In the name of the Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer, Amen.
I want to spend a few minutes this morning talking about first, mountaintop experiences and the valley and; second the invitation today's Gospel lesson offers us for our daily lives. In particular our lives in the weeks that follow as we enter into Lent.
Today's lesson shows us first hand that the ultimate mountaintop experience, can you imagine anything more amazing or awesome than seeing before your very eyes that dazzling white flowing robe with Jesus elevated, smack dab between Elijah, the Great Prophet and Moses, the Great Lawgiver? These are the great leaders who have shaped our church and who shaped the early understanding of what it means to be the chosen people. The three disciples Jesus had brought up the mountain; Peter, James and John, stood in awe as they saw Jesus transfigured before their very eyes.
Like any mountaintop experience, there was great emotion and an element of utter surprise and even confusion. Even great fear. Imagine the intensity of such a vision. Peter quickly speaks to Jesus saying, "Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah." Here they are on the mountain watching their teacher being lifted in His dazzling white robe, standing between Moses and Elijah, and they are so terrified they move into action mode. They shift into busyness. What they had just seen was so overwhelming and their anxiousness leads them to react versus taking it all in. As the cloud descends they hear the voice of God saying, "This is my Son, the beloved. Listen to Him."
We have seen earlier in the Gospel of Mark that listening to Jesus isn't always the disciples' strong suit. Right before heading up the mountain with Peter, James and John, Jesus tells the disciples that His own death and suffering on the cross is imminent. When Peter rebukes Jesus for speaking of such things, Jesus goes on to explain that anyone who wishes to follow Him, must take up their own cross and be prepared for the suffering that will follow. The disciples struggled to hear these hard words from their teacher. But Jesus was clear that there would be a cost for God's glory and that there would be great suffering before the day of resurrection.
Now as they stand on the mountain just having been overshadowed by a great cloud and God's voice telling them that they are indeed in the presence of the Son of God and they are to listen to Him. These men prepare to descend the mountain and return to their journey towards Jerusalem, to their walk towards the cross.
Most of us have had our own mountaintop experiences in our lives that might look a little different, but still hold many of those same emotions. There have been those moments or experiences in our life when we have been fully aware of the Holy among us. Where we have been aware that we were in the midst of something extraordinary. Mountaintops lift us out of the ordinary to experience the extraordinary and in this we are changed, altered, transformed. Some of these mountaintops are brief moments and others are lengthy experiences, but the impact is the same. There is a change. We are, in some way, shifted to a new way of seeing and experiencing the world.
Many of us might know the heady emotion of finally succeeding in a great struggle toward something that you didn't imagine that you could even do. It is in that accomplishment that you know that it was only through the strength and love of God that you were able to plow ahead when you were in this struggle. Maybe there is a setting of a piece of music that makes your toes tingle with sheer exuberance at such beauty. Perhaps you've had that experience on a visual level when looking at a piece of glorious art. To see such beauty is to see God's glory right here on earth. In the midst of devastation we might see the glory of God's presence in those who give so generously to those in need. So many people, who have gone down to the Mississippi Gulf Coast and to New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina, have found a renewed sense of God calling them into action. They have found a mountain in the midst of even the most dire situation.
Perhaps you've had an intense connection with another person who really listens and sees you as you are. A person who looks into your soul and honors who you are even with your imperfections. To experience the goodness of God's love in another person can be one of the highest mountain experiences we have. To be present as a new life enters into this world, or even as an older one passes on, we are often able to see so clearly the gift and fragile nature of life and capture a glimpse of the Holy surrounding these moments.
Perhaps you've been lifted to the mountain heights as you have completed challenging mission work. You go to serve only to find out that you are the one who has been served. Each year when our mission team returns from Honduras, whether it's the adults or the kids, there seems to be this perpetual question of how do we keep that strong sense of the Holy moving in our lives as we go back into the daily routine? How does transformation remain and continue to be maintained when we venture down from these mountaintops? We don't get to stay on the mountains. Like the disciples we must always climb down from the mountain and keep moving on the journey. Quite honestly, most of us spend more time off the mountain and in the valleys of life than on those mountain peaks. So how do we live between those moments and experiences?
For some of us those mountaintop experiences can become addictive and we find ourselves living for the next ascent back up. We avoid the valleys. We can only see the radiance of God on the mountain so that is where we long to stay. However, we are called to journey forth in the valleys and we are invited to see those valleys as part of the bigger picture. What height can a mountain have without those valleys? The hard news that the disciples didn't want to hear was that this glory of the Son of God that was before them could only exist when coupled with the stark reality of Jesus' death. The voice of God says to them and to us, "Listen." The disciples saw the glory of God but couldn't seem to hear Jesus' words that the suffering must follow. Jesus foretells of His suffering death and resurrection three times in this Gospel. He kept speaking and the disciples continued to struggle to listen.
The challenge is holding the two ends. We cannot speak of the glory of God until we have lived through the suffering of Jesus on the cross. One does not exist without the other. We too, must move towards those valleys in our life with the knowledge that they are part of the journey. Not only are they part of it, they are a necessity. They are some of the places where we grow the most and go the deepest. They are the times when we are called to be the glory of God to one another until we ascend that mountain again. It is in the valleys where we become the instruments of God's glory. It is in these dips that we are able to know more fully the cost of taking up our own crosses.
Last night we had dinner with a friend of ours whose father is dying with stage 4 bone cancer. It's only a matter of days now before he will be leaving us here on earth. So our time last night was spent reflecting on the journey towards death our friend had been taking with his father these past few months. There was laughter and there were tears as he shared moving stories about the struggles and the love that he had shared. But he said to me, "You know, this experience has stretched me and taught me more than I can say. But this growth has come at such a great cost." You know I guess that's how it is, isn't it? He couldn't have been more right and those conversations couldn't have been more timely as I sat with the lesson of the transfiguration for today. In this valley my friend holds the sorrow and suffering of loosing his loved one but he carries with him the hope of God's glory through his faith.
That is what we are called to do in today's lesson. Are we willing to hear that news? Are we willing to march through and listen in the valleys knowing that through the challenges God is actively moving and working in our lives even when we struggle to see it and hear it? In three short days we are entering into the season of Lent. This is the time for us to reflect on Jesus' journey in the desert and valley of his life and ministry. The season offers to us an invitation to listen. To listen for the story of Jesus' suffering and dying and then to listen and prepare for his coming in glory at His resurrection. This story of Jesus' transfiguration on the mountain is a lesson that beautifully bridges the season of Epiphany and the arrival of a great light in the Christ Child to the season of Lent and the preparation of the journey towards the cross and resurrection.
So, as we take this story on the mountain and get ready to go on the journey into the valley, how might we prepare our hearts to listen? Maybe during this Lenten season we could give more space to listen. Maybe we could spend a little extra time in prayer each day or commit to being here week in and week out. Maybe we could get involved in a small group here at Trinity. Or maybe we could take on a new discipline? Perhaps let go and shed something from our life that creates noisiness and derails us from listening. Whatever we decide to do or not do, may we see this time as an opportunity to participate in climbing down the mountain and walking with Jesus towards the cross; so that on the day of His resurrection we might know more fully the suffering and the glory that go hand in hand in our faith. Amen.
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