In the Bible story this week, Peter grasps at a spectacular vision, desperate to capture the spirit of the moment and reluctant to return to the mundane. He has stumbled into the sublime, and he wants to harness this experience. He wants for this episode to make a difference in his life and in the life of his friends---for this event on the mountaintop to shift the axis of power, to rearrange the cosmos. He envisions grandeur.
This will ignite the revolution he has dreamed about, the dawn of redemption----if he can figure out how to render this fugitive episode durable, to stretch out this pivotal visitation, to share this thin place with others for them to revel in the glory of it all. He designs a plan and sketches the logistics.
So Peter, John, James and Jesus climb the mountain.
Just prior to today's gospel reading, Jesus gives a serious commission to the disciples. It's powerful. Peter would have remembered it
“You who wish to be my followers must deny your very self, take up your cross—the instrument of your own death—every day, and follow in my steps. If you would save your life, you will lose it, and if you would lose your life for my sake, you'll save it.”
The mountain top location is vital: here they can be alone with Jesus and with God. So they climb Mount Tabor, a small hill in southern Galilee.
It's quite the story! Jesus is praying. As he prays, his face changes and his clothes become “dazzingly white”. As all of this is happening, Moses and Elijah appear to Jesus and to the disciples. Today's text tells us “....that they appeared in glory and spoke of the prophecy that Jesus was about to fulfill in Jerusalem...”
Typically, the disciples, have fallen asleep and miss this part...But suddenly they awaken and see Jesus “in glory” and the two people standing next to him.
The disciples, frequently opting for closure and safety, make a suggestion that three tents be set up on the mountain and that Jesus, Moses and Elijah each occupy a tent. They try to convince Jesus that this could be a permanent arrangement and that all could remain on the mountain, having amazing conversations with Jesus, Moses and Elijah!
A cloud appears and overshadows them. Suddenly, all the confidence of the disciples is lost and they “grow fearful”. To add additional drama, a voice speaks from the cloud and says:
“This is my Own, my Chosen One, Listen to me.”
The voice then goes silent.....Moses and Elijah disappear from view, leaving Jesus standing with Peter, John and James.........
...In today's reading from chapter 34 in the Book of Exodus, we again climb a mountain, this time with Moses as he climbs Mount Sinai. In the summer of 1997, I climbed Mount Sinai, or, rather, sat on a camel and rode to the top of Mount Sinai. I was journeying with twenty other pilgrims who were spending six weeks in Israel and Palestine to deepen our spirituality and to live together in community. We rode in the darkness when it was less hot.
It was a hard ride for us on top of ill-tempered and remarkably flatulent camels pulled by locals who frequently yelled at or swatted at the beasts.
Along narrow trails we rode on the sure-footed camels until we reached the summit (not all that high) and gathered in prayer and silence....It was a messy place, strewn with debris from others and crowded with pilgrims who were attempting to tend to the same biological needs after having sat for a few hours on a lurching, smelly camel......Not exactly a pristine, silent place to commune with God. But we were there, on the top of Mount Sinai. “Sinai”, with all the context conveyed by that mesmerizing word...............
So we enter into the passage this morning from the Book of Exodus. Moses has been on the top of Sinai, praying and walking with God. His mountain top mission completed, he comes down from the top of the mountain carrying two tablets of stone on which are written the original ten commandments. His time with God has caused the skin on his face to become radiant.
He removes the veil that he has been wearing, and tells the Israelites what God has commanded.......
Two different mountains, but some common traits are shared by both.
On a mountain top, we have the opportunity to enter into a time of deep reflection, contemplation, or, if one is on a religious quest, an encounter with the divine and an encounter, certainly with oneself. There, in that place, with all of the distractions of our busy life: our schedules, our cell phones, ..all, shut down...we enter into an undistracted time with ourselves and with God. We empty ourselves out, as one would empty a glass of water...and we await the influx of God's Spirit...I remember a morning in which each of us were scattered to separate parts of the Sinai desert to inhale the noisy silence....hot....you could barely see the other person on the horizon...the silence actually was noisy...but we persisted and claimed some sense of the eternal mystery and loving presence of God....
We persist in trying to understand our mountain top experience. There are mountain top and valley moments throughout our lives. They arrive, unannounced, changing us in irreversible ways. Such experiences dictate that we be silent and that we listen carefully. These moments have something to say to us, to teach us....So we try our best to listen.
But too often, our response is like that of Peter, babbling absurdities because we cannot understand the significant, the meaningful moment. When Peter does finally quit talking nonsense, a cloud appears, envelopes them, and the voice of God gives instructions to each of them........
What is the mountaintop to you? What was your mountaintop experience?.....
Matthew refers to what occurred on the mountain as a “vision”. By this, of course, he does not mean to collapse the event into an inner “psychological” experience, since, after all, four persons are presented as independent witnesses.
What I think that the passage means is that the “seeing” is not a natural function of ordinary human eyes, but is God-given. God grants the disciples the power to see what otherwise would have been invisible to mortal perception.
We want our little egos to bask in Jesus' power and glory. But today's gospel reminds us that Jesus' mission was not to make a big deal of himself or to elevate his followers to positions of power, authority and prestige through identification with him. It was rather to point through and beyond himself to God and to God's coming reign on earth, and to invite his followers to find their voice in bearing witness to this transforming, redemptive God......
High on the mountain, in a moment of numinous splendor, Jesus was indeed clothed in the dazzling light of God—but only briefly, and to a select few.
The heavenly mystery was unveiled, only to be veiled again on the cross—and to be revealed again, not in the glorious light of a resurrection appearance, but in an empty tomb with a solitary human figure announcing
his resurrection and return to Galilee.
Conclusion:
What questions does today's gospel passage open up in you? Does the passage challenge you to dig deeper into your devotional life? Is your heart open to a revelation from God through Jesus Christ? Are you courageous and faithful enough to hear God's voice in the cloud? Do you sometimes suffer in the silence of your devotionals, waiting for a word from God? What feelings are triggered in you as you ponder these things?
Do today's passages compel you to recognize mountain top experiences as well as the eventual return to the valley below?
Does today's gospel passage take you to another level in your understanding of Jesus?
Are you tempted sometimes to stay on the mountain and not come down? And when you do come down can you let go of that mountain top experience to the point where you can be of some earthly good as a follower of Jesus?.........Hard questions, eh?...But necessary questions...
Our individual time lines between birth and death can transport us to several mountaintop experiences. Sometimes we react just like Peter and are left speechless out of fear. Other times we do not think that anyone will believe our story, even if we feel safe to share it.
The thought that our experiences in life are linked with God's story unfolding in the world can be reassuring, but it can also be terrifying. We may even experience a faith moment without recognizing it at first. Still others of us may be able to report hearing the voice of God, but, out of fear, we do not feel comfortable sharing our experience with the faith community.
We are like Peter, desperate for an enduring transfiguration. We are desperate for God's presence to settle upon us, upon our lives and our neighborhoods and our world: a permanent transformation of society, the
liberation of the world from the reign of sin. We want nothing less than the transfiguration of all things with the eternal goodness of God's life—starting with us, in our hearts and our lives, as we dwell in the power of God and prepare to take this redemption to the world. “Lord, it is good for us to be here.” Peter says to Jesus, “I will make three dwellings here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”
But Peter soon learns that he controls nothing when it comes to God. The vision does not stay.”It vanished as quickly as it had come,” Biblical Scholar Karl Barth wrote about this passage. “Jesus is again seen alone, and no longer transfigured before them.”....
So Peter follows Jesus down the mountain, a return to the unspectacular life they know—the day-to-day of discipleship, love for neighbors and strangers, and the confrontations with the authorities—which will lead them to another hill, Golgotha.....
Transfiguration is not a heavenly escape from this earthly life. The mountaintop experience is not a call to travel to an “elsewhere”, a vantage point from which to propose a remedy for our communities. The transfiguration narrative turns the disciples back to the place they already know, back to the familiar.
God's presence transfigures this life. Ordinary revelations are here and there and everywhere—the whole world held in God's hands, gifts offered to us not as possessions under our control but as abundant and unpredictable grace....
Transfiguration is an invitation to return to our communities and to our lives with renewed attention and patience, awaiting the luminescence of the mundane, to attend to the present and to wonder at the ordinary; to let his life astonish us with the sacred. It is good for us to be here—right here where we are, for this too is holy ground......
Christians are therefore not called to exhibit a passive love that simply tries
to be good and avoid evil. Nor is the way of the cross a private bearing of personal woes for the sake of Jesus. I suggest to you that it is, rather, a vigorous, assertive pursuit of social and personal righteousness through a love that refuses to play the world's power fame of domination, exploitation, greed, and deception.
The transfiguration story is a call to affirm the ultimate truth of this contrary claim of God and God's way of salvation, and to begin living it with all our heart, soul, and strength in the confidence that Jesus' nonviolent way is truly the way of salvation, healing, and eternal life.
Perhaps the point on which to conclude is that faith communities can become safe places for both members and seekers to explore the various ways that the identity of Jesus is being revealed. There is also this: not only Jesus' identity, but also his ways of discipleship are being revealed. The way that the Lenten Journey will follow is a way out of comfort, complacency, and self-aggrandizement, through risk, incredibly,........ all the way to..... resurrection!
Let us respond in silent prayer.......Amen.