Mark 9:2-9

It all begun with a question: Who do you say I am?

Jesus takes his disciples far north to place where no one knows him, and he asks his disciples: Who am I to you?

At my Sunday school class we talked about this question, for the whole New Testament tries to answer and explain who Jesus Christ is.

Christ asks every single one of us, this very question: Who do you say I am? For the answer to this question changes everything. It changes our relationship with Christ, with ourselves, with people around us.

Disciples could have said: We’re not sure who you are. We don’t know what to think. It’s so hard to believe. (Pause) How many of you had those kinds of thoughts? The doubt, uncertainty, maybe even anger.

All of us seeking the answers for toughest questions, searching for God have to as some point in our lives wrestle with the question: Who is Christ to me?

Peter gives Jesus the right answer. Answer that Jesus is pleased with. You are the Christ, Messiah. You are the Savior, Son of the living God. Peter gives us a good lead here. We all heard of the Christ, Jesus the Messiah. Many of you witnessed about him.

But let me ask you a question? Have you met him in person? Have you experienced his presence? Have you felt his Spirit? Well, that is the second question people will ask. The first one will be: Who is Christ? But the second one, even more important will be: Have you meet him?

Jesus takes Peter, James and John, leads them up a high mountain, just Jesus and them, and there he lets them to experience his Glory. Jesus is transfigured, he is transformed. His clothes became dazzling white, Elijah and Moses appear and disciples are just blown away. Do you know why? For they just had a mountain top experience with Jesus.

Have you ever experienced something similar? Something you would describe as mountain top experience with Jesus? I know some of our youth did. At the Poconos retreat, during outdoor evening worship, sharing and hugging, crying together, for they felt something different, they felt Christ’s presence. Or at the last Youth Quake, another mountain top experience, with tears running down their faces, sharing how God touched their hearts that day.

And what about the rest of us. Can you look back and bring up that mountain top experience with Jesus. When you felt God’s presence so close. Maybe it was during worship, or a Bible Study, small group meeting, movie, retreat or a simple prayer. Maybe it was during a walk in nature, Christian concert or festival, baptism, communion, or maybe during a time you were reading a Bible?

Christ takes us out up to the mountain, wherever it might be for you, and he blesses us with the mountain top experience. Why? Because that’s when we get transfigured. That’s when our lives and our hearts get transformed, changed.

God reveals himself to us, with his love, peace, comfort and hope and he takes us by the hand, he puts his arms around us, and we feel save, loved and taken care of. In the moments like that we say: Truly you are the Christ, son of a living God.

What else do we want to do in the moments like that? We want to stop the time. We want that moment to last. We want to stay!

When I worked at Camp Nawakwa, I heard many counselors to say: It is so great to be here, in a closed community, secluded from the rest of the world, surrounded by nature, concentrating on spirituality, serving God, reading Bible spending time in Worship. I wish this would last forever.

But the REAL world OUT THERE is a whole different story. It’s busy and crazy constantly on a run, no time to be with God, no time to be nice to each other, not time to read the Bible, to pray, to serve. That’s what the REAL world looks like.

I used to say that as well. But then I realized, there isn’t an ideal spiritual world and a real world full stress and madness. The world at Camp Nawakwa was just as real as worlds at home, in school, at work. The difference was, that at camp we found time to build relationship with Christ. We found time to listen to him, to listen to each other, to pray for one another, to be there for each other like a big camp family.

There isn’t an ideal spiritual world that separated from the world we live in. There is only one world, the world loved by God so much, that he sent his only son to come to this world, to give life, and not just any kind of life, but life eternal to everyone who believes in him. To everyone who is willing to listen and follow. To everyone who is seeking that mountain top experience with Christ, not only once a year on a retreat, but everyday of their lives.

(Every time I tell our youth as they experience the presence of Christ at the retreat, or a Quake, I tell them you can experience this felling every day, and if not everyday then at least once a week at the youth group. We don’t need to drive away couple hours to experience Christ, we can experience his power and glory here in this Church. Invitation is open, all you need to do, is come.)

There is one more mountain top experience that I want to mention, for it’s closely connected to our text. This mountain top experience is different though. Again it involves Jesus and his three disciples Peter, James and John. But this time Jesus isn’t transfigured, he doesn’t have dazzling clothes, but is laying in the dirt, praying with sadness and fear, saying: If it is you will take away this cup of poison, but do as you wish, Abba, Father, your will be done.

Quite a different mountain top experience. And what were the disciples doing? Building tabernacles? No they were asleep. There was nothing they could do. This fight had to be fought and won by Christ himself. For it’s a fight with sin and death, the fight that we could never win. But because Christ prevailed, because he didn’t give up and was willing to suffer and die for you and me, we can have joyful, mountain top experiences with Risen Lord, who leads us forth, in faith.

And so the question we asked ourselves today was: Who is Christ to is. Well he is the Savior, the Messiah who enables us to have the mountain top experiences with our God. He is the beloved Son of God, who had to fight our sin and death all alone, so that we can rejoice in a new life with him.

He is the one, who sends us down from the mountain, to people of the “real” world so we can help them to experience the true mountain top experience with our God, Lord Jesus. And I know that all of us are empowered to do so. May this Lenten season be full of mountain top experiences for you, may your lives and heart be transfigured by Christ.

Amen