From the Mountaintop to the Cross

Matthew 17:1-9

A few days ago I got back from a week in Honduras.  I went with 15 others from the New England Synod including Bishop Pipho. Pastor David Rinas and his wife Doreen led the trip.  You might remember they were here at St. Matthew in November when David preached and together they led our adult forum.  They’ve been travelling there for nearly 20 years and have formed many connections and relationships with Lutherans in Honduras.  Last week was an accompaniment trip.  Meaning the purpose wasn’t to build anything like you would on a mission trip, but instead our purpose was to simply build relationships.  We met members of six different Lutheran churches across the country: the pastors, church leaders, and children who receive scholarship funds from the New England Synod.  A scholarship fund for Lutheran students in Honduras from elementary school through college that St. Matthew also contributes to.  If you remember at our annual meeting we voted to distribute endowment funds for these very scholarships. 

The children and parents were so grateful and welcoming.  We played games and laughed and took pictures even though most of us didn’t speak the same language.  Those meetings were truly moments where I saw Christ in the eyes of a child.

One night our group travelled up to one of our few tourist destinations.  We drove to the top of the mountain overlooking the capital city Tegucigalpa and visited a 98 foot tall Jesus monument called Christo del Picacho.  The view was amazing and the monument was a powerful symbol of Christ looking over the city below.  The glory and grandeur of the monument reminds of the glory and grandeur the disciples encountered in Gospel reading today. 

In this passage the disciples witness Jesus in all his glory.  In this text, three disciples—Peter, James, and John—are invited by Jesus to follow him up a mountain.  There, we read that he was transfigured before them.  Shining so brightly that words cannot describe it.  They witnessed Jesus speaking with Moses and Elijah, two of the greatest Hebrew prophets.  Peter, James, and John are awe-struck in the presence of this all-compassing light.  And Matthew tells us that Peter, not knowing what to say, blurts out something about building three little shelters for Jesus, Moses, and Elijah to live in here on the mountaintop.  Then the voice of God booms from the cloud, “This is my Son, the Beloved, listen to him!”  The disciples cover their faces in fear and when they look back up all they saw was Jesus standing alone, back to normal. 

This is the story of the Transfiguration and today is Transfiguration Sunday.  It is a transition Sunday following the season after Epiphany and marking our final Sunday before the season of Lent begins.  It’s the last Sunday we sing Alleluia in church before Easter, and a day we focus on the glory and majesty of Jesus Christ.  A day we celebrate the magnificence of who Jesus is, before we enter into the discipline of Lent and focus on Christ’s journey to the cross. 

During the season of Lent we go from the Jesus of power and glory and greatness revealed on the Mount of Transfiguration all the way down to the dark valley and the little hilltop of Golgotha, the cross.  I think there’s something about this movement that reflects something in human nature.  We want the Jesus of the mountaintop.  We want Him to be powerful and glorious.  The disciples wanted that too.  But the Jesus we get is not the Jesus of glory but the Jesus of the cross, because that’s the Jesus we most need.

During Jesus’ lifetime and in centuries prior, the expectation was that the Messiah would bring about the return of the great empire of King David.  The Messiah was imagined to be a wise king, a mighty warrior, someone who would establish an everlasting dynasty for the kingdom of Israel.  By the first century it was understood that this coming Messiah must be the one to overthrow Rome and recapture the glory of David’s kingdom.  Seeing Jesus transfigured on the mountaintop would’ve been overwhelming experience for sure, but it probably would’ve seemed appropriate with these expectations.  The thing that would not be in line with their expectations would, of course, be the crucified Messiah. 

After this sacred encounter, Jesus the Messiah would walk down the mountain and told His disciples not to speak of this until He had risen from the dead.  Walking down the mountain here is not only literal, but also deeply symbolic of the movement from the spiritual mountaintop of the Transfiguration to life in the valley where Jesus would take up His cross.  When Jesus enters back into the valley of everyday life, the first thing he does is heal someone.  He continues to be with those who suffer, give hope to the hopeless, teach those who misunderstand, and eventually suffers and dies for the world.  From the mountaintop to the cross, Jesus leaves behind glory and power and identifies with the forgotten and powerless.

As I reflect on my time in Honduras and the impressiveness of that giant monument Christo del Picacho, I know Jesus was present there.  But He was present just as much, if not more, in the smiles of children, in the tears of parents, in the concerned faces of people living on the edge of poverty, in the hearts of Hondurans worried about the fate of loved ones in the US.  Christ was just as present in the ordinary affairs of daily life as He was in the sacred monument overlooking the city.  Christ is in the small things, the simple things, the unimportant things, “the least of these” as Jesus Himself said.  That was a major takeaway for me from Honduras, and that’s a major takeaway for us all as enter the season of Lent.  We see Jesus clearly on the mountaintop and as we journey through Lent we see Him even more clearly on the cross.   Thanks to be to God for Christ’s glory revealed on the mountain and thanks be to God for Christ’s love revealed on the cross. 

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Pastor Brian | Sunday, February 15, 2026 | Transfiguration of Our Lord