There are a few very tall peaks around hear. One is Mt. Greylock near North Adams, MA. Maybe some of you have been there, I’ve been up it a few times. One thing about high peaks is that the weather changes quickly and extremely on them. Last time I was up Mt. Greylock it was a summer day but it was incredibly stormy.
There were storm clouds all around so thick that you couldn’t see around the next turn, the next bend in the road. It was lovely there like a forest is lovely but that was all that was visible. I really couldn’t even see how high I was up or how high I had to go, only what was right in front of me. I just kept heading upwards, feeling my way through the fog.
Once I got to what I knew was the top, you could kind of tell, there is a picnic area there, I hiked around for a long time, back into the foggy woods, circling the mountain. Stopped for a snack along the way and then headed back up. I could tell in the woods that the storm was lifting. The rain had stopped, the mist was still in the trees but I could see blue sky and there was so much more light.
In fact by the time I got to the top, the clouds were entirely gone. It was crystal clear. Maybe more clear because the storm had been there. It was like the air had been washed clean. And I could see everything. I could see the road I’d come up on, in fact I could see almost back to here. I could see where some friends lived off to the east and some to the southwest.
I could see the streets that I had walked on in town. Then when I walked around I could even see the road I was going to take home, a different one than I had come in on. And ugh, it was going to be a long drive after the long day I’d already had...There really is nothing like the view from the top of a mountain. People in ancient times used to think that mountains were where God was and when you have that vista, that vantage it makes sense. You can literally watch over life from a place like that.
I wanted to stay there, keep my perspective, hold onto that feeling of being above, outside of, real life for a while.
In our lessons today, old and new testament, God leads people up mountainsides. First Moses, is called by God up the mountain and God surrounds him in a thick cloud so that they could talk to one another. Then much later, in our gospel lesson Jesus takes his disciples with him up a mountain.
When Jesus hiked up the mountain with his disciples they were coming from a pretty long hard road. It started with Jesus’ baptism and then forty days of difficult temptation in the wilderness. But that was only the beginning. As soon as that was done, life started. It was one thing after another they didn’t get to sit down and get comfortable they didn’t get to take a breather from the responsibilities. Every time they accomplished one thing they had to move on to another. They really didn’t even get a chance to see what all they’d done, where they’d come from and how far they’d made it. Until they got to the top of that mountain.
Once they got up there they got a chance to see the lay of the land. They saw the river Jordan where Jesus had been baptized, the edge of the wilderness where John had taught and Jesus had wandered lost and alone. Peter, James and John saw the seashore where they had left their nets, with excitement, to follow the new, exciting young teacher, Jesus.
They saw the place where they had gathered a few meager loaves and fish and by some miracle fed 5000 people. They saw the sea that they had set out on, happy to rest in the boat. But then just when things seemed easy for a moment a storm had come up and they were only saved by Jesus’ calming love, power and presence.
They saw the countless places where they had healed other people. They saw the all of the places where they had been questioned and accused by Pharisees and public leaders. They saw the place where Jesus had been violently run out of his home town with them on his heels. They looked out and they saw it all.
They took a deep breath and they were so pleased and satisfied. So accomplished! And so tired! The mountain was good. The vantage was amazing. Peter started to think to himself. I’d really like to stay here.
Then Moses and Elijah showed up and were talking with Jesus. And Jesus was transfigured. He was shining with all of the glory of God. It was blinding and terrifying but also peaceful and comforting. Wondrous, indescribable.
But then like I did on my mountain top, they looked where they were going. They looked toward Jerusalem. It should have looked lovely with the sparkling temple, with its golden domes. The places guarded by the shiny little Roman soldiers in their armor. But Peter, and the other disciple and Jesus saw more, the pointy spears of the soldiers, the courts of the palace and temple, their eyes followed a line of people up a hill to where some rabble rouser was being crucified because too many people were getting excited about what he had to say.
And it was too much. All of a sudden it was clear where they were going in a way that things can only be clear on mountain tops. It didn’t seem like God was in the path that they would take at all. And it was going to be a long path. And they were afraid.
It was too much. This view was too much. It all felt worse than it had before. So Peter said. Let’s stay here, it is good here. God is here. We’ll build places to sleep. Let’s stay.
But while he was still talking. God interrupted him. And God interrupted him by bringing in the storm clouds. And just like me as I traveled up the mountain suddenly Peter could only see what was right in front of him and nothing else. He saw Jesus and he heard the words of God. This is my beloved son. Listen to him.
God wrapped them in a safe, bright cloud. And they knew God. And they understood that they had to go where they were going, that they had to go back down the mountain, into Ash Wednesday, into forty days of wandering, into Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. They had to finish the journey because at the end of the journey there was the promise of another mountain. A better one, a final one. One where Jesus would overcome once and for all. And where God would be present not just for a minute in a cloud but completely.
And when they get there the clouds finally clear again. Because they don’t need shelter anymore. Because Jesus has died and Risen and there is no more danger. Nothing that God can’t overcome. And they get to look back at where they came from and know that God got them where they were going, not just for their sakes but for the sake of all mankind. For our sake God gets us to that other mountain on Good Friday and again on Easter.
And that is good news. Thanks be to God. Amen
