Mountan Top !

For the disciples, it is a moment of utter clearness.

 

They have been travelling with this man Jesus. They have been fishing and cooking with him. They have rested and eaten and joked with him. They have seen Jesus make the blind see, they have seen the paralyzed walk. At least one of the disciples has said to Jesus’ face that he believes that he is the messiah. But he’s still just another person. A rabbi. Their rabbi and teacher. He’s pretty special, but he’s still just a person.

 

Until that moment on the mountaintop. A moment of utter clearness. A moment they get to see the whole picture. And who Jesus also is stands shining right there in front of them.

 

We rarely see the whole picture on things. How could we?

With people, we know them in certain roles or situations. We know what they tell us about themselves or what society tells us about them. Even those people we know the best usually still have some piece of their life or heart unrevealed to us.

 

Stories we see on the news usually miss someone’s perspective or critical piece of information.

 

We rarely get to see the whole picture on things.

 

But we make decisions all of the time based on what we do see. That’s what we have to do. It’s what the disciples did.

 

They had heard Jesus teach. They had seen him heal. They had watched him with powerful people and people who had no power. The disciples were with him more than anyone else.

They knew he had authority, and they knew he was from God. As confusing as that could be it was still somewhat easy to understand.

 

But Holiness isn’t easy to understand.

 

Seeing the full shining presence of God surrounding  Elijah and Moses and Jesus isn’t easy to understand.

 

Clouds and voices from the clouds are not all easy to understand.

 

The full picture of Jesus is overwhelming for them.

 

Peter doesn’t know what to say. The others don’t speak at all. Terror is mentioned in every gospel account of this moment.

 

Because suddenly this guy, the rabbi, the one they’ve spent all of this time with is someone more. They see that there really is more to his story. Sure they had thought about it, but then suddenly here they are, simple fishermen seeing something more, something that had overwhelmed greater people then them in the past.

They are now completely aware that their day to day experiences of reality are not the whole picture.

Jesus is more than they realized. God is doing more than they thought possible.

They wonder if even, these simple disciples, are more than they realize, more than they suspect. They are part of a sacred story, a holy event.

 

When they shake their heads and look around after a few moments, they see “only Jesus.”

Only him. Only their rabbi, their guy, their teacher.

Things seem back to the normal of everyday.

But they have seen the bigger picture now – and “only Jesus” means a whole lot more to them than it did before they headed up that mountain.

 

And maybe they understand themselves a bit differently too.

 

We rarely get to see the whole picture on things. Especially with people. Particularly with one another.

 

You can look around this sanctuary this morning and see people you’ve known for a few weeks or for decades. You know pieces of their story, but rarely do you know the bigger picture.

This morning, though, in this gospel, this is one of those days when God pushes us to see more.

 

God pushes us beyond our day to day experiences, and tries to shake us up enough to realize that God is doing than we think possible. 

 

God pushes us to understand that perhaps even everyday people and their everyday stories around us are more holy than we suspected.

 

Because the bigger picture, when you look around, is that this place is filled with holy people.

 

The bigger picture, when you look around, is that there are no simple life stories here – there are only sacred ones. 

 

The bigger picture here begins not on a mountain or in clouds – but at a baptismal font. In the community of believers. God gathers us together into a place and a community where if we listen, we can hear God calling each of us God’s own child. Where we can hear each of us called beloved. Jesus steps into our day to day experiences and reminds us that God is up to something more in our lives than others know.

 

The bigger picture here is that you, each of you, are a precious child of God. You are part of God’s sacred work in the world. There will always be something more to your story – more hope, more blessing, more love - even if you can’t see it. 

 

Part of why we are visiting here, is so that you and I, can learn more about one another. So that our churches can have a more complete understanding of one another. So that I can see the holy things God is doing in your life and your church and your community.

 

And when you look at one another, no matter what pieces of everyone’s story you think you know, look and see the bigger picture about that person across from you – they, too, are a precious child of God.

 

They are never “only” that person. God is at work, even in ways we do not always see. God is at work among people here, people in this city. And places where God is at work are never just day to day events with everyday people – they are holy places.  Even when we cannot see the whole picture. God does.