From the Mountain to the Valley

On this first Sunday in Lent, I reflect on how far it is from last Sunday (Transfiguration Sunday) to today, and why we don't have to be afraid of the change.

It’s a long way from the top of a mountain to the valley below. It’s an even longer distance from the vision of Jesus’ Transfiguration to the solemn journey through Lent. That change from the mountain to the valley can come as quite a shock to our systems, because we have very little time to adjust to it. One day, Jesus takes us to the mountain where we see a vision of him in all his glory; and the next day, we plunge down into the valley where we have to deal with doubts, mistakes, and misunderstanding. Given a choice, we’d much rather stay on the mountain. Peter wanted to stay there, too (Mark 9:12-10). He even wanted to build three shrines – one for Jesus, one for Moses, and one for Elijah – so that he could come back to the mountain and experience the sight of Jesus in glory any time that he wanted to! But it doesn’t work that way. No sooner had Peter offered to build those shrines than a cloud surrounded the disciples so that they couldn’t see Jesus’ glory anymore. When that cloud disappeared, the everyday Jesus that they knew was back – the human Jesus who got tired and hungry and thirsty, the Jesus who plodded along the dusty roads with dirty feet, the Jesus who was just as frail and vulnerable as his disciples. It was that Jesus who led them down off the mountaintop back into the valley.

Is it any wonder that Peter wanted to stay on the mountain? When we’re on that mountain, we’re lifted up into a realm that we usually only dream of, far away from the stresses and troubles of our normal lives. When we’re on that mountain, we see Jesus in glory, and we are absolutely certain that he is the Son of God. We don’t doubt his power when we see him like that. When we’re on that mountain, we have no doubt that we’re God’s beloved children. We know that we’re precious to God! But when we go back to the valley, suddenly we’re not so sure. But just as our mountaintop experience reassures us that Jesus is truly the Messiah, it also assures us that God goes with us when we leave the mountain and return to the valley.

For just a moment, let’s focus not on Jesus, but on the cloud that surrounded the disciples. The disciples would have known right away that cloud was the very presence of God. They all knew the stories about God giving the Law to Moses after the Exodus. In all those stories, God looked like a cloud on top of Mt. Sinai! The book of Exodus (19:16-19) describes the scene this way: “On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain... Everyone in the camp trembled. Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the LORD descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, and the whole mountain trembled violently. [Then] …Moses spoke and the voice of God answered him.” That’s the way that God spoke with Moses: out of a cloud. So when a cloud surrounded Jesus’ disciples on the top of mountain of Transfiguration, they knew what it was. It was the very presence of God! But God wasn’t supposed to work that way! The only people who were ever in the presence of God were the priests, the ones who sacrificed in the Temple and kept themselves ritually clean. God never mingled with ordinary people! God lived in the Holy of Holies in the Temple where he wouldn’t get dirty by rubbing elbows with people like us. God never came to the people; the people had to go to God!

Well, apparently nobody told God that; because God’s presence not only rubbed elbows with the disciples; it surrounded them, enfolded them, embraced them, and even spoke to them! “Listen to Jesus,” was what God said. God might have added, “Listen to Jesus, not to tradition. Don’t rely on what you think you know. I’m going to do something absolutely new, so keep your eyes and your ears and your minds open!” The disciples would need to remember those words when they went back to the valley and Jesus told them that he would not only die, but be raised from the dead. And as they traveled through that valley on their way to Jerusalem, the presence of God that embraced them as a cloud on the mountain would travel with them. Oh, they couldn’t see it, but it was there, helping them to understand when they were baffled, helping them to be brave when they were afraid, and helping them to face the future when they wanted to crawl into a hole and disappear. Today, we call God’s presence the Holy Spirit; but it doesn’t really matter what we call it. The important thing is that just as it was with the disciples, God’s presence is still with us, wherever we go and whatever we do.

God even travels with us through Lent, that time in the church year when we focus on all the ways that we have failed to follow Jesus. It’s all too easy to forget that God is still with us during Lent. We fall into the trap of only seeing God in all God’s glory, sitting up on the mountaintop on a golden throne; and we imagine that God looking down on us just waiting for us to mess up. When we have that image, we falsely believe that God is waiting for us to do things during Lent that will pacify his anger with us. But God isn’t angry with us! God loves us! And because he loves us, God wants us to do things during Lent that draw us closer to him! God doesn’t want to travel through life with us walking on the other side of the street, or even walking at arm’s length. God wants to be as close to us as our own breath; and when we do things during Lent that focus on our relationship with him – things like prayer, meditation, and works of charity – then we invite God into the very center of our lives, and our relationship with him becomes much more than just a nodding acquaintance.

During the upcoming days of Lent, I hope that you will do just that – invite God into the very center of your life. With God’s help, when we reach Easter Sunday, we will see Jesus again in all his resurrection glory, just as we saw him on the mountaintop. And on that day, we will recognize the God who raised Jesus from the dead as the very same one who has been traveling with us all the way through the valley of Lent, guiding us through the cross to an empty tomb.