mind. Clouds represent both highs and lows. And Peter had them both!

Good old Simon Peter was experiencing some real highs up there on the mountain. I mean seeing Jesus as we will behold Him in Paradise! Seeing Moses and Elijah too! He would have loved to stay up there and bask it in forever. Sometimes we call this a theology of glory. And all of us have such tendencies. Adopt the Christian way of life, people sometimes say, and you are guaranteed success in every way of life. Nothing but clear skies and sunshine! Any clouds in the sky won't matter, because you'll be floating on them! It only seems natural.

Recently I watched a truly remarkable movie called, “To Save a Life.” In it the lead character, Jake, who is easily the most popular kid at his high school, undergoes a real change. He realizes that he didn't do enough to help a struggling classmate while he was alive and this realization leads Jake to Christ. Now as he begins to grow as a Christian, it's clear that Jake is not just out to change himself, but he's out to save someone else. To save a life. But as Jake's girlfriend doesn't follow his lead, as his friends abandon him, as his parents divorce, it's clear that while Jake is growing in Christ, he's also having more struggles in his life than ever before. In a relevant conversation with his pastor, Chris, Jake asks why everything in his life is suddenly broken. Chris replies, “Jake, maybe it already was broken and you're just now noticing.”

A Theology of Glory wants to have Easter without Good Friday. It wants to have all of the highs, but none of the lows. But we have a Savior who knows better. We follow a God that did not stay in the remote protection of heaven, away from all the struggle of His created earth. We have a God that came into our life through His Son, and here drank the full the cup of suffering, temptation and sorrow. As opposed to a theology of glory, this is a theology of the cross. Because some days are lived under a dark cloud. Our sins do bring misfortune and pain. And that's exactly why Jesus didn't stay up there as Peter suggested.

Christ descended that mountain so that He could later ascend another. And on the Mount of Calvary, the skies grew dark and most of the disciples scattered for fear and Jesus was crucified for you and for me. Isaiah says, “He became like One from whom men hide their faces.” His glory no longer shining, but now His glory bleeding, Jesus was dying for your sins and mine. Just think...how ever could Peter have borne such agony and grief of Jesus' suffering and pain, were it not for the glimpse that Jesus gave Him up there on the mountain?

Yes, we need the highs too. In fact, the highs help us with the lows. During the long winters of cloudy skies in Minneapolis, the Fingerhut Corporation has a drawing among its employees. Winners are taken up in a large plane above the clouds to show them that the sun is still shining. The sun is always shining...even when all we see is clouds. God's grace and love in Jesus Christ is similarly always present even when we see only the dark troubled clouds.

Being much like Peter, we would like to live our lives perpetually “in the clouds.” But the Gospel declares that behind the clouds of life shines our God, who imparts to us the righteousness of His redeeming work. And that's really the bottom line to this transfiguration account. It's about Jesus! So we are told of the disciples that when the clouds parted, they looked up and saw no one - only Jesus. Amen.