“A Mountaintop Experience”
“A Mountain Top Experience”
Mark 9.2-9
Mark 9.2-9
In the name of the Living God and the Christ who has appeared to us. Amen.
It was a mountaintop experience for me. I was with a few of my closest friends hiking up one of one of these huge, rugged mountain peaks in the Canadian Rockies. We had climbed all day and were enjoying the breathtaking view, when suddenly an awesome thunder cloud rolled up the mountain and engulfed us. We found ourselves in the midst of a storm. It lasted only a moment, but strangely enough although it was a frightening experience, more importantly it was for me one of those times in life when, just for a moment, you see things beautifully and clearly.
Perhaps you’ve had one of those moments. Maybe it was on top of a mountain after a long climb. Perhaps it came when that long, difficult project at work was finally finished. Perhaps your life was in danger once, and you narrowly escaped death. Or perhaps in a moment in worship with the music and the singing and the transcendent beauty of it all. In any case, I think you know what I’m talking about: those rare moments when all the clutter and confusion, worry and wonder of life melts away, and for just a moment you can see things beautifully and clearly.
We call these moments “mountaintop experiences.” They don’t happen very often, do they? They actually don’t happen that often in the Bible either. Even with the followers of Jesus in the gospel accounts, there are a lot more questions and confusion than calm and clear sight. But in this morning’s reading—the account of Jesus’ Transfiguration —we have a true mountain-top experience. It is one of those events where, through faith, we see things beautifully and clearly.
The word “Transfiguration” comes from the Greek, “Metamorphosis”. Like a caterpillar which metamorphosizes into a beautiful butterfly, Christ’s true Divine Nature is revealed to Peter, James and John. They see the beauty, power, and glory of Jesus clearly—if only for a moment. In fact, they won’t see it fully in this way again until after Christ’s resurrection.
It’s hard for us to fully understand the great significance of this “Mountaintop Experience” for these Jewish fishermen. I’d like to unpack it for us a bit this morning, because it’s more dramatic than we even realize.
Let me take you back, for a moment, to one of the most important events in the Old Testament, when God gave His people the covenant at Mt. Sinai. More than just a set of rules, God meant this to be a revelation of Himself. If you go back read this account from the book of Exodus chapter 24, you’ll learn that God confirmed the covenant with Moses (now, stay with me) 1) after 6 days 2) on top of a mountain 3) enveloped in a cloud 4) with the glory of God shown as lots of fire and light. The point of all these accent marks is that when these things happen, you are to remember that you’re having a mountain-top experience. Pay attention. You are going to see the things of God clearly, most clearly of all.
Now, have you figured this out, yet? What do we find on the Mount of Transfiguration? Jesus 1) after six days 2) goes up on top of a high mountain, 3) is enveloped in a cloud, and 4) his clothes are gleaming whiter than anything on the planet—they gleam like lightning, St. Luke tells us.
But not only that, but who do we find at the top of the Mountain? Moses and Elijah themselves. They represent all the Law and all the Prophets—the whole of the Hebrew Scriptures. Here we find Moses and Elijah standing around talking to Jesus about his ministry, his work, as the full revelation of God.
But just when you thought this mountain-top experience couldn’t get any bigger, a cloud encompasses all of them, and God himself, speaks: “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to Him!”
So you see the gospel writers are making the most powerful statement about Jesus that they can. They are realigning themselves with the son of God as the center point of God’s revelation. Not the Torah or Ten Commandments anymore (though these still remain). Not the Prophets as the mouthpieces of God (though these still remain). Not even the pillar of cloud by day and fire by night, which went before the Ark of the Covenant. It’s all about Jesus, now. Where do you go when you want to find out about God, when you want to hear his voice, when you want to see life and death at its clearest? “The beloved Son. Listen to Him!”
It is the message of the Transfiguration: if we want to see religion clearly, if we want to know what this whole Christianity thing is about, if we want to know the way through the difficult questions in life and death we look to Jesus, the beloved son.
From this moment of glory, this mountaintop experience, things are going to change for the Lord. He begins to talk about his death more and more; he walks down from the mountain and turns his face towards Jerusalem. From this time in the Church year, things begin to change for us, too. We turn from the glory of the Transfiguration to the sorrow of the cross; from shouts of Alleluia to cries of “Lord have mercy.” This Wednesday is Ash Wednesday, a time when we are marked with ashes to “remember that we are dust and to dust we shall return.”
Friends, as we enter the season of Lent together, remember that we do not have to clutch with all we have to all the joys and pleasures and life of this world. All these things are passing. We, above all people, can set aside the things of this world to make room for a time to pray, to reflect, to repent; we, more than anyone else, can seal up our Alleluias for a time. Why? Because we hold in our hearts the mountaintop vision, the clear sight of Jesus in all his glory. We know that the clothes we see shining like lightning are the same garments of the Resurrected Jesus.
Come soon, Lord Jesus. Amen.