Rev. Cari Pattison
Sunday, February 27, 2022
Woodstock Reformed Church
“The Magic Thing on the Mountain”
Luke 9:28-36
28Now about eight days after these sayings Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. 29And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white.
30Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. 31They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.
32Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep; but since they had stayed awake, they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. 3
3Just as they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, "Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah" — not knowing what he said.
34While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were terrified as they entered the cloud.
35Then from the cloud came a voice that said, "This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!"
36When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and in those days told no one any of the things they had seen.
***
Joke: two kinds of drivers in Woodstock, after a snow-slush thaw…
It definitely wakes you up, as you’re walking up those hills.
When people are driving up, they tend to be more conscious. (circle back to this)
***
I know I don’t have to tell Woodstock people-
There’s something special about mountain tops.
Something magical about what you find there.
What is it about mountain tops?
Lessons learned on the AT about hiking up those first mountains- like Blood Mountain, with the guys
No wonder Jesus often went up to mountain tops to pray
And today in Luke’s Gospel, that’s where he’s taking his three closest friends- Peter, James and John, and that’s why- to have a time to pray.
Mount Hermon, likely. Around 9000 feet up.
1. On a mountain top you’re awake from walking- you’ve worked your way up there, your heart is beating, you’re exhilarated.
2. On a mountain top you have a view- there’s something humbling and awe-inspiring, a vantage point and perspective you didn’t have before.
3. And on a mountain top, high up, maybe you feel just a little closer to the heavens. A little closer to God.
***
And so it’s no wonder that there on your way up Mead’s Mountain, close to the trailhead for Overlook- there is a holy place:
The Church of the Holy Transfiguration of Christ-on-the-Mount
The name and structure birthed by this story today.
1891, Gothic style, Bill could tell you way more. Episcopal and Catholic and Father Francis the hippie priest and so on…
But what stood out to me was the fact that it was open. (circle back to the journal logs there). Talk about Ollie and I entering that space…
You feel something in you shift
***
What does transfiguration mean?
A complete change of form or appearance, into a more beautiful or spiritual state; a metamorphosis, an exalting, glorifying, or spiritual change
Isn’t that the longing impulse behind all those fountain-of-youth promises? The self-help books? The spa retreats and surgeries and even hair and make-up and dress? For some, the cars they drive or the homes they build.
We want to become something beautiful. Exalted.
And at a deeper level of longing, isn’t that part of why we come to church?
We want to become a better, truer version of ourselves. We wish for a deeper kind of belonging, to connect with others around things that matter. We may even want to experience the exalting, glorifying, radiance of God.
***
And so Luke tells us that Jesus’ face changed, his clothes became dazzling white, one translation says white like lightning. That kind of light that reflects off the snow and nearly blinds you. The kind of first morning dawn that comes in at a slant through your windows.
They could feel the warmth of it, hot to touch on their skin. They could feel their eyes squint and turn away. They could almost taste a sense of sunlight, the intensity of its beam closer to them here than down in the valley.
And suddenly they are not alone:
I don’t know how Peter, James, and John recognized them, but Moses and Elijah suddenly show up, and there’s a whole holy conversation going on.
For a Jewish man of that time, this would’ve been like the religious all-star team gathered here. The ultimate dream reunion tour!
***
1. Why was Moses there?
The law, the 10 commandments, the one who received the tablets at Mt. Sinai
The exodus- they are talking about the departure.
Because just as Moses led the Hebrew people out of slavery in Egypt all those years ago, so Jesus will be leading his people out of the slavery of sin and death and into an entirely new kind of Promised Land.
2. Why was Elijah there?
Representative of the prophets. Of courage, and miracles and healings, and pressing truth to power.
Both of these men were persecuted and rejected in their day, as Jesus would be. As his disciples would be. Both had their own mysterious departures. Both were predicted to return at any time.
For a first-century Jew, it was expected that Moses or Elijah might come back and fulfill what they began.
***
But here, it is not Moses and Elijah who are center-stage. They are here to attest to a new spiritual hero. To a new beautiful dazzling white-hot truth:
What Jesus is about to accomplish, on the cross and in the resurrection.
And here’s about the time the disciples start to tune out.
There’s only so much glory you can handle at once, and you gotta love what Luke tells us here:
They’re tired! They’re weighed down with sleep. It’s been a long day already, Jesus. Can’t we just bust out the snacks, build some lean-to’s, and call it a night?
I suspect part of this is weariness and fatigue, but part of it is that very human impulse to hold on to things.
So many religions, including Christianity, teach us about the importance of letting go. Of not attaching.
I wrote in one of my AT blogs during Holy Week 2019:
“In a little while you will see me, and then in a little while you will see me no longer,” Jesus told his friends before he left them.
I wonder if he wanted to teach them about impermanence. About savoring the gift—but not clutching it.
When it comes to trail friendships, I can so relate to the disciple Peter. In this one scene in the Gospels, he’s hiking with Jesus and two other friends and they have this epic moment on the mountain: ghosts of prophets past, lightning storms, spiritual revelation—the works.
Peter says, “Let’s keep this thing going! Let’s hang out here and freeze time and set up tents and never let it end.”
But that’s not the way it works – not in the Bible and not on the trail.
Jesus says, “Nope. We’re leaving.” People move ahead. Others stay behind. Injury and illness come. Weather detains. Priorities change.
Then later we arrive in town and reunite when we least expect it, and there is all this outsized joy.
***
Why do we- like Peter- try to hold onto the moment and contain it?
Because so much in us clings to what we know. What we think we understand. The relationships we wish were somehow more solid or permanent or within our control.
My friend Amy is learning to let go of her son Sawyer, as he turns 18 and heads to college.
My friend Dion is learning to let go of her mother Jean, as she enters her 90’s and no longer remembers things as easily.
My friend on the phone last night, who lives in the city, is learning to let go of whatever she thought her life might look like right now, at mid-life: the framework of love and career and art and family and how that might all hold together.
And the truth is, for all of us- it doesn’t.
Not in the ways we imagine.
Peter wants so desperately to hold on!
“Master, it’s good for us to be here. Let’s make three dwellings. James- go gather some wood. John- collect some leaves. Let’s do this.”
And God’s just like, “Nah,” and by way of answering, he suddenly covers them in this enormous foggy cloud.
***
Talk about that night on the AT… the fear, on Big Bald along the TN/NC border
I couldn’t see, my headlamp was running out of battery, the wind and air were so thick.
We’re in the middle of trying to settle in and build a shelter and get everything under control, and then all of a sudden you’re winding your way through the fog of everything you can’t see your way out of:
The hurt your kid feels that you can’t spare them from
The distance in your marriage that you can’t dig your way out of
The pit-of-your-stomach in the doctor’s office waiting room, that you don’t know how to pray yourself through because your heart is pounding too loud to think of positive words
The disciples are subsumed in fog.
And Luke tells us, they’re terrified.
Because it’s terrifying to not know where you are, or what to do, or how to seek shelter.
***
But here’s the magic thing that happens on the mountain.
Are you ready?
Into the midst of that shelter-less peak,
Into the midst of that debilitating fog,
Comes a voice.
And no one has to tell them whose voice it is this time:
“This is my Son, my Chosen. Listen to him.”
***
That’s it.
God’s claim on Jesus.
God’s choosing him for them, for us, for all time.
God’s unmistakable magical transfiguring call in all of the chaos and thin altitude air and heavy blinding fog:
“Listen to him.”
***
Why does Jesus remain alone?
Because they know the words of Moses and the law.
They know the stories and legends of Elijah the prophet.
Those two were just pre-cursors to the main event.
This One, God’s saying, is the one to listen to above all others.
This One, will change your life.
***
Share what Ken said.
“If you really follow Jesus…”
What the Ukrainian Christians are doing
Kate Bowler- this Lent- what can you lay down…
Five minutes of your morning in silence
Slowing down so you don’t splash people
Resentment: a prayer of blessing
And what can you take up-
Listen to the voice of Jesus this Lent. If you haven’t read through the Gospels before, or even if you have, go back and read again. A chapter every day for 40 days of Lent, and you’ll finish in time for Easter.
The voice and lamp of one who comes through the fog to say, “This is the way.”
***
How can we do that for each other?
How can we do that for the world?
Offer a light and go back.
The trail logs in the Church of the Holy Transfiguration of Christ-on-the-Mount