Last week, we were in a Central American village. This week we’re climbing a mountain with Jesus and three of his disciples. This is the day we recall and celebrate Jesus’ transfiguration, when God spoke once more from the clouds, proclaiming to the disciples that Jesus is indeed His Beloved Son.

Let’s enter the story and try to experience it through the eyes of the three disciples – Peter, James, and John.

Jesus takes them up the mountain that they may witness the most amazing things: they see a combination of heaven and earth; they see a blending of time and eternity; they glimpse a mixture of reality and transcendence, a merging of history and theology.

What happens as this scene unfolds before them? How do they respond when God speaks, "This is my Son, the Chosen; listen to him."?

Peter begins babbling: "Let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah." Perhaps he was hoping to prolong the experience by erecting shelters for them. More likely, though, he didn’t know what else to do.

What do we do when confronted with a powerful revelation? Someone says "I have cancer" or "My husband just left me" or "My child has AIDS". When something is too deep for us to manage, we revert to the familiar. We get busy – we make a pot of tea, weed the garden, build something.

Would we have behaved any differently than Peter? As Christians, we long for an indication of God’s presence in our lives. We have a spiritual hunger, but when we actually do experience that closeness with God, we often become uncomfortable or confused. We don’t quite know what to do with it.

I think that’s what was happening on the mountain that day. Peter and James and John had committed themselves to Jesus. They were his disciples. But when God spoke to them, revealing Jesus’ true identity, they didn’t know what to do. So Peter, the fisherman who was used to working with his hands, wanted to get busy and make something.

Being busy with routine tasks helps us to absorb the shock of what we have seen or heard. It gives us time to think. It gives us a little space in which to prepare our response. We must be careful, though, not to lose ourselves in our busyness and thus avoid the situation altogether. If someone trusts us enough to share their pain or their joy with us, we must respond to that love and trust. If someone says, "I have cancer" you don’t just turn and walk away from them. If someone tells you they are about to become a first-time grandparent, you take the time to congratulate them and to celebrate their happiness.

We know that the disciples responded to Jesus. They spent the rest of their lives preaching the gospel, but at the moment, they could only gaze in awe and look for a diversion.

This transfiguration story was preserved for us, I think, to help us find Christ’s vision during good times and bad. It is an affirmation for us that God is in charge and all will be well.

Try to picture that scene and its significance to the disciples. They were Jews and had been raised on the Law of Moses. They could recite the stories of the great prophets who spoke with God. That was their history. Yet, they had been chosen by Jesus to help show people another way to serve God. The seemingly harsh and demanding God of Moses and the prophets was also the loving God of whom Jesus spoke. That message was clear. They saw Moses, the one to whom God revealed his commandments; Moses, who helped free the Hebrew people from slavery and who led them towards the Promised Land. And there was Elijah, the greatest of the prophets; Elijah who did not experience a natural death but was taken up to heaven in a whirlwind and a chariot of fire. And Jesus was there – Jesus, the new Moses, and the one now sent by God to lead the people. And Jesus is revealed to the disciples not only as the continuation and fulfillment of Hebrew history and prophecy but also as God’s beloved Son. He is glorified before them and, in echoes of the words God spoke at Jesus’ baptism, we hear once more from the clouds "This is my Son, the Beloved. Listen to him."

Can there be any doubt that God is in charge and that all will be well? There could be no question now that Jesus was the fulfillment of ancient prophecy, the beloved Son of God.

When you hit those valleys – those deep dark pits of life – remember that. Look beyond the depths of your despair and know that God is with you. Since the beginning of time God has been here and God isn't about to abandon us now. Everything will be all right.

Finally, this story of Jesus’ transfiguration tells of how he was changed. His clothing became so bright, it dazzled their eyes. In the company of the past, the present and the hope of the future, Jesus is transfigured. But what about Peter and James and John? This experience, I think, also transfigured them. They had had an experience like no other person ever had and they were forever changed by it.

Whenever the disciples are mentioned, Peter is usually named first. He was the one closest to Jesus. He became the rock on which Christ built his church. Peter was not perfect – as we know from his later denial of Jesus – but he didn’t give up. His faith carried him through Jesus’ death and resurrection and it helped him build the church. We know that he continued to preach to the crowds and that he healed people. Tradition tells us that Peter eventually died in Rome, a martyr under Nero’s rule.

James, too, was part of Jesus’ inner circle, and like Peter, he faltered. On occasion, Jesus had to rebuke him for his attitude and for his visions of glory. Nonetheless, James continued to preach after Jesus’ death and resurrection. He went to Jerusalem with the other apostles and was executed there by Herod.

His younger brother John shared James’ outspoken manner. In fact, Jesus called them "Boanerges" – "sons of thunder". Yet it was John who stood at Mary’s side at Jesus’ crucifixion and church tradition ascribes several New Testament books to him.

History differs on what became of John. Some sources claim he was plunged in boiling oil and then exiled to Patmos while others say that he became the Bishop of Ephesus and died a natural death in his old age.

Remember, we’re talking about three simple fishermen here. Yet these three men were chosen by Jesus to help transform the world. He gave them the gift of witnessing his transfiguration and when he left the world to return to his heavenly Father, he gave them a vision and entrusted to them the fulfillment of that vision.

Christ gives us a vision and the means and the courage to see that vision through.

Like Peter, James and John, we, too, become fearful and falter, we get angry, and we have our doubts. But we are God’s children, chosen by Christ to follow him and to transform our world. Whether we are dazzled by the light or plunged into the darkness of despair, we are his. Through our doubts and fears we are his. Let us follow him to the mountaintop to see God’s glory revealed through Christ that we may do the work God calls us to do.

Amen