Coming Down From The Mountain

COMING DOWN FROM THE MOUNTAIN
Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John, and led them up
on a high mountain apart by themselves; and He was transfigured
before them. 3His clothes became shining, exceedingly white, like
snow, such as no launderer on earth can whiten them. 4And Elijah
appeared to them with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus. 5Then
Peter answered and said to Jesus, "Rabbi, it is good for us to be here;
and let us make three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one
for Elijah"-- 6because he did not know what to say, for they were greatly
afraid. 7And a cloud came and overshadowed them; and a voice came
out of the cloud, saying, "This is My beloved Son. Hear Him!"
8
Suddenly, when they had looked around, they saw no one anymore,
but only Jesus with themselves. 9Now as they came down from the
mountain, He commanded them that they should tell no one the things
they had seen, till the Son of Man had risen from the dead.Mark 9:2-9
(NKJV)
We have come now to the final Sunday in the season of
Epiphany. Light is the prominent theme of Epiphany, and
Transfiguration Sunday is the climax of this church season. Notice that
in Scripture, It all begins with the theme of light, as everything was
void and in chaos, and out of the chaos came the voice of God, Let
there be light! And at the end of the book, you will find that it all ends
with light as well: And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine
on it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the lamb (Rev.
21:23). And today we find that as far as the gospel writer Mark was
concerned, the story is full of light in the middle as well. Mark
intentionally places this event in the life of Christ directly in the middle,
making it the pivotal point in his telling of the gospel story.
If you will recall, as we have mentioned since beginning in Marks
gospel for this lectionary cycle, one of the prominent themes
emphasized over and over is, Jesus is the Son of God. It is no
accident that the events portrayed here come right after Peter has
made his famous confession concerning who Jesus is. It is almost as if
the Transfiguration is situated here as confirmation of what Peter has
just declared. Further confirmation is given by the voice of God coming
from the cloud, declaring this to be His Son.
One of my favorite cartoon strips of all time is Peanuts. I always
especially enjoyed the ones where Lucy would be playing doctor,
psychiatrist, or philosopher. In one such strip, Lucy declares to Charlie
Brown: Life is like a deck chair; Some people place them so they can
see where theyre going; some people place them so they can see
where theyve been; and some people place them so they can see
where they are. Charlie Brown stands there for a minute pondering
what she has said, looks down at his own tangled mess of a chair, and
says, I cant get mine unfolded.(1)
Sometimes our lives feel exactly like thata mess so tangled
that we simply cant seem to make sense of it. And yet so often we
find that even in that mess, somehow we still manage to enjoy that
Top of the World feeling, what we call mountaintop experiences.
Andy Warhol, a pop icon of the sixties, saw this experience as one we
all possess at one time or another in our lives, what he called our
fifteen minutes of fame. And perhaps at some point in our lives, we
do all have those moments when we feel we have reached the
pinnacle.
But I have observed also that it is precisely these moments that
can lead to some of the deepest moments of our lives as well. It is well
to note that the highest mountains very often lead into the lowest
valleys. Think about some of the mountaintop experiences we see in
Scripture. Think about Abraham, who was given great promises of
blessing from the hand of Godand yet, on the heels of the promise,
was given the command to go and slay his son, the very son of
promise given by God. Then, as he goes up on Mount Moriah, an angel
stops him just before the sacrifice is accomplished, and Abraham
sacrifices a goat instead, with the spot becoming a place of worship.
Then, with these good feelings still welling up within him, he must
come down from the mountain, and face the death of his wife Sarah.
Think about Moses, a man who knew God face to face like no
other man, who held such communion with God, that once when he
came down from the mountain his face was shining with the residual
light of God upon him. Yet even Moses had to come down from the
mountain after receiving the commandments of God, to find his people
rebelling and worshipping a golden calf in the place of God. Think
about Elijah, who on the mountain was involved in a great victory after
putting the worshippers of Baal to the test. But when he had to come
down from the mountain, a report came to him that Jezebel sought his
life, and he became so despondent he sat under a tree wishing he
could die.
The mountaintop seems to be a good image of some of the
things we face in our lives. I think we can all identify with that deck
chair image as well, depending on where we are on the mountain at
any given point in time. Maybe youre here this morning, and youre
on the top of that mountain, everythings going good, and its an easy
thing to maintain focus on where youre headed. Or maybe your glory
days are behind you, and you find yourself with fewer and fewer days
ahead of you than behind you. It gets easier to look where youve
been, and reminisce about the good ole days with nostalgia. Or
perhaps youre faced with difficulties that steal away any kind of focus
you may have had, replacing it with strong anxiety, so that the best
you possibly manage is to see where you are, and to take it one day at
a time.
One thing is for surethe lower you are on the mountain at any
given time, the harder it is to see your way. But no matter what the
changes are in the circumstances of your life, there is one thing that
never changes: the source of the light. In the valley, its easy to say
the light doesnt shine like it did when I was on the mountain. But it
is not the light that has changedit is your ability to perceive it. The
light is actually still the same no matter which part of the mountain
youre on. You see, it doesnt matter whether your focus is on where
youre headed, or on where youve been, or on where you are.
Because Jesus Christ, who is our light, is, as the Word tells us, the
same yesterday, today, and forever. You can trust Him--on the
mountain, on the plains, or in the valleysto give you the light you
need to see the path.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own
understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct
your paths. (Pro. 3:5-6)
NOTES:
(1) Retold in What Peter Learned on the Mountain, by David E. Hall,
sermon preached 6/25/00 at Eastern Hills Baptist Church, Garland, TX.
OTHER SOURCES CONSULTED:
Harry Emerson Fosdick, Finding Unfailing Resources, from On Being
Fit to Live With, London: SCM Press, 1947.
Dr. Thomas C. Nolen, Back to the Mountaintop, online sermon.
Douglas I. Norris, Up, Up, and Away, online sermon.

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