“You need to go up and come down the mountain!”

Kerry Macmillan - 27/02/2022

Readings - 9:28-43

Have you ever been at the top of a mountain? Maybe you drove up, or took the cable car, or perhaps you had a long, hard climb, but what a thrill to have finally reached the summit. However you got there, when you looked around, you had a different perspective of the world. Mountain-top views are invariably awesome and majestic, and after the initial gasps and wows, you realise that words cannot do the scene justice. You are moved to silence as you stop and appreciate the beauty and magnificence of that place. In the bible, mountains are places where people are closer to God.

In Celtic tradition, places or moments where the veil between this world and the spiritual realm is diminished are referred to as thin places: places where people experience a connection to the divine.

Today’s readings are rich in imagery that attempts to describe the experience of God: mountains; glowing faces; veils, and clouds descending and lifting.

Nathan Nettleton suggests that Luke intends us to see a connection between the transfiguration story and the stories that come immediately before it. These stories are: Jesus sending his disciples out to preach the Kingdom of God and heal the sick; Jesus feeding the five thousand; and Jesus asking his disciples “who do people say I am” and “who do you say I am”, and then talking about his forthcoming suffering and that those who follow him should be ready to accept the same.

The Jewish expectation, assumed since the time of Moses and the prophets, was that a Messiah would come to conquer God’s enemies and elevate His chosen people to their rightful place in the Kingdom of God. How little they understood the message this Messiah preached: not of an all powerful God smiting enemies and presiding over the world on a mighty throne; rather a God who calls the powerful to account, challenging political and social priorities, healing, forgiving, loving, all people not just the chosen ones.

The disciples were called to serve people and to preach the good news that everybody is part of God’s Kingdom and is worthy of God’s love, but they often misunderstood what this really meant, and the impact this would have on their lives. Jesus tells them they will be up against some strong opposition from those whose power and position is threatened by this. It’s not quite the message they wanted to hear; and likewise for us. It is still a message we need reminding of today.

Living your life with respect for all people, sharing your wealth and your gifts, standing with the oppressed – in these ways we too try to follow Jesus’ teachings. But like the disciples, we become tired, we become discouraged, disillusioned. Sometimes we are ignorant or afraid. In the quietness of solitude, in the beauty of a mountain top, in the peacefulness of a thin place, we can reflect on our spiritual lives and restore our connection with the sacred.

The mountain top is a place to pray, reflect and spiritually reconnect, but it’s not a place to stay. Jesus leads us down the mountain, to our place in the thickness of humanity, and to where our commitment to follow Jesus is lived out. The veil is gone and the clouds lifted, because, as Nev so poetically put it: “Jesus gives us real eyes, to realise, where the real lies”.

In the silence this morning, let’s acknowledge the veils and clouds that obscure our connection with God and then reflect on the thin places, where we experience the sacredness of life and are reminded of our connection to the divine.