Attending college in northeast Tennessee meant there were many
outdoor activities available. One
that I enjoyed was climbing Buffalo Mountain, just outside of Johnson City.
There was one particular spot on the mountain that has an absolutely
breathtaking view, especially when you walk out onto an overlook of rock that
stuck out rather precariously. The
rocky overlook was a fairly good-sized space and it is possible to walk right
out to the edge and peer over and see the very long drop back down the
mountain.
There’s something euphoric, I think, about being on a literal
mountaintop and surveying all the valleys that stretch out before you. Although it’s a lot of work to get to
the mountaintop, there is a sense of peace as you gaze into the valley and know
you are far removed from all the problems and stresses of life in the valley.
This morning, as we move a little further into the gospel of Mark, we
are talking about Living Between the
Mountaintop and the Valley. Let’s
read the story of the Transfiguration, where Jesus takes Peter, James, and John
to the top of a mountain and there is transfigured before them.
2 After six days
Jesus took Peter, James and John with him and led them up a high mountain,
where they were all alone. There he was transfigured before them.
3 His clothes became
dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them.
4 And there appeared
before them Elijah and Moses, who were talking with Jesus.
5 Peter said to
Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one
for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.”
6 (He did not know
what to say, they were so frightened.)
7 Then a cloud
appeared and covered them, and a voice came from the cloud: “This is my Son, whom
I love. Listen to him!”
8 Suddenly, when
they looked around, they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus.
9 As they were
coming down the mountain, Jesus gave them orders not to tell anyone what they
had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead.
Allow me to share a few lessons from this passage –
We need our mountaintop experiences.
For me, church camp was always a mountaintop experience. I spent a good deal of my summers,
beginning in elementary school through my early college years, going to church
camp, and my experiences there were some of the most profound in my life. At the time, I understood those
experiences to be a source of strength and encouragement for me between
summers, helping me to get through each school year, but as I’ve grown older
I’ve come to understand how they continue to be life-changing and life-shaping
experiences for me. For some people, their mountaintop experiences came in
other ways. The context of the
experience doesn’t matter as much as having the experience.
I hope that worship can be a mountaintop experience for you. I understand that our experience of
worship can vary quite a bit from week to week, and there are times when you
might come for any number of weeks – or longer – and not get that sense of a
mountaintop experience, but I hope it does come at some point.
Sometimes we need a special encounter with God. Sometimes we need those moments that
lift us above the daily grind of life.
Sometimes we need those moments where heaven meets earth and the divine comes
right into our lives. Those
moments don’t come every day in my life.
Sometimes, those really moving encounters come few and far between.
Sometimes those encounters come totally out of the blue and other times they
come because we place ourselves in a position where they can happen. But one of those encounters is enough to
provide spiritual fuel for a long time.
Peter, James, and John would certainly have their share of powerful
and profound experiences with Jesus, but this one was special, and as difficult
as it was for them to understand the experience, it was one that touched them
in a very deep and profound way.
We need people to share our journey.
I don’t know why Jesus seemed to favor Peter, James, and John, but
he seemed to be closer to those three than the other disciples. The gospels mention other times when
Jesus favored Peter, James, and John, such as in the Garden of Gethsemane, when
he took those three further into the garden with him than the others. If we attempted to list the others from
memory we might have a difficult time of it as, outside of the list of their
names, some of them are barely mentioned in the New Testament.
But Jesus was, I’m certain, very close to all twelve of the
disciples, and his relationship with the twelve reminds us of the powerful need
we have in life of being in relationship with other people. We are social
creatures; we are not meant to live in solitude. And when we look around at the prevalence of social media and
the powerful force it has become in the lives of so many it is but one more
reminder of that need God places within us for relationships with other people.
Aren’t you grateful we do not walk through this life alone? Aren’t you grateful for the people that
God has brought into your life?
Can you imagine life without those people who celebrate with us in the
difficult times but also walk with us through the valley, the people who will
sit and weep with us, mourn with us, and love us when we feel as though we
cannot continue?
Jesus surrounded himself with close friends because that is what we
need in life. We need, in
particular, people who will be encouragers for us. Think of Barnabas, in the book of Acts, whose name meant encourager. Imagine being known for all of history as an encourager –
now there is a legacy! I could
give you so many examples of people who have served as encouragers to me, but
I’ll share just one this morning.
In a previous congregation where I served, as the conclusion of the
service, one of the members shook my hand and said, Dave, that was a really good message today. I really enjoyed it a got a lot out of it. Thank you for sharing it today. My first impression, honestly, was to
be disappointed, because we had a music program that day and I didn’t preach. I thought she must have slept through
the service and didn’t notice there was no sermon that day! Upon reflection, however, I realized it
was because her habit was to say something encouraging to me every week after
worship. It was that she didn’t
notice I hadn’t preached; she just did what she always did, which was to offer
an encouraging word to me.
We enter the valley because that is where so much of life is lived and
that is where so many people live.
We all have that one place where we could just camp out
forever. Perhaps it’s the beach –
that’s the favorite for a lot of us, isn’t it? My mother-in-law lived on the beach at Tybee Island, Georgia
for 18 years, and we loved to visit there. The beach is one of the few places in the world where I can
be content just sitting. I look
out at the water and think, I could sit
here forever. Now she lives on
a lake in northeast Georgia, and though I really miss the beach I love the lake
as well. The lake has over 900
miles of shoreline winding through the hills of northeast Georgia and islands
dot the lake. Some of them are
smaller than this room but others can cover a couple of acres. I love to go out on the lake and pull
up to one of the islands and sit on the little beaches that surround them. It’s incredibly peaceful. It’s quiet, there are no phones ringing
and no to-do lists. There is only
peace and quiet. There have been
many times when I sat on a beach, or an island, or on a mountain overlook and
thought I could stay here forever. Have you ever felt that way?
But, sadly, the mountaintop is not where most people live. Most people live much of their lives in
the harshness of the valley, where dysfunction and disease and conflict and
loss and fear and violence and so many other problems overwhelm life. As
wonderful as it would be to stay on the mountaintop, we have to enter the
valleys because that is where people live.
On a fortunate few occasions we get to visit the mountaintop and
have that beautiful mountaintop experience, but that is not where we get to
stay long. Some people never make
it to the mountaintop. Some people
spend all of their lives struggling to be free from the valley of poverty, of
disease, of violence, of loneliness, of depression and despair, of fear and so
many other struggles that fill that valley.
Peter, bless him, has an interesting reaction to being on the
mountaintop. He turns to Jesus and
says Rabbi, it is good for us to be here.
Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.
Peter’s words were accurate but
the sentiment behind them was a bit off.
It was indeed good for them to be there and to experience such a
momentous occasion. What a
wonderful experience they shared; who wouldn’t want to stay there?
But Peter’s desire to build some shelters and stay on the
mountaintop was the wrong sentiment.
It was the wrong sentiment for this reason – after the transfiguration
Jesus leads Peter, James, and John back down the mountain, back to reality,
where there is chaos, confusion, and frustration. Basically, back to every day life. When you read ahead to the next story, you find the other
disciples surrounded by a crowd and a man whose son who needed to be
healed. It was a chaotic situation
and a reminder of why we prefer to be on the mountaintop and out of the valley. I’m sure Peter, James, and John were
thinking at that moment can we go back up
to the mountaintop and get away from all of this? Isn’t that a reaction we often have to the chaos and
suffering and struggles of the world?
Lord, excuse me, but I think I’ll
go to my safe place, to my favorite place that will insulate me from all this
craziness in the world. But
here is an important truth for us to remember – any encounter with God that
does not lead us down from our mountains, that does not lead us out of our
buildings, and does not lead us out into the needs of the world around us is
probably not a real encounter with God.
A mountaintop experience – a true mountaintop experience – is one
that compels us down from the mountaintop and into the valley, because that is
where God can always be found – in the valley. Isn’t that what the psalmist tells us in the 23rd
psalm? Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will
fear no evil, for thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. There is no valley too deep for
God. There is no valley out of
God’s reach. There is no valley
where God is not present.
Kayla Mueller is a name we
learned only recently. She had
been in the hands of ISIS and we were all surprised to hear the news in recent
days, as her kidnapping had not been made public. We also learned, tragically that she died in recent
days. In the spring of 2014 she
wrote a letter to her family, which the family made public after her
death. Here is some of what she
had to say –
I remember mom always telling me that all in
all in the end the only one you really have is God. I have come to a place in
experience where, in every sense of the word, I have surrendered myself to our
creator b/c literally there was no else ... + by God + by your prayers I have
felt tenderly cradled in freefall. I have been shown in darkness, light + have
learned that even in prison, one can be free. I am grateful. I have come
to see that there is good in every situation, sometimes we just have to look
for it. I pray each day that if nothing else, you have felt a certain closeness
+ surrender to God as well + have formed a bond of love + support amongst one
another.
Isn’t that an amazing testimony of courage and faith? Her words, in a very powerful way, echo
those of Paul, who also wrote of his faith while in prison, and who also wrote
of being able to see the good in each situation. I hope that if I were ever in a situation that challenged my
faith that I could hold to it as strongly as Kayla. For Kayla, the mountaintop came to the valley. Even though she found herself,
literally, in the valley of the shadow of death she shows no fear, as she knew
God was with her. Down from the
mountaintop he came, and entered into the valley with her.
Some of you may be blessed to be on the mountaintop at this point in
your life. Many more of you may be
in the valley, where life is difficult.
Know that God is not far away on the mountaintop, but he is in the
valley with you.
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