2/15/26 Mark 9:2-9 “All Is Well!”

12 Feb 2/15/26 Mark 9:2-9 “All Is Well!”

2/15/26    Mark 9:2-9      “All Is Well!”

Sometimes I get a little disgusted with television for various reasons that I have mentioned in the past.  It’s really getting to be pretty bad for the most part as television has adopted the customs and leanings of the culture.  But today, I would like us to look at another aspect of TV.  I would like to give you an assignment this next week.  I would like you all to watch TV and take special note on advertising.  What I would like you to notice is who is the ad directed at?  Is it for your benefit?  Is it for all our benefits?  Or is it for the benefit of the people paying for the ad?  I think that you will find that most ads are for me.  How can I be better?  How can I get this food?  How can I have more fun by drinking or partying with scantily clad people?  As I have said, most of this is just a reflection of the society.  We are told that we are to be looking at ourselves.  Don’t look at others.  It’s all about me.  When I used to ride my motorcycle, they would tell us never of look at the road right in front of the bike when going into a curve.  If you just looked right in front of you, you will crash.  If you try to look at the far end of the curve, you will be all right.  The focus was on what is far ahead.  Today, we are going to look at the transfiguration as it is Transfiguration Sunday.  Let’s see what Mark has to tell us about looking ahead.

Robert Louis Stevenson gives us this story about a ship at sea that was in serious trouble due to a terrible storm.  The passengers were alarmed as they were told to stay in their cabins.  One of them, against orders, went up on deck and made his way to the pilot.  The sailor was at his post of duty at the wheel but anyone could see that he was frightened, really frightened.  The man saw this and gave the man at the wheel a big reassuring smile at which the pilot smiled back.  Then he returned to the other passengers and said, “I have seen the face of the pilot, and he smiled.  All is well.”  Technically, the man told the truth plus he reassured a bunch of frightened passengers.  “I have seen the face of the pilot, and he smiled.  All is well.” might also be the phrase on which the transfiguration is based.

I doubt if there is anyone here who doesn’t know about mountaintops and valleys even if we are a bunch of flatlanders.  Our lives are a series of peaks and valleys, sometimes higher and sometimes lower.  This was the same thing for Jesus.  His ministry had been booming.  He had been traveling the countryside healing many from various diseases and demon possessions.  In today’s world we don’t like to think of demon possessions because it isn’t very scientific.  They are right in that it isn’t very scientific but it exists all the same.

I received a heartfelt thank you once from someone for teaching them how to cast out the devil.  If you remember, all you have to do is grab onto the authority that Jesus has given you and say out loud, “In the name of Jesus Christ, I command you, Satan, to get out of my life or just to be gone.”  Satan has to leave because he is also under the authority of Jesus.  I try to do this before every service I do.  Anyway, this person woke up in a cold sweat one morning that week and they felt terrible.  They felt the evil presence of Satan hovering over them or near them.  So this person commanded Satan to be gone over and over.  Then they proceeded to fall into a deep sleep.  They awoke a little later feeling well rested and completely at peace.  People, there is no reason to put up with Satan.  Cast him out.  Anyway, many of our valleys are caused by Satan.

So Jesus is having a pretty good go of it as far as His ministry is concerned.  Just before this He had been healing the lame and sick, feeding 4000, and spreading the Word of God to all in the countryside.  Yes, there were those detractors from the Pharisees and priests but generally, things were going well.  And then suddenly, 6 days later, He takes Peter, John and James with Him as He takes them to the mountaintop to witness the transfiguration.  I think that there might be a couple of reasons why Jesus did this.  There are probably more but we are only going to talk about 2 today.

The first is that God wanted them to know exactly who Jesus was.  He wanted no doubt in their minds exactly who they were dealing with.  Prior to this, Jesus had done many miracles that were witnessed by the disciples.  As I just said, things had rolling along.  Unfortunately, and Jesus knew this, the disciples were having a hard time catching on as to who He exactly was.

So Jesus takes these 3 disciples up on the mountain.  There Moses and Elijah join Jesus.  God talks to them from a cloud and says, “This is my Son, whom I love.  Listen to Him.”  I think that this is one of the greatest scenes in the Bible.  This shows us that Jesus was indeed God.  However, the disciples were Jews and they would need one more piece to the puzzle.  Do you remember in Exodus when Moses came off the mountain with the tablets of the 10 Commandments?  The face of Moses was radiant.  It was bright.  All the disciples know this.  They knew their Scriptures.  Therefore, when Jesus was transfigured, His clothes became brighter than anything humans could ever make.  Some say that the transfiguration was such that He became brighter than bright.  The disciples could still look but it had to be bright and I bet that they could only look because God protected their eyes.  Anyway, this is a reference to Moses in Exodus.  Jesus was brighter than Moses.  Jesus ruled over even the great patriarchs.  This would be important to the Jews.

This is important for us to realize also.  Jesus isn’t some friend that we can go and slap on the back and say, “How ya doin?’”  I think that we suffer more than the disciples from not knowing that Jesus is God and exactly who God is.  Yes, He is our friend, hopefully our best friend.  We can confide in Him and He will help us always.  He is all the attributes of love put together in one.  He is all good and only good.  However, He is still God; the very maker of the universe.  He will come to judge all people, living and dead.  We are called to have an extreme reverence for Him.  He isn’t like many who portray Him as only a God of love.  He is also the God of all justice and He will see justice done in the end and it will be His justice.  It will be the fairest justice of all even if you can’t see it right now.

The next thing I want us to notice is that they are on the mountain top.  These figures are radiant and God has spoken.  These 3 disciples couldn’t get to a higher point in their lives if they tried.  Peter says ‘Hey, let’s make some tents here for you guys and we will sit down and break a little bread.’  I’m stretching the narrative a little but that might have been what Peter was thinking.  He was thinking that they should stay here awhile.  This is so good that we shouldn’t have to just get up and leave again.

I know that we are flatlanders but have you ever been to a mountaintop?  It is usually absolutely breathtaking.  You stand up there seemingly at the top of the world and you can see everywhere.  I think that there is a peak in the Colorado area where you can stand on a mountaintop and see 4 states.  It is so neat that you don’t want to leave.  There is a story about a family that drove up to Pike’s Peak.  They got to the top and they were all gaga like any flatlander would be.  They were looking out at the scenery that was just too much for their senses.  As they were out watching, a thunderstorm came up.  They watched it come at them, above and below them with flashing lightning until the attendant called for all to come inside out of danger.  The dad stayed and couldn’t take his eyes off what was happening until a bolt of lightning hit right next to him.  Then he went inside in a hurry.

The point here is not to blame Peter for wanting to do what is natural.  He is on the mountaintop and he doesn’t want to leave.  When was the last time that things were going really well for you and you didn’t want it to stop.  What does it feel like when you are all done with a celebration like Christmas?  How do you feel after you have won the championship and now you have to start all over next season?  You feel let down.  You don’t want to leave that mountaintop.  This is just natural.

We have to be careful on mountaintops.  We may miss the point.  Here is a quick little story by Tony Abrams about a man who was climbing a mountain in the hopes that he would find God at the top.  By climbing the mountain, the man had left all the cares and miseries of life behind him in the valley.  But while he was climbing, God was coming down the mountain to go into all the toil and grief.  In the mists and fog of the mountain, they pass each other.  When the man reaches the top, he finds nothing.  God is not there.  He realizes that the climb had been a mistake.  Now comes the question, “Will the man fall down on the mountaintop in despair or will he go back down into the valley where God has gone seeking him?”  This is the same question I ask you this morning.  Are you going to fall down in despair because you can’t find God or will you scoot back down the mountain to the place you belong?

You see, we were never meant to live on the mountaintops.  It’s perfectly ok to be at the mountaintop once in a while just so that we know that it’s still there, that there are good things in the world.  But it is our job to go back down and lead others to the top.  While it is acceptable to take a rest here and there remembering that the best rest comes from Jesus Christ but we do have to move ahead.  We should not forget that the word retirement is not in the Bible and that we always have work to do in the valley.

Garth Wehrfritz-Hanson tells this a story of an 85-year-old woman who was being interviewed for her birthday.  The reporter asked her what advice she had for people of her age.   “Well,” said this dear lady, “at our age it’s very important to keep using all our potential or it dries up.  It’s important to be with people, if it is at all possible, to earn one’s living through service.  That’s what keeps us alive and well.”  The reporter then asked, “May I ask what exactly you do for a living at your age?”  “Why I look after an old lady in my neighborhood,” was her unexpected reply.  You see, no matter what age you are, your work isn’t done yet.  I think that some of the most important work comes from our older prayer warriors.  This is important work and it is God’s work.

The last reason this is so important to us is that we are entering into the season of Lent.  Jesus is showing us and the disciples that He is on top of the world and shortly He will be on the bottom of the world as He makes the final turn towards the cross.  Jesus knows exactly what is coming.  He knows that He has to come down and obey the Father.  He has a job and He must finish.

As I just said we all have jobs.  My job is to try to lead you spiritually to be closer to Jesus.  We are going to try something different for Lent this year.  I just finished a book called “Give up Something Bad for Lent.”  The title of the book intrigued me so now we are going to try to follow its example.  I can really think of very few things that so-called Christianity has done right in the last 100 years or so.  It seems to me that the church has been trying to reinvent the Gospel so that it works in our modern world.  Their results so far have been a steady decline in just about all areas.  Some denominations have had temporary gains but they don’t seem to last.

So let’s try to do something that is totally different.  Usually we give up something that we really enjoy for Lent as a sacrifice for God.  And this is ok.  You have probably given up things like chocolate, coffee, candy, pop or something else that you like to do.  In the end you are right back where you started.  And really who cares if you don’t eat chocolate for a few weeks.  No one can really see the difference in you anyway.  So this year I want you to think about giving something that you do or like to do that is bad.  Think about this before you come for Ash Wednesday service.  Then give it up.

As I said Jesus knew what was coming.  He is transfigured so that we can have some comfort.  Jesus had to go into a deep valley, the valley of death and come out the other side.  Jesus is telling us today that all is well.  As our society collapses, as they make more laws against the Bible, the living word of God, you have to keep your focus on Jesus.  He is as bright as bright can be and he is telling us that all is well.  Jesus knows the end of the story.  He knows the agony He must go through and the agony that you must go through.  And during this time, He is thinking of you.  He wants you to be comforted with the fact that He is in charge and all is well.  I have seen the pilot and He is smiling.  All is well.

Hopefully, you can see that there are many different nuances to this simple passage as is with most passages of the Bible.  Find comfort in this passage because you are also a child of God who loves you.  Jesus will never leave us with more than we can handle because He has handled that much Himself.  So no matter where you are, on the mountaintop or the valley or in-between someplace, rely on Jesus.  He was thinking about you when He was transfigured and that will never change.  He is still thinking of you today.  Jesus loves you.  Thank you, Jesus, for first loving us.  Let’s pray.