Strange Happenings on the Mountain and in the Valley
Psalm 46:10a; Matthew 17:1-9
Gettysburg Presbyterian Church
Harry G. Winsheimer
February 22, 2009

Strange happening on that mountain.

Me – I wonder how they found time to escape to the mountain.  Do you ever get away?  If you do, where do you go?  What do you do?

Some of you are chafing to get your clubs onto the golf course.  You snow lovers go off to the slopes.  Any of you families planning to scoot south to Disney World during spring break?  Do you go out for dinner, visit with family, hang out with friends, go to a basketball game?  R an R.  Breaks. Escapes. Times out.  Leisure activities.  That is not what happened on the mountain! 

What took place on the mountain was a spiritual retreat.  It was so important that the writers of three Gospels reported it. 

How many of you have gone on spiritual retreats?  Let me see a show of hands if you have been on what would be called a spiritual retreat.

Come along.  Let us climb the mountain to join Jesus, Peter, James and John.  

Crickets chirp crisply in the quiet night air.  Over there, Jesus prays (Prayer makes a spiritual retreat, in contrast with getting away for leisure.  He is not escaping daily stresses.  He is meeting with God!  Meeting with God!)  He and his heavenly parent converse intensely.  John has fallen asleep.  We might as well doze off until Jesus finishes his prayer.

What’s happening?  What’s going on?  Do we see what we think we see?  His clothes are shining and white!  Jesus looks like the angels.  He is dressed like the martyrs.  He radiates holiness.

Who are they?  Those two men.  Why, they are Elijah and Moses!  They speak with Jesus.  What is going on?  Elijah is the greatest of the prophets.  Moses is the giver of the Law of God – the Ten Commandments.  They talk with Jesus – the two most prominent representatives of God from ancient times visit our rabbi.

Why?  What is the point?  God does not do things without purpose.  What does this mean? 

We have to know the Old Testament to understand.  Elijah is the personification of the prophets.  Elijah passes the office of prophesy to Jesus.  Moses is the representative law-giver.  Moses hands on the office of law-giver to Jesus.  Now, Jesus is God’s agent!  Now Jesus speaks God’s prophesy!  Now, Jesus gives God’s law!  We witness a turning-point in history! 

Elijah and Moses leave Jesus.  Don’t go!  We need to talk with you. 

Blasted cloud – where did you come from so suddenly?  Go away!  We can’t see!

I’m scared.

“This is my Son – my Chosen; listen to him!”

Son?  Son!  Jesus is more than the rep of God; they are so intimate that only the family image of father/son pertains.  He is flesh-of-flesh, bone-of-bone, one with the parent.  God incarnate!  He is the unique messenger of God to us.  Now, Jesus personifies the law of God.  Now, Jesus personifies the message of God.  More than that, God announces that Jesus is the human personification of God.  God-human!

Strange!  Mysterious!  To articulate the enigmatic nature of God revealed in the Transfiguration, our ancestors of the faith wrote the Nicene Creed that we used earlier in the service, saying, “true God from true God” and “became truly human”.   Impossible -- except for God.

Would you have liked to have been there?  I wish that I had been!  Peter, James and John were and it blew their minds!   We don’t know what they expected when they went up that mountain, but they did not expect the strange and wonderful drama!  Going on spiritual retreats is like opening the door to the mystery house in the amusement park: you never know what might be in store for you.  You enter and wait.  On spiritual retreats we heed God’s urging: “Be still and know that I am God.”  “Be still!”  “Be still!”  Psalm 46:10a

On spiritual retreat, one has to be still.  One has to empty the mind as much as possible and allow God to be heard.  Do you ever make yourself still?  Can you?    It is hard for me.  It is almost impossible for younger adults, especially those with children, whose lives are overflowing.  We get so wound up, so filled with caffeine and sugar, so stimulated by explosions, by loud rhythmic beat music, by the news of disasters, by --- you name it.  Being hyped is the American way. 

We are contradictory, because we want the mountain-top ecstasy without bothering to climb the mountain and be still.

I attended a senior pastors’ conference at which Tony Campolo was the inspirational speaker.  He was a preacher, sociology professor, politician, organizer of businesses for the inner city.  Very energetic.  He could entertain as well as make a point.  He urged us to do what he does.  He took a half hour each morning to be still, to unload his mind of its stimuli, to consciously meditate upon Jesus, or just be quiet.  Looking at him we might think that he did nothing; not true.  He waited for the Holy Spirit to fill him.  He gave God a chance to speak to his soul, and gives his mind the time to integrate all the stimuli in his life.  That was his daily spiritual retreat.  Over the centuries, people of faith have experienced great meetings with God, healings of soul, and focusing of energy from being on retreat with God.  At the beginning of his ministry, Jesus went away for forty days on retreat!  No wonder he had such spiritual wholeness and power! 

Many days nothing seems to happen; in fact, we may struggle to keep our minds on what we are about.  But when God transforms the fractured into whole, the confused into focused, the sinful desire into goodness, when we realize God’s will for our lives, it is all worthwhile.

I chose this interpretation of the Transfiguration because Lent begins on Wednesday.  Also, our Small Group Study for Lent will be on prayer, and I hope to whet your desire to participate.  Lent is the traditional season of meditation.  I invite you during Lent to retreat daily with God.  Make retreat part of your routine.  Will you make that commitment?

I urge you to climb the mountain to your quiet place.  Maybe, just maybe, the Transfigured One will transform you.

Shall I stop the sermon?  Is this a good place to break?

Can’t!  Text won’t let me!

Peter, impetuous Peter, blurts: “Master, it is well that we are here; let us make three shrines, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.”  Peter reacts like we often do to retreats.  He is on a high.  He wants to stay on retreat.  So, what does he want to do?  He wants to build three shrines, three little buildings – one for Jesus, another for Moses, and the third for Elijah -- three little memorials that would remind everyone of what happened.

However, what does Jesus do?  He leads them down the mountain!  It was a retreat.  The purposes of the retreat were for Jesus to meet with God, pick up the mantle of Moses and Elijah, and be affirmed as the Son, the representative of God, God personified.  Then it was over.  He moves back down the mountain.

I don’t watch Oprah.  I saw a segment on the national news about her favorite spiritual advisor.  Apparently many have read his works and he is famous—but I had not heard of him.  In the mini-interview, he presented the idea of complete calm, inner peace, as the goal of life.  Nothing upsets him.  That is very attractive, just the opposite of our harried, stimulate-driven lives.  That part sounded attractive.  What was not presented was what disturbed me.  (Since I have not read his writings, I may be unfair.)  There was no valley!  The goal was a peaceful self.  If that is the goal, then his philosophy is incompatible with Christian theology.  In Christian teaching, there always is a valley!
At the bottom of the mountain, they were met by a crowd of waiting people.  As they approached, a man came out of the crowd and fell to his knees begging, “Master, have mercy on my son.  He goes out of his mind and suffers terribly, falling into seizures.  Frequently he is pitched into the fire, other times into the river.  I brought him to your disciples, but they could no nothing for him.” 

Jesus said, “Bring the boy here.”  He ordered the afflicting demon out – and it was out, gone.  From that moment on the boy was well.  From The Message, Matthew 17:14-18

In the valley God gives us opportunities, wanted and unwanted.  Jesus does not look for the man with the sick son.  They are an interruption.  They are an opportunity.  Their appeal makes them his responsibility.  God’s healing touch flows from Jesus to the boy!  Great!  Marvelous!  God wants us to bless in the valley.  God wants us to serve those who hurt in the valley.  God wants us to love in the valley.

In Scripture, God presents life as a rhythm.  God prescribed a weekly routine.  Work six days, and on the seventh rest and worship.  In God’s mind, every seventh day would be a time for spiritual retreat and refreshment, absorbing God’s grace, learning God’s will, singing God’s praise.   And, serving God every day as God calls us.

I invite you to join me in a mini-retreat.  This will be a practice session, much too brief to allow the mind to settle.  Mini-retreats take about twenty minutes, longer for those who have not practiced it. 

Begin by inhaling, by pushing out your abdomen.  Then, continue to breath in by filling your lungs.  Breath deeply, but don’t stress your body.  Hold your breath for a count of four or say a Christian mantra.  As a mantra, the early Christians in Alexandria used the prayer: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy upon me a sinner,” or in the short form: “Lord, have mercy.”  I find that to be too negative.  I prefer to pray something that feels more affirming, like: “Jesus loves me, this I know.”  Another favorite is from the hymn: “Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me.”  Repeat the process several times.  Read Scripture and maybe a devotional book, e.g., “Daily Bread”.  Listen. Listen. Just be quiet.  Maybe you want to picture Jesus and think about him and what he taught.  (Picture Jesus on the mountain or in the valley.)  Maybe you just want to be empty.  When stray thoughts insert themselves, let them pass by like clouds in the sky and return to the breathing, Jesus, mantra and emptiness.  Close with prayers for people, subjects, self, thanksgiving and praise.

Let’s practice this right now.  If you are not comfortable with it, I ask that you wait for us.  Would everyone close your eyes, please.  That will make us more at ease.  We will practice this for a couple of minutes, just to get the feel.  I will close us with prayer and further comment.  If you fall asleep, that is God’s gift to you.  Place yourself in God’s hands.

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