Second Sunday of Lent

Gospel – Mark 9:2-10

Climb Every Mountain

Mt. Tabor, Galilee

Back in high school, the seminary where we lived and studied and prayed was essentially in the middle of nowhere, nestled in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia. And right behind the seminary, about a mile away, was one particular mountain, Tobacco Row Mountain.  For all of us, it represented a rite of passage, a coming of age event that tested your physical endurance and patience.  On Saturday mornings, you would leave right after breakfast, hike to the mountain base, climb it, come back down and hike back to the seminary.  And do it all without being late for 6pm dinner.  It was not easy and many never met the challenge.  For those of us who did, there was a sense of accomplishment and pride, not to mention that exhilarating view you got when you reached the summit – breathtaking!  But you couldn’t stay long; you didn’t want to risk detention by being tardy to dinner.

Mountains!  They are a familiar image throughout the Bible.  In the Old Testament alone, mountains are mentioned over 500 times.  They were considered places where you encountered the divine, where you were able to draw close to God

There was Mt. Ararat where Noah’s ark came to rest and where God made His first covenant. 

Mt. Hebron where God makes His covenant with Abraham and where Moses encountered the Lord in the burning bush.  Mt. Sinai where Moses met God, received Ten Commandments and his face shone white!  Mt. Zion where Solomon built the Temple.  The Mount of the Beatitudes on the shores of the Sea of Galilee where Jesus gave us the New Law! The Mount of Olives where Jesus often went to pray.  And Mt. Tabor where today’s Gospel takes place!

Even today Mt. Tabor is a very high, extremely steep mountain.  Climbing to the top is not a leisurely hike; at times you would be using hands and feet to scale to the top.  Even if you took a car, the drive is treacherous, windy, a switch-back road with no guard rails and barely enough room for 1 vehicle much less 2-way traffic.  Speaking from experience, you are better off riding to the top with your eyes firmly shut!  But the view from top – utterly breathtaking.  And the church at the summit beautifully takes advantage of the vistas and you really do feel that much closer to the divine!             

Peter, James and John certainly had to struggle to reach the top of Mt. Tabor; it was definitely not a walk in the park!  And yet what they found at the summit brought such wonder and joy that they wanted to pitch tents and remain there with Jesus, Elijah and Moses.  But the Transfiguration lasted only a little while and then Jesus led them back down the mountain, back to the real world.  It serves as a foreshadowing of Jesus’ Resurrection but also a reminder of His suffering and death that awaits Him in Jerusalem.  And a wake-up call to the Apostles that the future will be difficult and painful but the reward awaits them in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Like the Apostles, we all have mountains to climb……… we all struggle at times in life.  Moments that have challenged us, at times caused us to doubt and despair, as we struggle to find a purpose for all that we are going through!  It’s hard to see and appreciate the heavenly view at the top of the mountain when our minds are consumed with earthly concerns and worries.

But Scriptures remind us that our citizenship is in heaven, that these frail human bodies will be transformed into glorified bodies, like what Peter James and John see on the mountain top.  Those 3 Apostles got a taste of heaven, a glimpse of what awaits us all. The Kingdom of Heaven!  And so will we, if we only have the courage, the patience and the faith to climb the mountain!

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