Mountains and Sunsets

Transfiguration Sunday: Matthew 17:1-9

 
My apologies for not getting my blog post out last week and for getting this one out late – I have been in Florida enjoying a break from the cold weather. It was unseasonably warm while we were there, which we didn’t mind in the least. Neither did the alligators who seemed to enjoy the warm sunshine.

I love Florida for its warmth, beaches and beautiful sunsets. However, it lacks the one thing that I love most: mountains. It’s a pretty flat state, and that’s saying something coming from someone who lives in a pretty flat state. In fact, I have yet to even find so much as a hill in Florida.

I don’t know what it is about the mountains that appeals to me so much. Of course mountains are beautiful and mountain streams are my favorite places to fish for trout, but beyond that there’s just something special about high places. Maybe it’s being above ordinary, everyday living. Or maybe it’s being above ordinary, everyday problems. There’s always been a point during the year when I’ll turn to my wife and say “I need my mountains.”

The mountains are where I’ve gone to be refreshed and to (literally) get a new perspective on things. This coming Sunday is Transfiguration Sunday, when we get the opportunity to travel with Jesus to the top of one particular mountain and witness something very special.

“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.”

So what’s going on here?

Prior to going up the mountain, Jesus has talked to his disciples about sacrifice and the need to “take up their cross and follow me.” This is not abstract teaching; Jesus is about to pick up his own cross. On the mountain Jesus not only reveals his true self, but he also receives strength for his final journeys.

The demands on Jesus’ time were extraordinary. In fact, as soon as he comes down from the Mount of Transfiguration, Jesus is confronted by a crowd and the request to cure a boy with a demon. From there he’s traveling and teaching and telling the disciples about his coming death and resurrection. I can’t imagine how tired he must have been at the end of each day.

Typically Jesus would slip away from his disciples before sunrise so he could spend time in undisturbed prayer. I wonder how many hours of sleep he got each night.

I’ve never had the discipline to get up before dawn to pray. I really wish I did, but I am not exactly a morning person. So I have to carve out time during the day, which can be really difficult on busy days. But, without at least an hour in prayer, my day is really difficult.

The pace of life seems to be moving faster and faster. Between family and work it can be hard to find time to catch your breath, much less spend an hour in prayer. So, where do you find the strength to face each day anew? Where do you go to get a fresh perspective on life? Where is your mountaintop?

As Peter suggested, it would be nice to just stay on the mountain and escape the problems and pressures of living in the real world. But, the mountain exists to give us strength to continue our journey.

Florida was my ‘mountain’ to give me strength to get through the rest of winter. And while we’re speaking of journeys, Transfiguration signals the end of the season of Epiphany. The Lenten journey to Good Friday and Easter begins next week and it can be exhausting. May you find strength for the journey.