Transfiguration B
Heaven by Way of the Cross
St. Mark 9:2-9
15 February 2015 – Redeemer
Six year old Alex Malarkey went to heaven or so he said. In 2004 he and his father were involved in an automobile accident which left Alex with severe injuries and in a coma for two months. When he awoke he told his story of going to heaven. Tyndale Publishing House helped Alex sell his story, marketing it as the “true story of an ordinary boy’s most extraordinary journey.” In early January, now 15 years old, Alex repented of his lies – I did not die. I did not go to heaven. Tyndale has stopped selling his book, but many Christian book stores continue to sell the “heavenly tourism” books – that is stories of people who took a little trip to heaven and made the return trip back to life on earth.
We should not be surprised by the popularity of heavenly tourism books. Everyone wants to go to heaven – oh, perhaps not the heaven described in Holy Scripture, but everyone deeply desires and believes that whatever they experience after this life will be better, will be more glorious, more peaceful, less painful. Read the obituaries – if there is any indication of the afterlife it’s always heaven, it’s always better. You never read that Uncle Mike is finally getting what he deserved as he eternally struggles to breath in the sulphur fires of hell.
If you want to know what heaven is like just watch Jesus as He walks around Galilee and the Jordan River Valley and Samaria and Jerusalem. At the beginning of that journey He preached a sermon just like we have at Redeemer, short and to the point, “The time is fulfilled. The Kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe the Gospel.” The kingdom of God is at hand in Jesus. Jesus is the heavenly rule and reign of God on earth. He casts out unclean spirits. He heals the sick. He cleanses lepers. He gives a paralyzed man back his legs. The worst of sinners enjoy lunch with Jesus. A jobless man with a withered hand is given back his hand and his work at Jesus’ Word. When the disciples are threatened with death during a violent storm on the sea of Galilee, Jesus speaks the wind and waves to be still. A woman who had suffered 12 years with the flow of blood is made well. The dead daughter of Jairus is raised up.
You want heaven? There it is, in Jesus, by Jesus, through Jesus. Satan is cast out of your life and flesh and conscience. Sickness and suffering are banished. Death and decay lose. Life and the resurrection win. No more paralyzed boys from automobile accidents. No more Islamic terrorists beheading and burning hostages. No more lies and greed. No more struggles with sin and failing to live as God’s baptized children. Don’t tell me you don’t want that.
Peter certainly wanted it as he saw it on the Mount of Transfiguration. On that Mountain, for a moment, the glory of God in Christ shone through the person of Jesus. As we confess every Lord’s day Jesus is true God and true man in one person, but for almost all of his time on earth that “God-ness” the divinity of Jesus was completely veiled by His human flesh. You could see that He was God in His miracles. He declared Himself to be the Son of Man, the Promised Messiah. But to look at Him, ordinarily, you would see a man like every other man. But on this day, on this Mountain, God the Father opened heaven for a moment. Two Saints from heaven, Moses and Elijah appeared with Jesus. Jesus shone in His radiant glory – and just in case you thought it was some special effect or the sun hit Jesus just right – Mark tells us that the source of this glory, this light was from within Him – it shone through His clothes – and they became “radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them.”
Who doesn’t want to be in that picture? Those long departed saints from earth are alive and talking. Jesus and His Kingdom are no longer hidden, but fully revealed. Peter wants to stay, “Rabbi, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” But as Saint Mark reveals, and he probably heard this from Peter himself – Peter didn’t know what he was saying.
As they were going down the Mountain Jesus also makes it clear that Peter didn’t know what he was saying. Peter, James, and John, are not to say anything at all about this event until the Son of Man is risen from the dead. Can you imagine how Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother felt? For some reason he didn’t get to go up the mountain. Perhaps he was left guarding the donkeys or keeping the campfire going. Perhaps he saw the bright light, heard a rumble as God spoke. When the foursome finally returns Andrew asks, “So what happened?” And Peter wanted to shout, “It was heaven on earth. Man, Jesus was glowing. Mose and Elijah were talking. The Father spoke. Jesus is the One – no doubt.” But after Jesus gave him the eye, Peter said, “Nothing happened. Not a thing.”
Peter wanted heaven, but he didn’t know what he was talking about. And he wouldn’t know the full truth of heaven until after Jesus was raised from the dead. There’s the key to heaven, the same key that healed the sick, raised the dead, and left the paralyzed man dancing polkas – it is Jesus. Not just Jesus of miracles and Jesus aglow, but specifically Jesus dead on a cross and raised back to life. There is only one way to heaven and that way is the Son of Man who rose from the dead.
None of us wants to believe that this world of trouble and sorrow is all there is. We don’t want to end up with our name engraved on a granite slab with a few dates and names on our tombstone. We want peace and joy and to be free of suffering and pain, but we often want that apart from the truth of why we suffer pain and experience evil and finally die. The problem with the world is not evil or pain or suffering or death – the problem is you. The problem is me. We are sinners, rebels against God. Our sin has robbed us of the joys of paradise and the peace that endures. There is no place in heaven for sinners – that’s why God gave the boot to Adam and Eve in the Garden. It’s also why God promised them a Savior.
You cannot talk about heaven until the Son of Man is risen from the dead. He is risen from the dead because He has atoned for your sins. He is risen from the dead because death has no grasp when sins are forgiven. He is risen from the dead because Satan has no power when sins are forgiven. He is risen from the dead because the very sin that kills you killed him. He is risen from the dead because the wrath of God over your sins burned itself out on Him.
There is no way to heaven except by way of the cross, by way of forgiveness, by way of God’s blood shed and God’s body given. That’s why they couldn’t stay upon on the Mount of Transfiguration. Moses and Elijah cannot be in heaven without the cross. Peter, James, and John cannot enter heaven except by the cross. It would not have been good for Peter to build those three tents and hold Jesus captive, all to himself, on that mountain.
The good news today is not that heaven is real – it is. The good news is that heaven is open for real – opened by the cross, opened by the Father who gave His Son for you. Opened by the body and blood of Jesus. Open and your sins cannot shut it. Satan cannot keep you out. Death cannot prevent you from entering. Repent of your sins, believe in Jesus and you’re in now by faith and soon by sight.
Alex Malarkey repented of his heavenly lies. In his letter demanding that his book no longer be sold he says, “The Bible is enough.” It is only through repentance of your sins and a belief in Jesus as the Son of God, who died for your sins …that you can be forgiven (and) may … learn of Heaven.” This Last Sunday after the Epiphany shows us heaven. Now with our Savior we enter the valley of the shadow of death. We enter Lent and look forward to when we can speak of heaven again and join the Angel choirs on Easter with Alleluias. Heaven is open in and only in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Pr. Bruce Timm
14 February 2015 anno Domini