February 14 -- The Mountaintop

This week's lectionary texts: Exodus 34:29-35, Psalm 99, Second Corinthians 3:12-4:2, and Luke 9:28-43.

"Extol the Lord our God, and worship at his holy mountain; for the Lord our God is holy." (Psalm 99:9)

During my recent trip to Ecuador, I had the opportunity to hike part of Chimborazo, the highest mountain in the country. Our group drove up a good part of the way, and then made it up to about 16,500 feet on foot. The landscape was strange and unfamiliar -- virtually no plant or animal life, just rocks and dust and wafting mist as far as we could see. At such a high altitude, breathing was difficult; every couple of minutes I would have to stop walking and just pause to catch my breath. It wasn't an easy trek, but making it to our goal -- the second refuge hut up the mountain -- was incredibly rewarding and exhilarating.

This week's lectionary texts offer powerful examples of "mountaintop experiences." They invite us to consider what it might mean to meet God on the mountain, and how our experiences of God can transform us in ways both visible and invisible.

In Exodus, we read of Moses's 40-day stay with God on Mount Sinai, recording God's message to God's people. As he finally makes his way back down the mountain, Moses does not realize that "the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God" (Exodus 34:29). In fact, so striking was Moses's transformation that "when Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, the skin of his face was shining, and they were afraid to come near him" (Exodus 34:30).

Moses, of course, eventually discovers that speaking with God has had a profound effect on him. He ultimately decides to wear a veil after such encounters, presumably to prevent his fellow Israelites from being afraid. But "whenever Moses went in before the Lord to speak with him, he would take the veil off, until he came out" (Exodus 34:34). In the presence of God, Moses felt free to be exactly who he was.

In Luke, we hear another story of mountaintop transformation, as we learn about the transfiguration of Jesus. Bringing Peter and John with him, Jesus goes up to pray on a mountain. "And while he was praying," writes Luke, "the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white" (Luke 9:29). Not only did Jesus's appearance change, but Moses and Elijah also appeared on the mountain, speaking with Jesus.

Peter, likely confused but trying to figure out what to do, says to Jesus, "Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah" (Luke 9:33). But no sooner does Peter say this, than a cloud covers the mountain, and a voice inside proclaims, "This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!" (Luke 9:35). And suddenly, Elijah and Moses disappear, leaving Jesus and his disciples silent and alone on the mountain.

What are we to make of these experiences of Moses and Jesus? Paul, in Second Corinthians, suggests that we can read such texts to indicate the transformative power that God can have in our own lives. We no longer need veils, he writes, because God has freed us to be exactly who God made us to be:

"Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit." (2 Corinthians 3:17-18)

It is important to remember that not everyone will have a "mountaintop experience," an unambiguous and transformational experience of God. God may speak to us in quieter ways: through other people or through the reading of scripture, for example.

At the same time, it's likely that many of us have either had such an experience or know someone else who has. Such experiences can be frightening or awe-inspiring, life-changing and surprising. Let us be on the lookout for what we can learn about God and God's life-affirming, unbelievably powerful love from such experiences, whether our own or those of others.

Traveling up Chimborazo was sometimes frightening. At some points along the road, the mist and clouds were so thick that we could hardly see more than a few feet in front of us. In the same way, we don't always know what lies ahead when God invites us to travel up the mountain. We can only keep walking, trusting that God will take us as far as God wants us to go, and knowing that we will go back down the mountain transformed, free to be ourselves and to be shining examples of God's light and love for others.

Photos by the author.