Matthew 17:1-13
A few weeks ago I did a funeral for one of my high school classmates. I shared some of my youthful day’s memories of my friend, talking about some of the things we had done together. We played a board game called Carom. He was part of a large family, as was I. We went to Sunday School and worshiped together. We finished high school together. We each took our own road of life, but we remained friends. Death came for him in January and he walked off the stage of time. Our youthful days, and even old age, became a disappearing thing with death. What remains is the memory of a good and kind friend and when I reach the end of my time on the stage of life, even that memory will disappear. One thing will remain and that is the Jesus we have faith in. This one thing remains, Jesus made for us an eternal house that will never disappear.
In this scripture lesson, Jesus took Peter, and the two brothers James and John, and led them up a high mountain to be alone.
“As the men watched, Jesus’ appearance was transformed so that his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as light. Suddenly, Moses and Elijah appeared and began talking with Jesus. Peter exclaimed, ‘Lord, it’s wonderful for us to be here. If you want, I’ll make three shelters as memorials – one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.’ But even as he spoke a bright cloud overshadowed them and a voice from the cloud said, ‘This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy.’ The disciples were terrified and fell face down on the ground.
Then Jesus came over and touched them, ‘Get up,’ he said, ‘Don’t be afraid.’ And when they looked up Moses and Elijah were gone, and they saw only Jesus.”
When we walk off the stage of life in faith the one thing we will see is Jesus. Life, buildings, governments, human leaders, bank accounts, and ownership of things will disappear. Even the people that have positions of power will be gone. The one thing our God gives us the assurance of is that He is still with us even as we leave this stage of life. Jesus is still with us. He alone will remain when all else disappears.
In C. S. Lewis’ book, “The Screwtape Letters,” Lewis takes on many Christian-political writers’ concepts of a historical Jesus. I want to mention four of those points.
In his first point, Lewis tells that the historical Jesus is unhistorical and this concept is only a writer’s concept.
In the second point, C. S. states that the historical concept of Jesus makes him out to be just a great man. This distracts our minds from who Jesus is and what he did. The historical concept of Jesus makes him just another great teacher among other great teachers.
In C. S.’s third point, he says that the concepts of the historical Jesus are constructed to destroy the devotional life experience we have in our prayers and in the reception of the sacraments. This historical concept of Jesus tells us he spoke a strange language and died a long time ago. He tells us that such an object cannot in fact be worshipped.
The fourth point C. S. makes, besides being unhistorical in the Jesus it depicts, religion of this kind is false history in another sense. C. S. said few converts come to the Christian faith by the historical study of the biography of Jesus. C. S. is right when he wrote that the earliest converts were converted by a single historical fact (the Resurrection) and a single theological doctrine (the Redemption). This makes the point that our Christian faith is based on the resurrection of a living Jesus that has the power to redeem us from our sin and give us a new life.
C.S. Lewis wrote the Screwtape Letters in 1942, almost eighty years ago. Religious teachers and writers have this same trouble today as they have made Jesus just another historical figure, a great man of his time. This concept of Jesus tries to cover the living Christ, but Lewis was right that Jesus stands alone from all other so-called religious leaders. When the fog lifted, Peter, James, and John saw only Jesus — neither Moses nor Elijah. The reason He stands alone is the historical fact of the Resurrection. Jesus stands alone in the redemption power that came from his Resurrection that gives us life and defeats sin and death. When we live by this faith, we walk off the stage of this life and we will be with the living Jesus. All else will disappear from the past, but we shall see the only God of eternal life.
“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and old earth had disappeared and the sea was also gone. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. I heard a loud shout from the throne saying, ‘Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. He will wipe every tear from their eyes and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.’ And the one sitting on the throne said, ‘Look, I am making everything new!’ And then he said to me, ‘Write this down for what I tell you is trustworthy and true.’ And he also said, ‘It is finished. I am the Alpha and the Omega – the Beginning and the End. To all who are thirsty I will give freely from the springs of the water of life. All who are victorious will inherit all these blessings and I will be their God and they will be my children.’ (Revelations 21:1-7)
It is the living Jesus of Easter that will never disappear from a person that lives by faith in the Alpha and Omega.
