Up on that mountain with Jesus, Peter is ready for a feast! But, it is not just any feast, he is ready for “the feast;” the eternal feast. It is the feast that God’s people celebrate after the final harvest is done and the world is restored. It is the feast without end.
When Peter sees Elijah standing there with Jesus, his mind races to the final Sukkot, or the final, eternal harvest feast. Of course, Peter sees that even the great Moses is there, and the whole situation strikes Peter and the other disciples with fear (who would not be blown away by seeing a dead prophet right in front of you…“I see dead people”).
Though he is fearful, the book of Malachi has prepared him for the sight of Elijah and Moses standing before him. Malachi 4:4-5 says, “Remember the teaching of my servant Moses, the statutes and ordinances that I commanded him at Horeb [God’s holy mountain] for all Israel. Lo, I will send you the prophet Elijah before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes.”
With a bright and shiny Jesus also standing before him, Peter assumes that the great and terrible day has come. Peter is more than ready to set up some Sukkot, some tents, and enter into those glorious final days of eternity. “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here;” Peter says, “let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah” (Mark 9:5).
Just so you know, Sukkot are temporary tents that ancient people constructed during the harvest so that they and their field workers did not have to leave the field until the harvest was done. No one wants to walk miles home each day, only to turn around and make the walk again in the morning. So, they put up tents so they could live in the fields and celebrate with fresh food when the harvest was done. The tents are similar to the tents that the Israelites used as they wandered in the desert for 40 years, so using them during the harvest actually made God’s people feel connected with God’s amazing rescue from Egypt.
Even to this day the Sukkot are constructed during a yearly festival by that name, Sukkot, so that family and friends can gather together with good food and dancing as they enter their tents and celebrate the anticipated final harvest of God. Peter is ready to get some tents up and start the final harvest feast!
Oh, you can already taste the heavenly food that God would provide on that great and glorious day! Our mouths start to drip in anticipation of food that is the best of the best. As Isaiah describes:
“On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines, of rich food filled with marrow, of well-aged wines strained clear. And he will destroy on this mountain the shroud that is cast over all peoples, the sheet that is spread over all nations; he will swallow up death forever. Then the Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces, and the disgrace of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken.” (Isaiah 25:6-8)
“Well-aged wines!” “Rich food filled with marrow!” Wine and steak! Who can go wrong with that? And, this stuff is prepared by the Lord himself. Move over Outback Steakhouse, get out of the way Texas Roadhouse, the Lord of hosts is at the grill with a steak knife in one hand and a bottle opener in the other. When can this sermon be over, I am ready to eat!
We are to imagine the best of the best food. I ask you, what food do you truly hope and pray will be at that holy feast?
A pastor, preaching on this feast text from Isaiah once asked his congregation what food they wanted at that final, glorious feast without end. “What food do you want to make sure you eat throughout eternity?” he asked. A little boy raised his hand and excitedly said, “Goldfish!” The boy meant the little crackers shaped like goldfish, of course. So, an eternity spent eating Goldfish? To each their own!
Oh, how glorious it could have been, feasting up on that mountain with the Lord, except that Jesus brings no food with him, nor do Elijah or Moses for that matter. But, the cloud of the Lord shows up. Surely, the feast has come? Surely, God the Father has his grill and stock of the finest wine ready?
But, no feast of rich food and fine wine arrives; not yet anyway. Instead, Peter, James, and John get to feast on the words of God the Father. “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!” And, then, just as suddenly as it started, it is done. The three disciples are left standing with Jesus, and no one else.
“Where’s the steak? Where’s the wine?” I would have asked Jesus. “Where’s the Goldfish?” the little boy would have asked beside me.
“Tell no one about what you have seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead,” Jesus commands.
Here we go with the death talk again. Just before they went up the mountain, Jesus was full of all of this death talk, spouting something about suffering, being put to death and rising again on the third day. Why can’t we just get to the feast? Why can’t we just get to the good stuff? Why is all of this pain and suffering standing in the way of the good life?
Those who have lost a child or spouse would ask the same thing. “Why can’t we just be together again? Why is this suffering in the way of the good life?”
Those who feed their last morsels of food to their children while their own stomachs ache from the hunger also wonder, “Why can’t we just get to the feast? Why is there all of this suffering beforehand? Why can’t we just get to the good stuff?
I wonder the same thing. If there is a great and glorious feast at the end, why does all of this suffering have to come first? To tell you the truth, I do not really know. I do not know. But, it might have something to do with a meal that God needs to eat first.
We were so focused on imagining the great food at that final feast that we kind of overlooked some very important words in that Isaiah text. After talking about God’s feast of great food, Isaiah says this, “And he will destroy on this mountain the shroud that is cast over all peoples, the sheet that is spread over all nations; he will swallow up death forever. Then the Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces, and the disgrace of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken” (Isaiah 25:7-8).
God will “swallow up death forever.” God will feast on death so that it will harm us no longer. God will chew up and destroy the thing that steals our beloved spouses and adored children. God will grind and pulverize the thing that steals those we love out of our hands. The Lord will swallow up death forever, and then “God will wipe away the tears from all faces.” The days that we feast on our tears as the Psalmist so painfully put it in Psalm 42:3 will be done.
I do not know about you, but I find hope and comfort in the idea that the Lord has seen the tears that have stained our faces and our hearts and then comes down the mountain to do something about it. I find comfort and hope in the Lord who carries our pain with him as he walks toward the cross to swallow up death forever. Because, if his suffering can lead to his being raised in three days, maybe your suffering is not the last word either. Maybe, your suffering is just the plating of God’s meal, where he will take a bite and eliminate your suffering for good. Maybe, your suffering is just the hunger that comes before that final feast where we will set up some tents with Elijah, Jesus, and Moses and feast at God’s eternal table.
Hear the voice of the one who calls you to the feast. Listen to the voice of the one who calls you out of the darkness of suffering and into the light of new life and good food. Hear God when God says from the cloud, “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!” Listen to Jesus, who brings you from death to life.
Jesus’ promise to us makes me think of the song, “All Who Are Thirsty.” The lyrics go:
“All who are thirsty
And all who are weak
Come to the fountain
Dip your heart in the streams of life
Let the pain and the sorrow
Be washed away
In the waves of His mercy
As deep cries out to deep, we sing
Come
Lord Jesus, come.”
Songwriters: Jonathan
Lindley Smith / Lindsey Mccaul
All who are thirsty
lyrics © Essential Music Publishing, Integrity Music
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