B, Last Sunday After the
Epiphany:
Mark 9:2-9, The Transfiguration By the
Rev. Blake R. Hutson
O Lord to see you is the end and the
beginning. You carry us and you go
before us. You are the journey and the
journeys end. Amen.
“Mountain top experiences” are something that we all have.
Occasionally we can have a literal mountain top experience if we drive
to
Metaphorically speaking, the mountain tops are the “highs” in our life
as opposed to the valleys. You might say
they are the good times in our life.
Mountain top experiences can also be those times or events when
something special, something life changing happens to us. They are events above and beyond the
ordinary. Mountain top experiences are
the exceptional, the extraordinary events in our life.
I think the first time we fall in love is a sort of emotional Mountain
top experience. Other “high points” or
mountain top experiences might be our wedding day, our honeymoon, the birth of
a child, graduation from high school and graduation from college; maybe
renewing our wedding vows; retirement, the birth of grandchildren, a 75th
birthday or maybe a 25th or 50th wedding
anniversary.
We have all been blessed and can think back on the “high points” in our life. We have had experiences that are special;
events that are even life-changing. God
is in these “high points” in our life—these events above and beyond the
ordinary. We can look back on the high points in our life and see that they are
blessed and even, unmistakably touched by the hand of God.
Now, in a spiritual sense, we can also have mountain top
experiences. In this morning’s Gospel,
we read that Jesus had a profound spiritual “Mountain top experience.” He went up a mountain with Peter, James and
John and there we read that in a unique way He was touched by God. The four of them are off by themselves on the
mountain and we read that Jesus was transfigured. Jesus also has a conversation with Moses and
Elijah– prominent and important figures from the Old Testament. Then a cloud surrounds the group and similar
to Jesus’ baptism, a voice came from the cloud saying, “This is my Son, the
Beloved, listen to Him!”
We refer to this story as “the transfiguration” because as we have
read, Christ was transfigured; he was changed before their eyes when “his
clothes became dazzling white.” One
version puts it this way: that His clothes became “like lightning.” The Greek word in the text we translate as
“transfigured” is “metamorphoun.” It is
from the root “metamorphe.” Form this
Greek term we get our English word: “metamorphosis.”[1] A metamorphosis is a transformation, a marked
change in appearance or condition.[2]
Jesus was visibly and unmistakably touched by the hand of God and He
was literally changed. He had this
spiritual mountain top experience and He underwent a metamorphosis, a
transformation. He was changed by this
profound spiritual experience.
We see in this story, a truth that we know: Mountain top experiences
change us. Or put another way, we are changed by the mountain top experiences in
our life. Our spiritual, emotional,
relational high points change our life.
We are forever changed after our wedding day. We are forever changed after the birth of a
baby. Our lives are different after our
first experience falling in love.
Mountain top experiences change our life.
Jesus underwent what was probably the most profound spiritual
experience of His life. In the moment
Jesus was literally changed. But perhaps the most important effect of
this experience came later. Through this
experience, Jesus was strengthened so that he could meet the challenges
that he was to face in the days to come.
At this point in the Gospel, Jesus’ Triumphal Entry into
We also see in this story the reality that Mountain top experiences
come to an end. We have high points in
our life, but we also have valleys.
Jesus and His disciples came down from the mountain. Their
spiritual mountain top experience came to an end. It comes to an end because the “high points,”
the good times don’t last forever. We
don’t live on the mountain. I remember
when my father first introduced me to the saying: “the honeymoon is over.” As
we know, there is truth in this saying.
Married couples don’t say that we are on year five or year ten of our
“honeymoon.” We don’t live on the
mountain. Often we are somewhere
between the mountain and the valley.
We are reminded this morning that mountain top experiences prepare us
for the low points in life. In the
valley, we look back to the mountain and we are strengthened. When you’ve been at odds with your partner or
spouse, maybe you have pulled out your wedding album or wedding video. Maybe you’ve thought back to what it was
about that person that led you to make a commitment to him or her in the first
place. Maybe you’ve found strength as
you have remembered and thought back on the good times and ‘high points’ in
your relationship. When you and your
child are butting heads and going through a period of turmoil, maybe you have
pulled out their baby pictures or family videos and maybe you’ve reconnected
with the sacrificial love you have for your child.
Now, we can find God during the
good times when we are on the mountain.
But we can also find God in the valley. We
can seek after and undoubtedly we can find God when our family is healthy and
our finances are in order and things are going well at our job. But we can also have a profound spiritual
experience in the valley, during the low points in our life. It is often in the valley that we seek God
the most. During those times, we can
have profound spiritual experiences being carried by God through our low
points, through our valleys.
Every Sunday I think is a sort of spiritual
So where are you this morning?
Are you at a “
Remember your mountain top experiences—those times you have been
blessed and unmistakably touched by the hand of God. Remember the high points in your life because
God was in those experiences. Reflect on how you have been changed and how God
has used those experiences to transform your life.
In these experiences, God has
prepared us for …and God uses them to carry us through the valleys.
Amen.