Jesu Juva
“Where Jesus Is, It Is Good”
Text: Hebrews 3:1-6; Deuteronomy 34:1-12; Luke 9:28-36
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.
The verses we heard from the book of Hebrews today praise Moses. Twice it tells us that Moses was faithful in all God’s house. Among a stiff-necked and rebellious people who kept doubting God and His love, doing what they wanted and turning away from Him, Moses remained faithful.
And He surely was. Think back to his story and all you know about Moses . . .
Moses was a great leader. Moses had a relationship with God unlike any other - He spoke to God face-to-face. Under Moses’ leadership the people escaped from their bondage in Egypt, went through the Red Sea, had manna to eat, water from a rock to drink, received the Law of God on Mt. Sinai, as well as the tabernacle, the priesthood, the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord dwelling among them, they were rescued from the fiery serpents with the bronze snake on a pole Moses held up, they survived for 40 years in the wilderness without their clothes or shoes wearing out, and he returned them to the border of the Promised Land after they ran away in fear the first time. And there’s probably more stuff that I forgot to mention. Moses was great. No doubt.
But ask Moses, and he would tell you a different story. Moses knew he was nothing. Actually, that’s not true. He knew he was a murderer, having killed an Egyptian man. He knew he should have been killed on his way to Egypt if not rescued by his wife. He knew he was too afraid to go to Pharaoh and speak on his own. He knew he was unable to lead this people. He knew he had his good moments and bad moments, and he knew he was a great sinner. And for this he would not enter the Promised Land of Canaan. He did not blame his fellow Israelites, though he could have. It was their fault, after all. Their cowardice that kept them out the first time. If they had just gone in when they should have, trusting in God and His word and promises, Moses would have gotten there, too. But now he was to die. Just short of the goal he could see. Like a marathoner dropping to the ground in exhaustion just short of the finish line.
But Moses did enter the Promised Land - just not this one. Not the one of this earth. But the one to which this one pointed. The greater one. The heavenly one. A kingdom not still in the making, but prepared for us. The one not flowing with milk and honey, but where one eats of the trees of life forever. Where God dwells not in a tabernacle or temple, covered by a cloud for our protection, but where His glory shines forth and we are unafraid. Where there is no sin, no death, no hurt or pain, no tears or sorrow. The kingdom not of Israel, but the kingdom of God. That greater Promised Land Moses would enter, because of the prophet coming after Him, the one greater than him.
The one he stands with, as we heard today, on the Mount of Transfiguration. And no, not Elijah.
All his life, Moses testified to Him, this greater one. Everything Moses said and wrote pointed to Him, and this greater one would fulfill it. In Him is the new creation. He is the true tabernacle of God. He is the fulfiller of the Law. He is the once and for all atoning sacrifice. He is the one and only great high priest. He is the true Passover Lamb, the one who brings us through the waters of baptism, the one who feeds us with His Body and Blood, who gives us living water. He is the one lifted up on the cross that all bitten by the fiery serpent of hell look at in faith and not die but live. He is the one who leads us into His Promised Land and without Him, apart from Him, no one enters. Apart from Him, everyone dies, like Moses - seeing it, but not able to enter it.
But in Jesus, there is life. Entrance. Hope.
Luke tells us that Moses is on a mountain top again, just as he was on Mount Sinai. There is a great cloud again, and the voice of God again. But this time the giving is not of the Law but of the fulfiller of the Law. This time the conversation is not about the exodus from Egypt that just happened, but about the exodus from sin death that was about to happen by the cross.
Peter doesn’t quite get it. Even though Jesus had told him about His crucifixion and death just eight days before this! (But let’s be honest - how often do we not quite get it either!) So he says, Lord, it is good to be here. No, not really. What is good, Peter, is to go down from there and for Jesus to go to the cross for you. That’s the good being talked about that day, the conversation Jesus, Moses, and Elijah were having. Peter, though, clings to what his eyes see, not what his ears hear. So the voice from the cloud, the voice of the Father, reminds him, corrects him: This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him! His words tell us what we need to hear. What we need for life.
So that’s good advice for us as well. For us who, like Peter, don’t always get it. Who cling to what our eyes see, not what our ears hear. Who have our own idea of what is good and what is not and where it is good to be. Listen to Him, if you want to know that.
For maybe where we are or where we want to be or where we think we should be or where we think it is good to be, isn’t good at all. So while Peter wasn’t all wrong when he said it is good to be here, he wasn’t all right either. The truth is that it is good to be wherever Jesus is. Not just on the mountaintop, in the glory, away from the troubles of the world. No, Jesus’ good is bigger than that. Much bigger. So it is good, Peter, to go down. It is good, Peter, to be in the valleys with Jesus. It is good, Peter, to be with the sick and lame and leprous and disgusting with Jesus. It is good, Peter, to be even where it didn’t seem very good at all - at the cross, watching his friend, his Lord, suffer cruelly and die. It is good for Peter to see the empty tomb and then see the risen Jesus later that night. It is good for Peter to be questioned by Jesus and be forgiven. It is good for Peter to be martyred so he, too, enter into the Promised Land.
It is good. All good. Where Jesus is.
So while the cloud went away, Moses and Elijah went away, the voice went away, and all hopes of staying there apart from the hustle and bustle, the sin and sadness, and the troubles and trials of the world went away - good did not go away, but went with them. The good one.
And He goes with you.
For just as Jesus left the glory of the transfiguration to go to the cross, so He does not now stay in heaven, in glory, at the Father’s right hand - but is here with us to give us His cross. And the forgiveness, life, and salvation He won through that cross. Right in the midst of the hustle and bustle, the sin and sadness, the troubles and trials of this world. That there be good not just out there, someplace, far away, in heaven, in a Promised Land, but here. For it is good wherever Jesus is.
If we don’t know that or realize that, it is because, like Peter, we are clinging to what our eyes see rather than what our ears hear. We are trying to realize our own kingdom and build our own houses of goodness. But not just us. So it has been ever since the beginning. Building our own houses and striving for our own glory, as the writer of Hebrews again said.
Think about it . . .
Adam and Eve tried to build up themselves and their own house and kingdom and just wound up tearing down this good and perfect world. Abraham tried to build his own house, not waiting for God to give him a son but taking matters into his own hands, and just wound up bringing strife into his house instead when God actually kept His Word and gave him a son. Jacob tried to build his own house, taking advantage of his brother and tricking his father, and for that got 20 years in exile and fear. David wanted to build a house for God, but God said no - I don’t need a house from you, I will build one for you.
But that’s what we do - try to build our own houses, our own churches, our own kingdoms. But either we fail and just make things worse, or we succeed only for a short time before our houses or kingdoms fall. So we should really stop it, and repent of that. For there’s only one who can build a good house, a good kingdom, one that lasts forever. And that’s what we’re entering the season of Lent to see once again. Jesus building our house. Jesus bringing us into His kingdom, our Promised Land, through His cross.
But that, how He did it . . . didn’t look good at all. The world tears Him down, but in that tearing down He builds. The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone (Psalm 118:22). The world shames Him by hanging Him on a cross, and yet that shame is His glory, showing His love for you, that He would do that for you. The world kills Him, yet in that death comes life. His condemnation becomes our forgiveness. Jesus builds in ways we think couldn’t possibly be, couldn’t possibly be good, so opposite and opposed to what we think we want, what we think we need, the way we think things should be.
And maybe like Moses, at the end of our life we’ll look back, and maybe we’ll see how we’ve fallen short of our goals, our hopes, our dreams, our plans. Looking out over what could have been, if only . . . And then we’ll die. But unlike with Moses, people will mark our graves, maybe even visit them for a time. But then a generation or two will pass by and we’ll be forgotten.
But where Moses was buried or where we are buried really doesn’t matter. Those places are only temporary. What matters is the place where the one greater than Moses was buried but is no longer. The tomb that is empty because it couldn’t hold its prey. The only tomb that is glorious because it was left behind in resurrection. That’s the grave that matters. The grave that did not see 30 days of mourning, as the people of Israel did with Moses - but a mere three days. When the one who died not with his eye undimmed and his vigor unabated, but whipped and bloodied and beaten to a pulp rose to life again. To a life that cannot end. The life He now has and gives to you.
So that when we wake up after falling asleep in death, we’ll wake up like Moses and find that where we failed and in all the ways we failed, Jesus did not. We hear that now, listening to Him as He speaks words of life and forgiveness to us here, and we believe that now, by the faith given us through His words, but then we will see it. For we’ll be in the Promised Land, the kingdom of God. All that we build, nothing, gone, forgotten. All that He builds, glorious and eternal. And we’ll say, Lord, it is good to be here. And it will be. And we’ll never have to leave.
In the Name of the Father, and of the (+) Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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