Thanking God for the Mountaintop Experiences

Mark 9:2-9 February 19, 2012

It is an old joke, worthy of vaudeville but…

There was a man who went to his doctor and expressed the following concern: “Doc, I’m really worried. Every time I drink a cup of coffee, I feel a stabbing pain in my eye. Do you think it’s serious?” To which the doctor replied, “No, try taking the spoon out of your cup.” We may not have a spoon blinding us and causing pain, but there are times in our lives when we can only see things from one perspective. We are locked in. We can’t see anything else. We all form our opinions this way. Sometimes we just need to get outside of ourselves to see things from a new vantage point.

The same is true with people. Every time I go back to my hometown of Colchester, Connecticut, a lot of people still see me as that teenager that worked at the grocery store. And when I go down to visit my parents and hop in the back seat, I’m ten years old again. Yet perspectives can and do change with events. In a single moment we can see everything in a new light. That happened the day your first child was born. It happened when you graduated from high school or college. It happened on your wedding day and when you landed your first real job. That’s the nature of life.

In our text today we come to one of those moments. Peter, James and John are given a glimpse of Jesus that will change the way they see everything going forward. It happens on a mountain.

I’ll never forget the grandeur of the Rocky Mountains. Back in 2000 we took a group of kids to the American Baptist youth event ID2K in Estes Park Colorado. (I know Jonathan Gibson and some kids from here went too.) One afternoon we drove up into the Rocky Mountain National Forest. As we climbed through mountains, I was in awe. The views were astonishing. We were so high that there was snow on the ground in July. At one point I think we actually drove through the clouds. The whole experience was a reminder that God is a great creator. Jesus often went up to the mountains to pray. That alone gave him a different view of the world.

Several years ago I went to a conference in Washington D. C. and happened to be walking by this huge glass building. I think it was the National Homebuilders Association. Whatever it was, it was an architectural wonder. The glass walls were actually built on and angle and leaning outward. That created quite an illusion. When you looked in the reflective glass it was almost like you were seeing yourself from above. I remember thinking that this is how God must see us.

Mountains are significant in Scripture. Both Elijah and Moses had important encounters with God up in the mountains. Moses came away with the Ten Commandments when he went up the mountain. Elijah heard the still small voice of God on a different mountain. Jerusalem, the city of God is also built on a mountain.

So it is significant when the text says that Jesus went up the mountain with them. It’s almost like God is saying “pay attention here!” You know something important is going to happen. Even if the disciples didn’t catch on right then, they would get it later.

Now let me remind you what had just happened in the lives of the disciples. Large crowds had been following them. One afternoon Jesus had compassion on them because it was late and they were hungry. He fed them by multiplying five loaves and two fish.

A few days later Jesus, in a teaching moment, asked them what the people were saying about him. They told him that some thought he was John the Baptist come back to life or Elijah or another great prophet. When asked who they thought he was, Peter declared he was the messiah.

You would have thought Jesus would have been ecstatic. They got it. They finally understood. But he knew it was only words. Because as he began to lay out God’s plan and tell them about his sacrifice, they rejected it.

That’s when Jesus took them up the mountain. He took them up to give them a glimpse of the big picture.

The truth is that all of us know who Jesus is. Many of us aren’t afraid to say we have been born again in Christ. Yet sometimes the world gets to us. Even with all of that faith, we get bogged down.

I had Lois Terranova’s funeral this week. Over the last six to ten years she battled that arthritis to the point where it crippled her body and left her in pain most days. It would have been easy for her to give up her faith in God.

We always think it is going to be the other guy that something bad happens to, until it happens to us. When you lose your job or you get the news from the doctor, it can be quite a blow to your faith. When you are doing all the right things and still get hit by some unfortunate series of events, you might even look up and ask why? I think King David understood this as well as anyone. Just read through the Psalms. He was God’s chosen one from an early age. He had so much faith. Yet, his young life was filled with challenges. The king he admired had turned on him and chased him across the wilderness. The armies he led were now against him. But even at the lowest point of his life, he had that mountain top experience which reminded him that there was more to the story. So when everything threatened to overwhelm him he writes, “I lift my eyes to the mountains, from where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth…” It was the mountain top experience that helped him through.

I don’t know if you noticed it, but if you read carefully Mark’s description of the transfigured Jesus, it is strikingly similar to the description of the risen Christ in the New Testament resurrection accounts. Take into consideration verse nine of today’s gospel where Jesus tells his disciples as they go back down the mountain not to tell anyone about the transfiguration until after he had risen from the dead; and we are given the impression that the transfiguration event is a preparation for the future; for the cross and resurrection.

Sometimes it is not until much later in life that we come to see the purpose of the events of our lives and how they all fit together. It is then that we realize how God works through such events to prepare us for the future.

There is a poem I like that talks about our lives as though they were a tapestry or a weaving. It reminds us that we only see the tapestry from one side. It isn’t until we get to heaven that we can see why the sorrow, why the pain, why those difficulties were woven into our experience.

Our text today reminds us that God also provides these glimpses of glory as well. There are moments in life when we know without a doubt that God is God and everything in the world is going to be ok. I‘ve had a few of them and you probably have too. When you ask me how I can be so sure of my faith, I can’t always tell you right off, but it is through these experiences that we know we have been in the presence of God. They provide the foundation for us going forward.

The great problem is that when we are having one of those mountain top experiences, we are like Peter. We want to keep them going on and on. We want to set up camp and stay in the moment.

That’s not the way it works. These special moments are not for us to keep. They are given so that we can be strengthened in our faith and witness. They are given so that they can be remembered when we are walking through the valleys and need the inspiration to carry on. Henri Matisse and August Renoir were the closest friends and two of the most famous painters among the French impressionists.. When Renoir's health failed and doctors forced him into confinement for the final decade of his life, Matisse visited him daily. Renoir, almost paralyzed with arthritis, continued to paint at his easel in spite of his infirmities. One afternoon, Matisse watched his friend painting, fighting torturous pain with each movement and stroke of the brush. He finally blurted out, “August, why do you continue to paint when you are in such agony?”

Renior never looked up. His eyes were fixed on the canvas with complete concentration. Then he spoke softly, “The beauty remains. The pain passes.”

The beauty remains; the pain passes. I thought about that this week as I read a prayer-poem that Lois Terranova had on her bedside table. I want to share it with you this morning.

Lord God, I welcome the birth which awaits me. Free me from the body which has served me well through life, for it is now a prison restricting my every move with pain and weakness. I welcome your presence in my life Lord, and I thank you for all you have given me. I know you are preparing me for my new life. Never before I have I felt so much love coming from those around me, and coming from me. I know it is a touch of your gentle hand at work, preparing me for my new life. Lord, I thank you for opening my eyes before I leave, allowing me to see and feel what love really is. Not possessive, limited human love, but the total unconditional love that your hand can inspire in us. Thank you, Lord, for those around me who have chosen to share in this experience of love. Never before have I felt so close to other human beings as I do now in my last days. I know in my heart I am ready to meet you, and I have no fear. You have shown me a mere fraction of the love and beauty that awaits me in your realm. Forgive me Father, for having fallen short in many ways in my life. I know that I have missed out on any chances to have experienced the beauty of your love here on this earth. I ask you Lord, that in my passing, you inspire in others what you have inspired in me in these last days. Let this experience inspire faith, and soften the hearts of those around me that have not known your love the way I have come to know it. For I know all good comes from you and, if we ask for what is truly good in your eyes, it shall be done. Lord, I ask you to use me in my final days here as you will. I submit myself to you with the knowledge that in doing so, you will allow me to do whatever it is that can better the lives of those around me whom I truly love. Thank you Father.

August Renoir must have had a mountaintop expience and seen God’s grandeur. So did Lois. That is what kept them both going.

We know the scriptural story. From that point on things got more and more difficult for Jesus. The religious leaders stepped up their attacks and before very long, Jesus was taken, beaten and crucified. It was a dark time for the disciples but then they remembered. And everything changed.

I thank God for the mountain top experiences. They remind us that nothing can separate us from the love of God. They remind us that God has a plan for our life, a plan to prosper us and bless us. They remind us that we need not fear, for he is with us always.

The mountain top experiences are a gift from God.

These are profound words. In the transfiguration God assures us there is much more beyond waiting for us, much more within us that can emerge and be realized. 2

All of us need the vision of the mountaintop. All of us need transfiguration experiences, where our entire perspective is changed, the fog is gone, and we see more clearly. If we stop and reflect upon our lives, likely we’ve all had such transfiguration experiences just as Peter, James, and John. We too can probably identify with Peter in today’s gospel, when he attempts to capture and prolong this transfiguration experience by attempting to make three dwellings for Jesus, Elijah, and Moses. However we like Peter, James and John come to realize that we cannot live on the mountaintop forever. The valleys beckon us to come down and live our lives as servants with other people—just as Jesus did with Peter, James and John.

Jesus and his disciples, like Moses of old, descended to the valleys of life to serve and give of themselves. The mountaintop had prepared them all for loving service of others. The same is true of us. It has been said that old people are not lonely because they have no one to share their burden but because they have only their own burden to bear. An eighty-five-year-old woman was being interviewed on her birthday. What advice would she have for people her age, the reporter asked.

“Well,” said the old dear, “at our age it is very important to keep using all our potential or it dries up. It is important to be with people and, if it is at all possible, to earn one’s living through service. That’s what keeps us alive and well.”

“May I ask what exactly you do for a living at your age?”

“I look after an old lady in my neighborhood,” was her unexpected, delightful reply. Loving service heals everyone—both those who receive it and those who give it. 3

May our mountaintop experiences help us to see Jesus more clearly; in order to follow his holy will in lives of cross-bearing service of others. Amen.