God's Holy Reminder

Rebecca Sheridan
Sunday, February 15, 2026
Matthew 17:1-9

    As a kid, did you enjoy looking at clouds?  Maybe you still do? Of course it doesn’t seem like anything you’d want to do on a snowy day in February, but what a pleasant thought to imagine yourself lying on the warm green grass, feeling the breeze, watching the clouds go by, naming the shapes you see.  There’s a lot about God showing up in the clouds in our scriptures for today, and instead of a pleasant experience, the disciples as well as Moses in the first reading seem to be afraid of God in the clouds.  I remember thinking as a kid that clouds were solid, like cotton balls. Cartoon characters jumped on clouds like trampolines on TV, so why not in real life?  I discovered when I took my first plane ride (which wasn’t until I was 10 years old!), that we were flying through clouds, and that clouds are basically fog or mist.  Driving through fog can be a really scary experience.  You may not be able to see much of anything.  Clouds are mysterious, maybe even frightening. As we see throughout scripture, God shows up in the clouds – clouds are a sign of God’s presence.  When the Israelites leave Egypt for the promised land, God guides them as a pillar of cloud by day, and a pillar of fire by night.  Here in our transfiguration story, God shows up in a cloud.
    We often describe the transfiguration story as a “mountaintop experience” for Peter, James and John.  We might think of our own mountaintop experiences this morning – a time we felt particularly close to God, the moment we became a Christian, or some of the best days of our lives.  Peter does tell Jesus, “It is good for us to be here!”  God’s glory is revealed in Jesus on that mountaintop like never before.  They get to see Moses and Elijah, the ancestors of the faith.  I do wonder, how did they know it was Moses and Elijah?  But the point is, God IS doing something awesome on that mountain, and it IS amazing that those three disciples get to experience it.  However, quickly a bright cloud overshadows Peter, and they are overcome not with joy, but by fear.  As they come down the mountain, Jesus urges them not to tell anyone about the vision.
    Well, it’s very likely that none of us have had quite that same mountaintop experience as Peter, James, and John.  We have not seen bright shiny Jesus, much less Moses and Elijah talking to him.  We have not heard God speaking to us from a cloud.  But we have had mountaintop experiences of faith that we have wanted to last forever, yet they haven’t.  We know the experience of going from feeling God’s nearness – like everything is going well for us with God’s blessing, to feeling distant from God and spiritually dry.  We have had times when we have been afraid and confused, wondering perhaps where God is in the mess of our lives, feeling like the future is cloudy and uncertain, wondering what God has to do with whatever we have just experienced.  
Matthew starts this chapter by saying, “Six days later…”. So you have to go back and look at the end of Matthew 16 to figure out what happened six days before this mountain hike with Jesus.  Peter has confessed that Jesus is the Messiah, and Jesus has declared Peter to be the rock on which he will build the church.  Right after that, Jesus tells his disciples he must go to Jerusalem, suffer, be killed, and be raised.  Peter does not want to hear it.  Jesus says, “Get behind me, Satan!”  Then he asks his disciples to deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow him.  It is pondering this very difficult call and teaching about the near future – the Messiah will die on a cross, and wants us to take up our crosses, too?-that leads into the transfiguration experience for today. Peter, James, and John are still processing, I’m sure, Jesus’ words.  On the mountain, they know that although they’re at the top, this is not the final destination for Jesus or for them.  They have to go back down the mountain, encountering a suffering world, extending Christ’s healing, and finally going with him to Jerusalem, witnessing his death on the cross.  They are surrounded by the cloud of God’s glorious presence – it’s good, terrifying, and confusing all at the same time.  We can understand that.  Our faith in Jesus, our Messiah, Savior, and Lord, can be all of those things all at the same time – good, terrifying, and confusing:  Getting married, having a baby, starting a new job or career, even being with a loved one as they transition living here on earth to death/eternal life can be good, terrifying, and confusing all at the same time!
The consistent factor in this transfiguration story, and for us, is Jesus is there.  Jesus takes them up the mountain.  Jesus is transfigured before them on the mountain.  In the cloud, Jesus comes and touches them, telling them not to be afraid.  When they look up, they see no one except Jesus himself alone – Jesus is still there after the cloud dissipates!  And Jesus leads them back down the mountain.  It’s a simple message, but an important reminder – for the disciples, and for us, too, that no matter what they are experiencing and feeling, Jesus is there.  In the mountain highs and valley lows, when we’re by ourself and with a crowd, in moments of clarity and in our confusion, in our fear and when we’re feeling pretty good, Jesus is there!
The gospel writer Matthew places this transfiguration story at exactly the middle of his story.  Matthew understands that we all need reminders on this faith journey of ours of why we started out following Jesus in the first place, how we got here, and where we’re going.  We need the most basic reminder that in the beginning, end AND middle of our lives of faith, Jesus was there, is there, and will be there.  We began the season of Epiphany with Jesus’ baptism and celebrated our own baptisms – the beginning of our faith journeys.  God says the same thing that he says from the cloud today – “This is my Son, the Beloved, with him I am well pleased;  listen to him.”  In case anyone forgot, missed it the first time, or had doubts along the way, this is God’s reminder to us in the middle of our lives – Jesus is God’s beloved son, listen to him.  And we share this name of Jesus – we, too, are God’s beloved children, whom God will never forsake or abandon.  The disciples definitely need this reminder to give them strength for the difficult journey ahead of following Jesus to the cross and to the empty tomb.  We need this reminder, too, as we enter into the season of Lent this week – Jesus is God’s beloved, WE are God’s beloved, listen to Jesus.  What God is doing in and through us may not always make sense right away.  We may not feel Christ’s presence with us all of the time.  God doesn’t always act in booming voices from bright clouds shining on a mountain top so that it’s crystal clear what we should do next.  Nonetheless, when we look, we will find Jesus himself, there beside us, encouraging us to get up and not be afraid. Thanks be to God.  Amen.