to return to your place in the text.To read endnotes, click on the the note number, then click on the
But from here on, ordinary ends. No sooner do they arrive
than Jesus is suddenly "transfigured." He "glowed." As the text
has it, "his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on
earth could bleach them." Not only out of the ordinary, but
absolutely out of this world - which, of course, is precisely
what the story wants to convey.
And if that is not out-of-the ordinary enough, two of
faith's most honored heroes suddenly appear by Jesus' side.
Moses, the great law-giver, and Elijah, the prophet par
excellence - the Law and the Prophets - paying respect to Jesus,
in whom both are brought together.
This is both literally and figuratively a "mountain-top
experience." No wonder Peter, James, and John are terrified. Of
course, a little terror never stopped Peter from speaking up; for
lack of any other ideas, he suggests erecting three shrines to
commemorate the event!
A big enough deal so far, but now, a cloud overshadows the
mountain. The damp air closes in and all the world slips away
into a grayness. Then the voice of God echoes around them
saying, "This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!" Glowing
face and clothes, visits from famous figures of the past,
hovering clouds and heavenly voices...Wow! It was so extra
ordinary that when it was all over, and Jesus and Peter and James
and John were headed back down the mountain, Jesus told them to
"tell no one about what they had seen." That made sense. Who
would have believed it anyway? But the three of them believed
it. They had been there, and those moments on that mountain
would forever mark their lives and change the way they looked at
everything. Certain "WOW" moments have a way of doing that.
There is a true story of a 33-year-old truck driver by the
name of Larry Walters who was sitting in his lawn chair in his
backyard one day wishing he could fly. For as long as he could
remember he had wanted to fly but he had never had the time nor
money nor opportunity to be a pilot. Hang gliding was out
because there was no good place for gliding near his home. So he
spent a lot of summer afternoons sitting in his backyard in his
ordinary old aluminum chair - the kind with the webbing and the
rivets, the kind most of us have. One day Larry hooked 45
helium-filled surplus weather balloons to his chair, put a CB
radio in his lap, tied a paper bag full of peanut butter and
jelly sandwiches to his leg, and slung a BB-gun over his shoulder
to pop the balloons when he wanted to come down. He lifted off
in his lawn chair expecting to climb a couple of hundred feet
over his neighborhood. But instead he shot up 11,000 feet right
through the approach corridor to the Los Angeles International
Airport. When asked by the press why he did it, Larry answered:
"Well, you can't just sit there." When asked if he was scared,
he answered, "Yes...wonderfully so."(1) Wow!
Larry Walters will never be the same again after his trip to
the mountain in his lawn chair. He has seen things and felt
things that will shape the way he lives the rest of his life.
T'was the same with Peter, James and John. Up on that
mountain they had been given nothing less than a glimpse into the
future. They saw past the suffering and death of Jesus which the
Master had predicted a few days before; past their doubts; past
their fears. For one brief shining moment God had cracked the
door to the end of time and they had seen how history would be
worked out, their own and the whole world's.(2) And they would
never be the same again, having taken that ride. Wow!
What do you think? When you have seen how everything turns
out in the end, will it affect how you view the present? Of
course, it will.
One of my cyber-friends has recently moved from full-time
hospice work to full-time parish ministry. Brice Hughes has been
at the bedside of many persons who have had experiences of
"seeing past the veil." He writes,
At any rate, after over three hundred deaths in
our hospice, all of the Near Death Experiences have
resulted in an increase of the sense of peace. One
patient I became particularly close to had a typical
experience. While in the hospital, (he was not a
hospice patient), his heart stopped. Aggressive
intervention returned his heartbeat. When I came
on-shift the next day, he had been moved to ICU. As I
entered his bay, his face broke into a big grin. The
first words out of his mouth were: "I've seen the
light." He described a fairly typical Near Death
Experience: bright light, overwhelming sense of peace,
etc. The upshot of this...was that he insisted his
doctor issue a "Do Not Resuscitate" Order. To get his
doctor to make him a No Code, he practically had to
twist the doc's arm. He was THAT convinced by what he
had witnessed.(3) I wish everyone could have that WOW experience. I am
reminded of a "Murphy Brown" episode in which for some reason she
asks the staff about their thoughts or feelings about God. There
were different responses from different characters - one was an
agnostic, one was a Baptist, and so on. But the response of the
character Jim stands out. He said he was a Presbyterian and went
to church every Sunday with his wife. He said something on the
order of, "I haven't had any experience of God. I go because it
is obvious to me that the people who attend are experiencing God,
and I am hoping that one day I will too."(4) Sound familiar? I
wonder how many real-life "Jims" there are in our pews
waiting...waiting. Plenty, no doubt.
No great mystery. After all, life is lived in the valley,
not on the mountain top. Things are different between the two.
If you read ahead a bit in Mark's gospel, the contrasts are
stark. [Read Mark 9:14-24]
"O Lord, carry me away to the mountain," might be our
prayer. YES, Lord! But then we remember the place of our
ministry is with those who need our help down in the valley.
That being the case, how can we arrange those energizing,
even life-changing, mountaintop experiences during the course of
our journey? The easy answer is that we cannot! Sorry. We
wait...just like Jim. If you remember, Peter, James, and John
were there with Jesus because they had been invited - there were
nine others who were not. I suspect the reason is that some were
ready, others were not.
A friend of mine has noted that, when children are small,
parents discover that there are some words that we cannot say at
the dinner table. As soon as we say words like "cookies, candy,
or cake," our kids do not want to eat supper any more. They know
what "cookies, candy and cake" mean, but they do not seem to
understand the word "later." They want the dessert now. Forget
the main course. If we let them eat the sweet stuff, we know
they will not be interested in the nutritious stuff. They would
never have a healthy diet.(5)
A mountaintop experience is like dessert. If that is the
extent of our spiritual diet, we will be poorly fed. Our faith
will be unhealthy. It will be not much more than a spiritual
rabbit's foot, something that protects us from problems -- divine
cures for sickness, financial worries, the anxieties of life --
the glory on the mountain top. We need some preparation before
we can truly appreciate the WOW.
Do you want to be ready for an invitation to the mountain
top? Let me make a few suggestions.
First, make yourself available. Peter, James, and John were
invited up the slope because they were already in the company of
Jesus. The company of Jesus in the year 2000 is right here - the
church. Those who, for whatever reason, choose to absent
themselves from the fellowship will not be ready to respond to
the invitation.
Second, learn all you can about your faith tradition.
Sunday School, Midweek Bible Studies, personal devotions. All
the surveys indicate that biblical literacy is at a low ebb these
days, and going down! Sad. The text does not tell us how Peter,
James, and John recognized Moses and Elijah, but they did, and
they knew how incredibly important these men were. Had they
never heard of them, the moment on the mountain would not have
been nearly so special.
Third, listen to Jesus. Only twice in the gospels does God
(the Voice) speak - once at Jesus' baptism, and again here. God
minces no words. "This is my son, the Beloved; Listen to Him."
Listen to Him. We hear him as we worship. Listen to Him. We
hear him as we study scripture. Listen to Him. We hear him in
the voice of other Christians. Listen to Him. It is SO EASY to
listen to other voices to the point of drowning Jesus out. Not
good. Listen to Jesus.
Fourth, remember where your work is. The valley. The
church is the only institution I know of that exists primarily
for the sake of those outside it. If we listen to Jesus, we hear
him say again, "GO...make disciples."
One final suggestion (and this I get not from the text, but
rather sanctified speculation grown out of a lifetime of
observation). If you would be truly prepared for Christ's
invitation to the mountain top, have about you an air of joyous
expectancy. When you come to this holy place from week to week,
prayerfully begin your trip through the doors ready, not to run
into someone you would rather not see, not to sing a hymn you
don't know and would rather not learn, not to mumble through a
prayer and a creed without thought, not to suffer through a
sermon that somehow misses you. No. Rather come in ready to
meet Jesus...in a person, a song, a word. The older I get the
more I realize that ATTITUDE IS EVERYTHING. When the ATTITUDE is
right, then the invitation can come and be received with the joy
it deserves.
Five suggestions in preparation for a trip to the
mountaintop: make yourself available; learn all you can about
your faith tradition; listen to Jesus; remember where your work
is; and finally, ATTITUDE. Then you will be ready when the WOW
presents itself.
All this "mountain" talk puts me in mind of Martin Luther
King's last sermon. He delivered it April 3, 1968, on the eve of
his assassination, at Mason Temple in Memphis, Tennessee, the
headquarters of the Church of God in Christ, the largest African
American Pentecostal denomination in the United States. He
concluded his remarks that night:
WOW!
Amen!
1. Robert Fulghum, Everything I Really Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten, (New York:
Villard Books, 1988) p. 139 2. Ellen Madison, Weldona, CO, via PresbyNet, "The View from the Mountain," 1994 3. Brice Hughes via Ecunet, "Sermonshop 1996 02 21," #22, 2/17/96 4. Donn Brammer, West Palm Beach, FL via Ecunet, "Sermonshop Discussion," #1748, 2/7/97 5. Brian Stoffregen, via Ecunet, "Gospel Notes for Next Sunday," #2992 , 2/3/97 6. Quoted by Clyde Fant and William Pinson, eds., 20 Centuries of Great Preaching, Vol. XII,
(Waco, TX: Word Books, 1971), pp. 352-353
Among our hospice, we frequently explained this
with the metaphor that as one nears death, the boundary
between this life and the next becomes thinner, more
permeable...We have had our patients report lots of
visits. Several of them have reported visits from
Jesus; others have visits from passed-on family
members. A fascinating number (men and women) have
reported feeling the presence of babies in their bed.
(Wonder what the meaning of "babies" is?)
in the valley, there is an encounter with the demonic.
in the valley, we encounter those who consider
questions of faith as occasions for battle.
in the valley, human argument is heard.
in the valley, the disciples are spoiling for a fight.
in the valley, the power of sin and unbelief is
revealed.
I don't know what will happen now. We've got some
difficult days ahead. But it doesn't matter with me
now. Because I've been to the mountain top. And I
don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long
life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned
about that now. I just want to do God's will. And
He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've
looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may
not get there with you. But I want you to know
tonight, that we, as a people will get to the promised
land. And I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about
anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have
seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.(6)
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