Mountain Trails

Transfiguration Sunday – Year A

March 2, 2014

Matthew 17:1-9
Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. Then Peter said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three dwellings here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah." While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud a voice said, "This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!" When the disciples heard this, they fell to the ground and were overcome by fear. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, "Get up and do not be afraid." And when they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus himself alone.
As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus ordered them, "Tell no one about the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead."

Last week my years of running and not really paying attention to my body in high school came back to haunt me. On Sunday evening I was playing volleyball (as I usually do) and my knee started to ache. By the end of the game the ache had turned into a sharp pain, and I ended up spending the next 2 days trying not to move too much. It seems like my knee is okay now, but for a few days I wasn't sure what was in my future. Either way, I get to see an orthopedist on Tuesday, so..we'll see.

On Monday and Tuesday as I spent pretty much all my time trying not to move, and relaxing on the couch – I tried to do some reading and work for this week. But, I ended up spending a lot of my time just bouncing around the internet. After a bunch of different searches and then clicking here and there on different links I ended up on Youtube watching videos of mountain trails; and not just any mountain trails. These were trails that all had being incredibly scary in common. Most of these trails and paths were places you would never find me; heights don't bother me too badly, but I'm still mostly sane.

The path, trail, walkway...tightrope, that seemed the most intense was El Camino del Rey. It's located in Spain, and I honestly think that only people who are not quite right in the head would ever willingly walk it. The path is about 3 feet wide, is basically a shelf built onto the side of a mountain 300 feet above the ground. If that isn't bad enough, it's over 100 years old and in bad repair. There are numerous holes several feet across, there are missing handrails, crumbling stone, and a long drop waiting for just about any misstep. Like I said, I think you have to have at least one screw loose to embark on traversing El Camino del Rey – the pathway of the King.

This is Transfiguration Sunday, the day in the church year when we focus on transformative experience of the holy on the top of a mountain. We don't know if the path up the mountain was as scary or treacherous as El Camino del Rey. But, we do know something about the path of the king who was revealed on the top of the mountain. We know the journey that Jesus is to embark on, a journey to Jerusalem, trial, crucifixion and death. We know that path, the disciples on the mountain have been told of that journey – yet they still do not want to see it. Just before this passage Jesus revealed to his disciples that “he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.” (Matthew 16:21). Then follows Peter's famous denial of that possibility and Jesus telling him, “Get behind me Satan!” The disciples seem ready to listen to and accept what Jesus says, yet when push comes to shove they have questions. “You are the Messiah, but you can't die!”

On the mountain top Jesus is revealed as the beloved Son of God to the disciples present and they are told to, “Listen to him!” Not just the parts they like, the fullness of who he was, and what he came to do. “Hear him when he is shining in glory between Moses and Elijah, and hear him as well as he is hung between two criminals on the cross. Hear him when he talks of the way of the kingdom, and hear him when he says to do it.”¹ The path is clear, but it's more than a little scary, sort of like that mountain trail in Spain that you probably feel like you are going to fall off of with every step. Even the disciples when they are told by God to listen to Jesus, to really listen to what he was saying, what he was teaching, dropped to ground, paralyzed be fear. And Jesus touches them, “Get up, do not be afraid.”

The comfort of Jesus' words and his touch were, I'm sure, powerful. But, I'm willing to bet that the disciples were still more than a little uneasy. And based on conversations that come after this holy moment on the mount, they are still very uncomfortable about the path that has been put in front of them, and in front of Jesus. They had seen Jesus changed, they themselves had been changed by the experience, but change can often be difficult, can often be very uncomfortable.

In the church, there tends to be a rather strong aversion to change. We like the way things have been, and are more than a little suspicious of new ways of doing things, of change. We disagree and argue about all sorts of stuff: what sort of liturgy is appropriate, what's appropriate when it comes to church music, what hymnal to use, which version of the Bible to read from, do we use wine or grape juice, the role of women in the church. All sort of things. If we look around the church there is more than enough evidence to point to us being rather comfortable in the way things are. A lot of us really don't like change that much.

There are lots of different ways the troubles that pervade the world have been described, different lists that have been made pointing to the biggest problems of society at any given time. Perhaps it's racism, maybe it's our tendency for violence, perhaps it's the way we get trapped by the lust for more and more stuff, the way we control other people of our own gain, the ways in which we discriminate against anyone that we see as being a little too different for our taste. There are people who point to all that is wrong about the way we treat one another as proof there is no God. For others, all those things we cannot control make us want to control what we can. We focus on our ability to control things, and in so doing we avoid change and habit becomes our god.

The way things are, the things we can understand, the things that are comfortable become ways in which we protect ourselves from the changes all around us. All too often we give the name of god to the ways in which we avoid change, to keep things the way we are used to. We want to avoid having to embrace those different than us, those who worship differently, those who sing too loudly, or not loud enough, those who remind us of just how broken we are, how we do so little to actually change the injustice and evils of this world. Yet, Jesus seems to want us uncomfortable; and reminds us to not be afraid.

On the mount, in the clouds, with Moses and Elijah the disciples saw something incredible, and were changed by what they saw. Maybe not right away, but they were changed. When we think of the transfiguration we normally focus on Jesus and how he was revealed. Transfiguration, mountain top experiences though, aren't just about Jesus; they're also about the ones who see Jesus and are changed by that seeing. In the transfiguration God declares Jesus the beloved child of God, and through Jesus' death and resurrection and our baptisms we also are claimed and declared as beloved children of God. And it is as beloved children of God that we are called and challenged to be the implements of change in the world.

When we cling too rigidly to our habits, our routine, when we refuse to change we stand in contradiction to the call of Jesus that we go out into the world and “make disciples of all nations.” When we are unwilling to change, we are ultimately denying our identity as bearers of the Good News of God, which requires of us that we get off the mountain and go out into the world. In our reading, Jesus commands the disciples to get up, to embrace the change they have seen, to leave those places where they have been comfortable, to be changed themselves. But, they will not be alone. Jesus may be asking of them to leave their comfort, but he reminds them not to be afraid.

As followers of the Christ, as people who have all had an experience of the holy, whose lives have been transformed and changed by our knowledge of the one who shines brighter than brightest day we cannot help but to share the story, telling others of what has been seen and heard. We have been transfigured and dedicate our lives to bringing about the vision of God's reign here on earth.

There are many prayers that have been prayed throughout time that speak to our need to be transfigured, transformed by our God. It is the words of a Franciscan prayer that speaks to the need for us to be uncomfortable, yet not afraid. It asks God to bless us “with discomfort at easy answers, half truths and superficial relationships … with anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people … with tears to shed for those who suffer pain, rejection, starvation and war.”

May that be our prayer as we walk the difficult path, the sometimes scary trail of faith, moving from the habits and traditions that have become too comfortable. May our encounters with God's transfiguring presence transform us to descend from the mountains and enter into uncomfortable places, where with the help of God, we may be a transfiguring presence in the lives of others. Amen.

1http://www.progressiveinvolvement.com/progressive_involvement/2011/02/lectionary-blogging-matthew-17-1-9.html