Up On the Mountain & Coming Back Down
The Rev. Lynn Oldham Robinett
Assistant Rector
St. Paul's Episcopal Church
San Rafael, California
March 2, 2003
Links to the Lessons:
1 Kings 19:9-18
2 Peter 1:16-21
Mark 9:2-9
When I was about 8 or 9 years old, I invited a friend to spend the night at my house. If you can believe it, somehow our conversation turned to religion. I grew up going to church and Sunday school in the Episcopal Church, and my friend was Japanese and was Buddhist. Now I of course knew nothing of Buddhism and wholeheartedly believed all that I heard in church, so of course anyone who didn't believe in Jesus was obviously misguided. Once a month in my church, the children stayed in for the lessons and the sermon which in our family was known as Long Church Sunday and we must have recently had one because I remembered the lesson. I started to tell my friend the story about a man who called on God to light a fire even though his wood was soaking wet. And how there was another man who called on his god whose name started with a B - U, and my friend shouted out Buddha and I said I thought that was his name, but he couldn't light the fire. Needless to say, my friend did not believe a word of what I was saying and I'm sure my mom had to come in and settle the issue. I know now of course that this lesson was from I Kings and Elijah was the prophet up on Mt. Carmel, and the other god was not Buddha but Baal.
I thought of this story because today is World Mission Sunday and for so many years, mission was associated with converting people, regardless of their faith or belief systems to believe in Jesus Christ as the only true way to God. That's obviously what I picked up as a kid. But when we talk about Mission today, we don't mean the same thing. It used to be that we communicated to the non-Christians, now we communicate with. We no longer confront, we converse. Whether we understand the imperative of mission from the perspective of the Great Commission - "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." or the Great Commandment - "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind." or a combination of both, we are united in the one call to God's mission in the world. As God sent Jesus into the world, we too, are sent into the world.
Today's Gospel, which is known as the Transfiguration, tells the story of Jesus taking 3 of his disciples up a mountain, where his clothes become dazzling white and he is announced as God's Son. Moses and Elijah join Jesus and the disciples are terrified because they do not know what to make of this sudden appearance of holy men. Like so many of us when we're nervous or scared, Peter opens his mouth and sounds a little foolish. He wants to make a dwelling for Moses, for Elijah, and for Jesus. He wants them to have their own place up on the mountain. That all sounds nice and hospitable, but that's not why Jesus had come. Jesus had not come to sit on a mountain top, but to live amongst the people. Jesus' mission was to share the Good News of God and proclaim the kingdom of God.
There is an obvious danger in leaving Jesus in a dwelling on a mountain top. Remember what happened when Moses went up on Mt. Sinai? The Israelites forgot all about him and their God and did some really stupid things. If we were to leave Jesus up on that mountain, we'd get too caught up in our own lives to visit. If we do not experience Jesus on a daily basis, we may perhaps even forget about him. What we see on the mountaintop needs to be taken into our being so that we can bring the experience down from the mountaintop into the plains, into the wilderness, into the desert of our lives.
I've been reading C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia, recently, and in one of the stories, a young girl is called out of her own world - our world - into Narnia, where she finds herself on a high mountain talking with the Lion, Aslan. Aslan explains that he has called her there, and that she has a special task to perform. He tells her to remember two things:
"…remember, remember, remember the Signs. Say them to yourself when you wake in the morning and when you lie down at night, and when you wake in the middle of the night. And whenever strange things may happen to you, let nothing turn your mind from following the Signs. And secondly, I give you a warning. Here on the mountain I have spoken to you clearly; I will not often do so down in Narnia. Here on the mountain, the air is clear and your mind is clear; as you drop down into Narnia, the air will thicken. Take great care it does not confuse your mind. And the Signs which you have learned here will not look at all as you expect them to look, when you meet them there. That is why it is so important to know them by heart and pay no attention to appearances. Remember the Signs and believe the Signs. Nothing else matters."
Sometimes we need signs - touchstones to help us remember when we come down from the mountain, when the air thickens and the clouds form and we can't see clearly, when we forget what is really important. Those mountaintop experiences we have, the times when we so clearly feel God's presence among us, are not there just to remind us that God is real. They are there to carry us through our difficult times. They are there so that if we get confused, we can remember that God lives within us. That God's love for us will never disappear.
The transfiguration of Jesus was not about going up a mountain and staying there, it was about going up a mountain, and coming back down changed. When Jesus came back down the mountain, he went right back to work spreading the Good News of the kingdom of God. He didn't take a week off to relish the experience as we all might be wont to do; instead he shared it through his life. He went right back to healing people and teaching people. His experience did not alienate him, it empowered him. When we have those mountaintop experiences, it is up to us to share them with others through our lives. As Jesus did not want his disciples boasting of what they had seen and heard up on the mountain, it is not the best thing for us to do either. If those experiences do change our lives, people will notice. Transformation is noticeable if we allow it to shine through.
And that is how we live out our mission in the world. Today's world already has too much divisiveness; we should rather focus on those mountaintop experiences that are available to everyone regardless of their religious tradition. We as Christians have as much to learn from people of other faiths as they do from us. And in this global age where religion is so often used to divide, the Church's mission should be to unite. God has the ability to reach every person, and on this World Mission Sunday, let us remember that God is there for everyone in one way or another and our faith can only deepen when we share ourselves with others.
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1 Kings 19:9-18
At Horeb, the mount of God, Elijah came to a cave, and spent the night there. Then the word of the LORD came to him, saying, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" He answered, "I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away."
He said, "Go out and stand on the mountain before the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by." Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then there came a voice to him that said, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" He answered, "I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away." Then the LORD said to him, "Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus; when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael as king over Aram. Also you shall anoint Jehu son of Nimshi as king over Israel; and you shall anoint Elisha son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah as prophet in your place. Whoever escapes from the sword of Hazael, Jehu shall kill; and whoever escapes from the sword of Jehu, Elisha shall kill. Yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him."
2 Peter 1:16-19(20-21)
For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received honor and glory from God the Father when that voice was conveyed to him by the Majestic Glory, saying, "This is my Son, my Beloved, with whom I am well pleased." We ourselves heard this voice come from heaven, while we were with him on the holy mountain.
So we have the prophetic message more fully confirmed. You will do well to be attentive to this as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. First of all you must understand this, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation, because no prophecy ever came by human will, but men and women moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.
Mark 9:2-9
Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them. And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus. Then Peter said to Jesus, "Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah." He did not know what to say, for they were terrified. Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, "This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!" Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one with them any more, but only Jesus.
As they were coming down the mountain, he ordered them to tell no one about what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead.