Mountaintop Experience

Before and after this Sunday’s gospel story, Jesus is telling his disciples that what lies ahead is his betrayal, suffering, death, and resurrection; and too, that if they are to be his followers, they are to deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow him. In this context, the Transfiguration happens – a mountaintop experience for Jesus and his companions, Peter, John, and James.* 

Joy. God’s voice of love. Affirmation of one’s truest self. A sense, as a dear spiritual elder described, of miraculous possibility.

My own “mountaintop” experiences echo this. What happens is inexplicable and profound mystery. God is living and present. In the darkness of my mind or circumstances of the time, light shines. The experiences arise from prayer and with an acknowledgment of helplessness. I am made aware that there is something so much more than what I know and can imagine. It is good, it is beautiful, and it is true. It is born from unconditional love, present as self-sacrificial love, and infinite in its nature. What is mine to do? Keep on the Way.

The thing about a mountaintop experience is that it is fully realized in the valley. Our everyday lives may not look so different, but perhaps something shifts in how we see and go about our lives. Perhaps we experience a steadier spirit or clearer vision or a hope that surpasses understanding. We are compelled onward by a purpose bigger than outcome.

Another thing, we can be assured that on the Way we are never alone. On the mountain in our gospel Jesus and the disciples find themselves in the company of great prophets of old, Moses and Elijah. Our work for love and justice has a long lineage.

May we journey through fear, doubt, and despair listening deeply for the still, small voice of God as Elijah heard and be humble and awake to a burning bush of divine presence as Moses encountered. May we follow Jesus trusting and leaning into God’s faithfulness and power.