Has anyone here ever climbed a mountain? Hiked up a mountain?
Mountains are wonderful, spectacular places. We've all seen, I'll imagine, some great pictures of a jubilant hiker at the top of the mountain - usually looking elated, with arms victoriously outreaching. They have a mystique about them: everything is clear at the top of the mountain... there's clarity of sight - both physical and metaphorical - from the top. It's a place to aspire to, isn't it: the mountain top experience is as good as it gets!
Everyone, therefore, wants to go to the mountaintop, don't they? And then, naturally, to stay there! Why on earth would one want to go through the valley - that place of shadows and darkness - when one has been to the mountaintop!
So how exciting must it have been for Peter and James and John to have their friend Jesus say: let's go up there. So off - and up - they go.
And they've got it all figured out, don't they? They're following Jesus - always a good way to plan a journey. And they are in a group, in the daytime, which is safer and wise. They're on a bit of a spiritual retreat - they've been QUITE busy of late, so some downtime sounds ideal.
And WOW. What a mountaintop experience they have! The transfiguration happens. They see Jesus in a way that is exhilarating and energising and just all-round FANTASTIC!
It's no wonder that Peter blurts out the "WOOHOO! Let's STAY here!"
But of course, as we know, the mountaintop is only part of our life's journey. We're not *meant* to stay there. But, we are invited to carry the memories we have, and take the lessons that we've learned, as we continue. Because coming down the mountain safely is just as important as going up. Ask any climber or hiker.
Getting up a mountain is hard work. There's training and skills and safety precautions that need to be learned and honed before you start. There's nothing at the top of a mountain - if you want food or water, you've had to plan ahead and carry it up with you (quite literally weighing you down). You've got thinner air up there, and colder temperatures - it's a rough and at times painful environment our bodies just aren't designed to stay in for long periods. And, hikers will tell you, the 'up' part is only half the journey - the goal includes coming down safely. The mountaintop is never the intended final destination - it's not a comfy tourist attraction.
A trek up a mountain is a challenge. It's a long-time commitment of physical, emotional, and spiritual training: and so it's actually NOT for everyone.
And that's okay. Because if it WAS meant for everyone, then it would be common. Every-day. Normal. It would cease to be the mountain-top experience that it is. Because the mystery and special-ness of it would be gone.
A mountaintop is meant to be special, and talked about for its rarity and mystery and powerful journey. It's meant to be a highlight in our lives, something to speak about and share and delight in; at times of ordinaryness, and especially at times of journeying through the valley, when we enter the shadows of our life. Especially when the world feels darkest, we cling to our mountaintop moments to sustain us and carry us through.
Even in the Gospel, the witness of the transfiguration was not meant for everyone to see. The truth that was revealed to Peter and James and John was meant to be theirs - and theirs alone - for some time. It was long after they had come down from the mountain top - both physically and spiritually - and long after they had journeyed in the valley - again both physically and spiritually - that they had the space and place to share the good news of the transfigured Christ revealed to them, by God, in the person of Jesus.
This is part of the message that the apostles shared in their darkest times, after the death of Jesus; these were the moments that helped them to believe and trust in the good news of the risen Christ - and to share that message with the world, for ages to come.
And what wonders they are able to share, what fantastic learnings they have from their journey. What fantastic opportunity for us to learn from their mountain top experience, too.
Firstly, we're invited to make sure we're following the right person. The apostles followed Jesus up the mountain; they learned from him. With Jesus, the emphasis will always be on compassion and mercy: if we're not acting from Christian love, we're not following Jesus.
We are also reminded to look for the unexpected amidst the ordinary. We never know when the brilliant and blinding glory of God will be revealed to us! It may not look like a dazzling white robe, or the presence of Old Testament heroes standing in our midst: but miracles are in front of us all the time.
We can do our best to be intentional in how we talk about and to God: Peter blurts out his building project intentions, and even the evangelist points out how this was not a well-thought out statement: "He did not know what to say, for they were terrified." Let's know that even when we do have those well-intentioned but OOOPS moments, that God's correction to us will be to be gentle with ourselves, and to learn from it, and move forward being more intentionally faithful.
We are invited to keep our focus on the divine - Peter doesn't say "let's build three houses, one for each of you, PLUS a house for us" - he says - let's get you wonderful folks cared for.
We're invited to listen to the voice of God as it surrounds us. I love the image of the cloud: we see clouds, we can be engulfed by them, but we cannot capture or direct them. God's voice is like that. And it directs us to listen to Jesus. May we open our ears to hear, and orient our lives to act in loving service to Him.
We're reminded of the profoundly loving reality of God, who confers (not for the first time, nor for the last) that Jesus is the Beloved. The Son of God. And knowing that as children of God, we are also recipients of a love so beautiful that words cannot describe it.
We're also told that after this spectacular event, the apostles saw the ordinary world again, we hear there was no one with them anymore "But Only Jesus." Because - Jesus is enough. Jesus is all that we need. Jesus is more than we deserve: but by the grace of God, we are gifted with access to Jesus.
And that, my friends, is the mountaintop experience for us all. Jesus is real: Jesus is God: Jesus is our strength. Together, we come to the elation of seeing and knowing Jesus, and this is what we carry with us. This is how we look at the world in a new way. This is how we carry the good news into the world, knowing that it was carried to us by the past, privileged to carry it forward to the future.
Thanks be to God for the mountaintops - both physical and spiritual - where God's radiance lightens our world.
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