The Mountain and the Valley

Old Mystic, February 22, 2009
Mark 9:2-9

Summary

Our Christian life, a life of faith, is marked both by the peaks of our experiencing God as the disciples in the mount of the Transfiguration, and the journey of our daily lives where we walk with Jesus Christ as we deal with the struggles of our existence.

Sermon

I love mountains and high places, perhaps because I was born in the plains of the province of Buenos Aires, known as the pampas, the fertile and green grasslands where crops are grown, and that extend beyond that province to cover a large area of Argentina. Since I was raised in the suburbs, our occasional trips out of the “urban cone,” as the huge urban area of Buenos Aires and its suburbs is known, were trips to flatlands, plains, and muddy rivers. Boring! Very boring! Please don’t misunderstand me; the pampas are green, full of cattle, they have large estancias or haciendas (farms), where you can enjoy some of the best beef in the world in the famous asados. In fact, they represent an enormous attraction to people from all over the world; but not that much for me.

I can honestly affirm that since I was very young, when I first saw the mountains of the Sierra in the province of Cordoba, I fell in love with elevations, hills, and high places. I can recall some of the most precious memories of my life on top a mountain. I remember when we used to go on vacation to a small town, Los Cocos, in Cordoba. One of my favorite activities was to climb to the “Flagpole” (El Mastil), actually a monument on top of a high peak of about 5,000 feet. It was good because I loved to get to the top and watch the breathtaking scenic view and I enjoyed doing it with one of my best friends—my father. It was an experience of contemplation, of beauty, of companionship, of friendship, and of awe. It was the beginning of my comprehension of the greatness of God, of the beauty of creation, and of a sense of what it means to experience God.

I can relate to the incident at the mount of the Transfiguration and perhaps most of you can, yet not necessarily in the same way—some may recall similar feelings standing by a creek and watching the waters move; or gazing at the colorful forests of an autumn landscape in New England. What the disciples saw in that mountain, some say it was Mount Hermon, others say it was Mount Tabor, was very special. Jesus took them there and while he was praying he was transfigured. He went through a metamorphosis; according to Mark, his garments became so shining white that they thought they were out of this world. Matthew, in a parallel passage, also saw his face shine “like a sun.” It was a sort of vision, certainly not of this world. Peter, James, and John, the circle of the “privileged” disciples who were there, also witnessed a conversation between the transfigured, celestial, shining Christ, and two of their heroes, heroes of the Israelite faith: Moses and Elijah. These two, the vision at the top of the mountain, the shining clothes, the cloud that engulfed them, and the voice from heaven, all signal the revealing message of God: “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him.”

It was an incredible experience beyond whether it was just something taking place in their imagination or an actual phenomenon of physical transformation. Either way, it was powerful; it profoundly impacted these men. John and James, at least according to the biblical story, did not open their mouths. They were too terrified to talk, or perhaps full of awe, or dread. Peter, on the other hand, always prompt to jump and to react according to his impulsive nature, managed to mumble a proposal: “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah." Mark’s take of Peter’s words was simply that he was talking nonsense. He was also terrified. At the same time, Peter’s words reflect the value of the experience: it is good to be here. Unfortunately, the event did not last long. After the cloud overshadowed them, Moses and Elijah were gone, and Jesus was the same one they knew in everyday life; Jesus the human, the one with whom they walked daily.

But they learned something important through this event. There are moments in life when we witness God’s movement, when we encounter God in a special moment, when we have a glimpse of God’s glory. We live in a tension between those glorious moments when we feel that very presence of God and the more frequent times when we are called to act, to get involved, to serve, to practice what comes by the inspiration of a God who, I have no doubt, is always inviting us to experience Him. Today’s passage is highly instructive on two aspects of our Christian life without falling into the pits of a confusing dichotomy between the spiritual or the “Holy” and the practical or the human. We are continually immersed both in our religious spiritual experience and in our daily practice of our faith. Looking at the passage we can venture to say that we are summoned by God to two things.

1. WE ARE CALLED TO EXPERIENCE GOD

Born and raised Baptist, I was exposed to the understanding that religion is something we must experience. Though it would be a little bold to assert that all Baptists understand their religious experience as a sort of existential occurrence, or a conversion, or a vision, or an epiphany, many would agree that faith brings us to experience God in a concrete way. No experience, of course, can be put into a mold. It varies from person to person. Yet, the claim is that somehow, in our own way, we can all feel that sense of awe, of wonder, that sensation of trepidation because we know by faith that we are standing in the presence of the Living God.

I have the utmost respect for those who have a different view of religion where the faith can be learned; where by a process of education, or by participation of rituals and sacraments, one belongs to the Christian Community and subscribes to the tenets of the church. Doctrine can be enlightening and the help of mediators can be useful to somehow bring us into the stream. Yet, I prefer to believe that beyond the rational, in the realm of the non-rational, I can have an encounter with the Living God. Many call it an experience. A special moment or moments when, like Jesus’ disciples, we feel that sense of awe, or dread, or fear because we are physically aware of God’s presence near us.

Southern Baptist Scholar William E. Hull, writing on a booklet titled The Meaning of the Baptist Experience, characterizes our Baptist faith as one that dwells on experiencing God. Hull says that, “an experience begins to take shape when an individual becomes so engaged in some aspect of life that the attention is focused, the mind is stimulated, and the emotions are stirred.” Since we all have different ways of apprehending the meaning of our experience, it becomes very unique to us; very personal.

Our passage today is an enticement to go up to the top of the mountain, or walk by the riverside, or lay on a grassy, green field; perhaps stay in the peace and privacy of our room. Wherever it is, let us seek the encounter; let us look for the experience; let us be nurtured by the very presence of God so we are equipped for the journey. We can do it as individuals in our personal search, but we can also do it as a family of faith. We can do it in prayer together; we can do it in worship; we can do it in a retreat; we can do it through contemplation, or solitude, or meditation, or simply by praying for one another. We can do it! We can experience the Living God day in and day out so our lives are continually transformed.

2. WE ARE CALLED TO WALK WITH JESUS

Walking with Jesus is walking our own walk; it is dealing with the challenges of our daily life, coping with our own struggles, and going through our pains and sorrows. But most importantly, this walk with Jesus implies living our lives guided by his example, inspired by his teachings, and motivated by his sacrifice. This is utterly difficult, especially if we respond to Jesus’ challenge of picking up the cross and following him. Yes, sometimes it seems painful to come down to the valley after the experience of the mountain. For that reason Peter said, “It is good to be here.”

But while at the mountain, when the apostles were watching the glory of God with their own eyes as it manifested itself in the transfiguration of Jesus, God’s cloud engulfed them and they heard God’s voice loud and clear, “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!” The God we can experience, who can impact our lives for ever, calls us to listen to Jesus as we walk with him our in our daily lives. We can listen to Jesus—not perhaps in an audible way—when we read the Sermon on the Mount; when he calls us to love God and neighbor, or to turn the other cheek, or to mend the wounds of someone injured like the Good Samaritan did. We can listen to Jesus when he said,

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
Because he has anointed me
To bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To let the oppressed go free,
To proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."

But listening to Jesus is not just an intellectual exercise; it is a call to walk with him and engage the practice of our faith. It is serving, proclaiming, teaching, and fleshing out the life of Christ in us. Such a life, again, is a difficult one but remember, we may be in the valley but we have been to the mountain top and God is always with us. Canadian Baptist Henry Blackaby in his famous curriculum “Experiencing God” claims that our best way to experience God is by joining God in what God is doing in the world. That is what the disciples learned as they walked with Jesus; they joined Jesus in his mission.

Life has its ups and downs, yet we can certainly claim that God is with us all the time. In fact, when I speak of experiencing God, I hope to experience him all the time, not just once in a while. Because it is this experience, this encounter, this contemplation, this wonderful opportunity to meet God, who is at the center of our lives, that empowers, and nurtures our lives for our mission and our daily walk. Let us seek God with all our soul, with all our strength, and with all our heart.