Second Sunday in Lent, Cycle B

SECOND SUNDAY OF LENT, CYCLE B
MARK 9:2-10
A FEW YEARS AGO SOME CIRCUMSTANCES FELL INTO PLACE ALLOWING MY WIFE AND I TO SPEND SOME TIME IN BOULDER, COLORADO.  ONE DAY WE DROVE INTO THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK AND PARKED IN ONE OF THE PARKING AREAS.  WE DECIDED TO FOLLOW A TRAIL FOR A LITTLE WHILE, BUT THE LITTLE WHILE TURNED INTO ABOUT THREE HOURS.  AS WE ASCENDED THE LANDSCAPE GRADUALLY CHANGED.  ALL THE WAY WE HIKED ALONG A RUSHING STREAM INSTERSPERCED BY BEAUTIFUL LAKES, EACH DIFFERENT FROM THE OTHER..  FINALLY WE REACHED THE END OF THE TRAIL AND SAT BESIDE THE HIGHEST LAKE, IN A BASIN WITH ALMOST VERTICAL GRANITE SIDES, STRETCHING UP TO MOUNTAIN PEAKS WHICH WERE IMPOSSIBLY HIGH.  WE SIMPLY SAT AND LOOKED, AND FORGOT EVERYTHING FOR A FEW MINUTES, AS WE JUST TOOK IN THE MAJESTY AND SHEER BEAUTY OF WHAT WAS BEFORE US.  AND WE EXPERIENCED SOME REGRET AS WE TURNED OUR BACKS AND STARTED DOWN THE MOUNTAIN.  WE KNEW THAT EVEN IF WE CAME BACK TO THAT SAME SPOT, IT WOULDN'T BE THE SAME.  AND WE WONDERED WHEN WE WOULD EVER HAVE ANOTHER EXPERIENCE LIKE THAT ONE.
YOU MIGHT CALL THAT A MOUNTAINTOP EXPERIENCE.  MAYBE THAT'S WHY JESUS TOOK HIS THREE FAVORITE DISCIPLES UP A HIGH MOUNTAIN.  MAYBE HE KNEW THAT THEY COULD ONLY EXPERIENCE THE VISION OF JESUS AS HE REALLY WAS IF THEY HAD LITERALLY LEFT EVERYTHING BEHIND AND ALLOWED THE MOUNTAIN TO QUIET THEIR MINDS AND OPEN UP THEIR SENSES.  MY WIFE AND I STILL VIVIDLY REMEMBER OUR MOUNTAINTOP EXPERIENCE, AND I'M SURE THE APOSTLES DID AS WELL.  THE EVENT IS RECORDED IN THREE OF THE FOUR GOSPELS, AND ALLUDED TO IN THE GOSPEL OF JOHN AND THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER.  IN FACT, SINCE THE GOSPEL OF JOHN IS ALL ABOUT JESUS REVEALING HIS GLORY, MAYBE IT'S ALSO ALL ABOUT THE TRANSFIGURATION.  BUT WHAT WAS THE IMPACT OF THE TRANSFIGURATION ON THE APOSTLES?  WHAT MADE THE EVENT BURN INTO THEIR MEMORIES AND NOT BE DISMISSED AS A BAD DREAM OR HALLUCINATION?
THINK OF WHAT THEY LEARNED IN THAT MOMENT.  FIRST, THAT THE REAL JESUS WAS  HIDDEN IN THE JESUS THEY KNEW.  THE REAL JESUS WAS GLORIOUS, SO BRILLIANT IN APPEARANCE THAT THEY COULDN'T FIND THE WORDS.  AND IT WASN'T JUST THE  WAY HE LOOKED, EITHER.  WHEN HE WAS TRANSFIGURED, THEY WERE DUMBFOUNDED; NOT JUST THEIR VISION BUT THEIR VERY SOULS WERE BEING IMPACTED.  AND DESPITE WHAT YOU MAY THINK, THEY WEREN'T BEING GIVEN A GLIMPSE OF HIS DIVINITY; SCRIPTURE TELLS US YOU CANNOT  LOOK UPON THE FACE OF GOD AND LIVE.  THEY WERE ACTUALLY SEEING JESUS AS THE FATHER SEES HIM.
SECOND, THEY LEARN THAT THE GREATEST LEADER AND LAWGIVER AND THE  GREATEST PROPHET IN ISRAEL'S HISTORY ARE BOTH STILL LIVING. THEY SEE THEM CONVERSING WITH JESUS.  TIME AND SPACE MEAN NOTHING TO JESUS, WHO CAN ENTER INTO A RELATIONSHIP WITH ANY HUMAN BEING ANY TIME.  AND IN THAT RELATIONSHIP AS MOSES AND ELIJAH DEMONSTRATE, IS ETERNAL LIFE.  PERHAPS PETER SENSED THIS WHEN HE PROPOSED THAT THEY BUILD THREE TENTS FOR THEM; THE MOUNTAINTOP HAD BECOME HOLY GROUND AND THIS WAS A WAY OF BRINGING ETERNITY INTO A BIT OF OUR WORLD.
THIRD, THEY HEAR THE COMMAND OF THE FATHER:  THIS IS MY BELOVED SON, LISTEN TO HIM!  IT WAS A MOMENT IN WHICH THEY KNEW WITH CERTAINTY THAT JESUS SPOKE FOR THE FATHER, THAT THE FATHER SAW JESUS AS HIS OWN BELOVED SON.
AND FINALLY, IN A FLASH IT IIS ALL OVER AND THERE IS JESUS, FAMILIAR BROWN ROBE AND DUSTY SANDALS, A LITTLE SWEAT ON HIS FOREHEAD, LOOKING LIKE HE ALWAYS DID.  AND THAT WAS THE MOST AWESOME REVELATION OF THEM ALL.  AN ORDINARY MAN CONTAINED WITHIN HIMSELF ALL THAT MYSTERY.
WHEN JOAN AND I WERE ON THE MOUNTAINTOP, WE COULD SENSE A LITTLE OF THIS BECAUSE OUR SENSES WERE HEIGHTENED.  WE COULD SENSE THE NEARNESS OF GOD TO HIS CREATION; THE BEAUTY AND THE MAJESTY OF WHAT LAY BEFORE US CERTAINLY POINTED TO GOD, AND WE KNEW THAT WHAT WE SAW HAD BEEN THERE BEFORE HUMAN BEINGS WALKED  THE EARTH AND WOULD REMAIN FOR EONS MORE, AND THIS POINTED TO ETERNITY.  AND WE REALIZED AS WE TURNED OUR BACKS AND WENT DOWN THE MOUNTAIN THAT WE WERE TAKING WITH US SOMETHING OF WHAT WE EXPERIENCED THAT WOULD BE WITH US TILL WE MET THE GOD WHO WAS BEHIND IT ALL.
WE ALL HAVE MOUNTAINTOP EXPERIENCES, BUT THEY SEEM TO COME FEW AND FAR BETWEEN.  AND YET I THINK THEY ARE AN IMPORTANT PART OF  OUR SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT.  WE SEE ABRAHAM ENCOUNTERING GOD ON A  MOUNTAIN WHEN HE WENT TO SACRIFICE HIS SON.  WE WILL SEE MOSES ENCOUNTER GOD ON MOUNT SINAI AND ELIJAH ON ANOTHER MOUNTAIN WHEN HE ENCOUNTERED GOD NOT IN THE WHIRLWIND BUT IN THE STILL SMALL VOICE.
LENT IS A TIME FOR SUCH AN ENCOUNTER.  MAYBE WE CAN'T CLIMB A  MOUNTAIN, BUT WE CAN STILL SEEK THAT EXPERIENCE.  IT CAN'T BE HAD IN THE MIDDLE OF NOISE AND BUSYNESS.  WE NEED SILENCE, BUT WE ALSO NEED TO BE AWARE OF GOD BREAKING THROUGH THAT SILENCE, DRAWING OUR ATTENTION, COMMUNICATING WITH US.  THERE IS A WONDERFUL BIT OF PROSE THAT I RAN ACROSS, BY A WRITER NAMED MARYLIN MCDONALD.  IT GOES SOMETHING LIKE THIS:
I WHISPERED, “GOD, SPEAK TO ME” AND A ROBIN SANG.  BUT I DID NOT HEAR.  I YELLED, “GOD, SPEAK TO ME!” AND THE THUNDER ROLLED ACROSS THE SKY.  BUT I DID NOT LISTEN.  I LOOKED AROUND AND SAID, “GOD, LET ME SEE YOU!” AND A STAR SHONE BRIGHTLY, BUT I DID NOT NOTICE.  I SHOUTED, “GOD, SHOW ME A MIRACLE!” AND A BABY WAS BORN, BUT I DID NOT KNOW.  SO I CRIED OUT IN DESPAIR, “TOUCH ME GOD, AND LET ME KNOW YOU ARE HERE.”  WHEREUPON GOD REACHED DOWN AND TOUCHED ME, BUT I BRUSHED THE BUTTERFLY OFF MY SHOULDER AND WALKED AWAY.
MAY WE SEE THAT WE ARE ON THE MOUNTAINTOP ALL THE TIME.  AND MAY THE VISION OF THE TRANSFIGURED JESUS REMIND US THAT THAT IS HOW YOU AND I LOOK WHENEVER THE FATHER GAZES UPON US.