Sermon

The Last Sunday After Epiphany

February 2-3, 2008

2 Peter 1:16-21; Matthew 17:1-9

Mountain Top Experiences

 

Shortly after his inauguration, the ambitious President Thomas Jefferson dreamed of expanding the western territory of the United States.  So, in the fall of 1802 Jefferson and young Captain Merriwether Lewis strike a deal.  Lewis is to lead an expedition along the Missouri River, onto the Columbia River and eventually to the unexplored Pacific.  With a handshake, the trip begins.  Finally, after a long, arduous expedition of some 4,142 miles, lasting twice as long as they had planned, Lewis, his partner, William Clark and their team of explorers, reach their destination.  In the fall of 1805, they land on the shores of the Pacific.  Clark, briefly describes the moment:  “A shout went up…we are in view of this great Pacific Ocean which we’ve been so long anxious to see.”  So close, they can hear the roar of waves breaking on rocks.  While it seems that Lewis and Clark both write extensively about the journey, oddly, there is little written about the phenomenon they experience when they actually reach the ocean.  We can surmise, though, that Lewis and Clark and the exhausted, cold, and soaked through adventurers come upon a wonder too glorifying to describe.  Uncovered for them is a vision of such divine revelation.  It seems the explorers are left without words.    

 

And, sometimes, when we know that we are in the presence of the holy, when we are sitting in the very palm of God’s hand, we too are left speechless, awestruck, overwhelmed and blubbering at the amazement of what we experience. 

 

Today marks the last Sunday after Epiphany.  Epiphany is  the time following Christmas when the gift of the Christ child is revealed to the gentiles.  In other words, it is the time when the true divinity of Jesus is made known to us.  So, Epiphany is a season characterized by the stories of God with us in Jesus’ baptism, his miracles and the calling of his disciples.  It concludes with Jesus’ Transfiguration; the reading we hear today. 

 

Jesus leads three of his disciples, Peter, James and John up the mountain.  Now, Matthew’s gospel doesn’t tell us why Jesus leads them up the mountain.  We have a clue in Luke’s gospel.  They go up to pray.  We know that earlier Jesus is trying to make it clear to his disciples that he’s going to the cross; that he will suffer grievously, and that he will be raised from the dead and they will know the glory of the kingdom of God.  So, my guess is that the disciples prayers are searching for relief from confusion and anxiety.  Then, Jesus, is transformed, transfigured, undergoes a metamorphosis where he emerges, beaming like the sun, glowing in the glory of God. 

 

Overwhelmed by the joy of the event, Peter, exclaims, “Lord, it is good for us to be here,” and he tries desperately to capture the holy moment.  He offers to build shelters to contain Jesus along with Moses and Elijah, representatives of the Law and the Prophets; both advocates of God’s covenant and God’s promise, who suddenly appear with Jesus at the moment of transfiguration. 

 

Caught up in the excitement, Peter wants to hold onto it.     But, the glory of God can not be contained.  We don’t build barriers around our limitless God.  But, we can cherish the moment.  Relish those precious instances when God’s glory is shining through and we know that we are surrounded by a love like no other. 

 

God steps through and descends from the clouds. “This is my Son, the Beloved; I take great delight in him and I’m so very pleased in him; listen to him.”  Attend to him, understand who he is, hear his words, obey what he says.  Because, in doing so, we will know God.  

 

The whole story of Jesus’ Transfiguration is a mountaintop experience.  Scholars have never come to an agreement as to which mountain Jesus led his three companions; Mount Tabor or Mount Hermon.  Something of a fortress surrounding a castle sits on top of Mount Tabor. The mountain is so steep, tour buses are unable to climb it.  The hike is destined for only the truly dedicated. 

Mount Hermon, stands at 9,400 feet and can be seen clearly from the other end of Palestine, as it is the highest peak inside the borders of Israel.  This may well be where Jesus leads his disciples.   

 

Now, we know that mountaintop experiences are not uncommon in scripture.  Moses has a mountaintop experience when God calls him to the top of Mount Sinai.  Once there, and with some fanfare and commotion, God instructs Moses to keep that mountain top holy.  And then he gives Moses the Law.  It’s on a “very high mountain” where Jesus denies the temptations of the devil then, he’s surrounded by the angels of the Lord.  Also, the mountaintop is the place where crowds gather to have a clearer view of Jesus as he teaches and preaches and heals the lame and cures the sick and feeds thousands with a holy meal.   Jesus has a pattern of retreating to a mountaintop to pray. It’s a sacred time where Jesus and God intersect.

 

Contemplative Basil Pennington, calls the mountaintop experience “a real sanctuary” that comes often from a “tough climb” to reveal Christ in a new and wondrous way.  An experience that is literally, “beyond us”, that often leaves us without words of explanation.  The Celts refer to these mountaintop experiences as “thin places”.  What one observer describes as “where the veil between this world and the next is so sheer that it is easy to step through”.  Thin places are where our ordinary, visible world meets the extraordinary of God.   And, the truth is, we’re not exactly certain how to manage it.  When we’re caught up in those thin places, in these mountaintop experiences, we kind of stumble all over ourselves, scrambling around in unexplained joy and wonder, trying to capture the mystery of it all; of the glory of God, blinding us with his brightness.   

 

Mountain top experiences.  We all crave them, don’t we?

 

On retreat at Shrine Mont, we’re always grateful for the one experienced climber who can lead a pack up North Mountain.  The trail’s not easily marked.  Often obstacles block our way:  fallen trees, an occasional boulder dislodged; flooding rains causing debris to clutter the path; a change in course for whatever reason nature has dictated.  And then, just when we think the coast is clear and we can see through the trees that we’re almost at the top, a huge part of the mountain juts out.  So, we have to climb up and over it to really reach the top.  I guess you can do it alone.  But, I know that I need folks to help me in getting to a mountaintop.   Finally, we reach the top.  Below is an endless spread of evergreen with an occasional brown trail inching is way to somewhere.  The air is clear and thin, but plentiful to breath.  You can actually reach out and touch the clouds.  I’m told that on the top of North Mountain, we can spit to West Virginia.  But, what we usually do is call out the Jesus prayer.

 

As we shout out across the mountain top, the prayer comes echoing back:  God loves the world, God loves the world,  God loves the world, God loves the world.  God loves me, God loves me, God loves me, God loves me.  I love God, I love God, I love God, I love God.  Thanks be to God, thanks be to God, thanks be to God, thanks be to God.  God breaks through.  So, we stop our shouting and we stay as still as possible and just listen.  “Listen,” God says.  Hold on to the preciousness of the moment.

 

In the book, Healing the Spirit, Bobbie McKay and Lewis Musil tell a story of seven men fishing near the Canadian border.   Out of nowhere a violent storm suddenly descends upon the fishermen.   And, in the knick of time, they’re able to find refuge on a nearby island.  But, not without each of them being struck by lightening.  One of the men, lying on the ground, without any ability to move, feels that somehow he was being captured, surrounded.  Suddenly the man has a sensation of a brilliant light, a brightness encircling him.  On his back, as he is staring up, he looks and sees that the sky opens and he has a glimpse of what must be heaven.  God is with him.  He is in the total presence of the divine. 

Briefly, resting in the warmth of that moment, he comes to understand that God needs him. He looks over to see one of his fishing partners lying on the ground clearly struggling for his breath.  He crawls over to him and, scoops him up into his arms and holds him tight.  Eventually, the man is calmed.   Miraculously, the men find help, and somehow, deeply humbled, they all survive. 

 

Mountain top experiences don’t always happen on mountain tops.  And, often, they’re brief, almost fleeting, so we have to be on the look out for them.  When they come, we want to grab them and cherish them; because this is God saying, you are my chosen, so listen, pay attention, I am filling you with my love. 

 

Not long ago, I offended someone deeply.  Hurtful words were spoken.  I was unable to reconcile the situation.  In the end, I had to turn it over to God and leave it in his hands.  The pain was great for both the one I wounded and for me. This person has given me permission to tell this story.  Recently, one morning, I came into my office and checked my messages.  There was a message from this person asking me to call him.  I returned his call.  We spoke briefly and then, he said, “I’m sorry”; “I apologize.” 

 

This thin place, where we are suddenly and unexpectedly stripped raw and left open to the pure brightness of God surrounding us; it’s tender; it makes my palms sweat and my heart beat too fast and my eyes swell with tears.  I have to swallow a lot.  It’s uncomfortable and I’m afraid of the glory; of such sheer joy at how God can love us so much.  How that love in its forgiveness, liberates us.

 

Just as he does with the disciples, Jesus reaches out to us.  His tender touch strengthens us.  We can feel it in those who are close. He fills us with courage, and equips us to face those times when the valleys are low.

 

Jesus says, “do not be afraid.” 

 

So, we come down the mountain.  We might be a little shelled shocked.  But, the journey down is oh so different than the trek up.  Captured by the divine, promised by Jesus that he is with us; we’re practically flying down that mountain.  The transfiguration is not just in Jesus.  Through him, we are transformed as well.   Peter and James and John are told not to talk about their mountain top experience until Jesus is risen.  But, we can! Because we live in the resurrected Jesus; in a Lord who has made the journey, cleared away all the obstacles, reached the mountaintop, knows the glory, purely to give us the very promise that God is with us. 

 

On that mountain top, it’s as if he stops time and, in the brilliance of his glory, he comes in closer, nearer.  He surrounds us with his love; a love so great that we are forever with him, made his very own, to be his brightness in the world.