Lent, Week 2, Cycle A - A Mountaintop experience

Who hear has ever enjoyed the experience of being high up on a mountain?  I’ve always been attracted to mountains. I grew up in the flat lands of Northern Indiana and always wanted to spend some time in the beautiful mountain ranges we have in this country.  My wife and I lived in South Carolina when we first got married and lived in South Carolina, just south of the Appalachian Mountains.   It was quite a change in scenery from Indiana.  As I went work every morning I could see the mountains every day as I turned off the exit of the interstate.   Living in the SC you would think that the beaches would be an attraction, but every opportunity I had our family would go to the mountains. 

There would be many weekends I would pack up a picnic basket and take my two young daughters there by myself while my wife worked.  One of our favorite stops would be the Mount Pisgah Inn on the Blue Ridge parkway.   They had a restaurant perched on the edge of mountain & their entire dining was surround by huge windows that overlooked the vista over Blue Ridge mountains a mile high.    Being high up in the mountains always was very peaceful, away, from the noise & bustle of the city.   It gave a sense of peace and being close to God, which most likely what attracted me. 

Today we hear about a mountaintop experience thatthe apostles experienced with Jesus.   It’s quite common in the Bible to hear about people going up mountains to encounter God.   One thing that comes to mind was Moses’ encounter with God at Mount Sinai where his face became white from encountering God in the burning bush.  I’m sure most of you have the image in our minds of Charlton Heston as Moses in the Ten Commandments and the image of His encounter with God in the burning bush. 

The disciples had a similar experience with Jesus, with a little different twist.   They not only

heard God, but also saw Jesus literally in new light as the Son of God.  Peter, James, and John saw Jesus transfigured. His face shone like the sun and his clothes became white as light.   They also saw Moses and Elijah speaking with Jesus.   The apostles knew well the story of Moses & his encounter with God, receiving the law on the stone tablets.   They also knew Elijah as was one of the great prophets who was to return. Scripture told them as well prophet like Moses was to return as well.   Jesus was fulfilling the prophecies.

But Jesus was more than a prophet, he was the Son of God.  God spoke from a bright cloud: ”This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.  Listen to him”.  These were the same words spoken at the Baptism of Jesus by John, but the disciples were not there.  The disciples only knew Jesus as a man, walking, working, eating, and resting with them.   They did see him doing miraculous things, but they fully didn’t understand his divinity.   Just prior to this event Peter declares for the first time: “You are Christ, the Son of the living God”, but he and the disciples probably did not totally understood who Jesus was.  The transfiguration reveals to them the divinity of Jesus.   Jesus revealed this to His disciples to help them prepare for his suffering, death, and resurrection.   By showing his divinity as the Son of God at this time, it would help them to understand it was his free will to undergo his suffering and death for the salvation of man later on.

In fear the disciples fall prostrate in hearing God.     They fall face down on the ground afraid of what was happening.  When you’re face down your sense of hearing takes over.   This was a proper response to God’s command: “Listen to him”.   Jesus senses their fear and tells them, “Rise, and do not be afraid”.    When they rose they saw no one but Jesus.    Jesus in his humanity wanted to assure them he was there and they need not be fear. 

These words of God and Jesus, “Listen to him” and “be not afraid”, are good thoughts to put into practice this Lent.  During Lent we are called to prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.    Prayer is one of the disciplines that can be the hardest to do in our busy world.   I’ve struggled with this already early in Lent myself.    Listening to Jesus in prayer is one of the ways we can truly follow him as a disciple. But we need some quiet time away from the distractions of the world. A good way to do this is to plan some specific time in our calendars to be with Jesus. We do this for everything else in our lives. Why not schedule time with Jesus as well.

It would be nice to go away to a mountain to be close to God, but there are not too many of them here in Indiana.   The chapel in the parish is a good place to get away to do this and have our own mountaintop experience with Jesus reserved in his Eucharistic presence in the tabernacle.  In order to quiet down to listen to Jesus we are blessed with prayer devotions of the Rosary or Stations of the Cross to help us. Once you’ve had some time to quiet down you can kneel next to the tabernacle and listen to Jesus with you heart. If you can’t make it to church, you can do this at home in a quiet place, to pray and listen to Jesus. He’ll really give you some peace and help you with the challenges you’ve been struggling with.

Once you’ve listened to Jesus in prayer, “Rise, do not be afraid”. Jesus does not want us to be afraid.  Fear is not something from God, but its part of the human condition we struggle with in the world that tries to keep us from God.  With Jesus we will still have our struggles to deal with, but we don’t have to struggle alone.  We have Jesus present to be with us in our struggles, through the Church, and the body of Christ, our family in faith.  I pray that you will plan some time in prayer listen to Jesus to help overcome your fears relying on Jesus, the Son of God, to carry you through.  May God bless you.