Submitted by Pastor David Wynn, Tarkio Christian Church

Scripture from the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 17, Verses 1-8

After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus. Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters – one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” While he was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!” When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown to the ground, terrified. But Jesus came and touched them. “Get up,” he said. “Don’t be afraid.” When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus.

Mysterious things happen on mountains.

Charles Swindoll, in his book “Day By Day,” tells the story of a mysterious event that occurred several years ago to a group of young guys from the church he pastored in Southern California. They were on a mountain climbing excursion, along with their youth leader. While taking in the breathtaking sights, the leader realized he had lost the trail. A heavy snowfall had completely covered the path, and he didn’t have a clue where they were or how they could get back to the main camp. Sundown was not far away, and they were not equipped to spend the night on the craggy windblown slopes where the temperature would soon drop. 

While trudging through the snow, entertaining thoughts just this side of panic, they suddenly heard someone on the slopes above them yell down: “Hey the trail is up here!” They glanced up and to their relief saw another climber in the distance. Without hesitation, they began to make their way up to the large boulder where the man was sitting. Finally they arrived . . . but to their surprise the man who had yelled at them was nowhere to be found. Furthermore, there were no traces in the snow that anyone had been sitting on the boulder, nor were there footprints around the rock. The trail, however, stretched out before them, leading them to safety. To this day, they do not know the identity of the stranger who led them to safety. Swindoll thinks he may have been an angel. 

I firmly believe that they saw an Angel, as such miraculous rescues have happened in my life, and I’m sure in yours. Oh, some folks may call these events just coincidences. But I learned long ago that in our daily living, coincidence just does not exist.

In Peter’s second letter in the New Testament he testifies . . . “For we did not follow cleverly devised stories when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 

The disciples discovered this on that mountaintop that day. You cannot come into the presence of Jesus without becoming conscious of what, by his grace, you might one day be. The disciples stayed in the company of greatness and thus they became great as well. 

There is something about a mountaintop experience that can help you be more than you have ever been before.

In his book, This Sunrise of Wonder, Michael Mayne writes this to his grandchildren: “If I could have waved a fairy grandfather’s wand at your birth and wished upon you just one gift . . . it would not have been beauty or riches or a long life. It would have been the gift of wonder. He goes on to suggest that they set their sights not on success, but on wonder. They should live with a sense of awe.

Maybe that’s part of what’s going on at the mountain that day. In this glimpse of glory, Jesus is trying to give the disciples the gift of wonder, a sense of awe.

I’ll close with some thoughts from Laura Dykstra on Matthew’s story of the mountain: “Was it Jesus who changed,” she says, “or was it that John, James, and Peter could now see the face of God shining in the man they knew? Did the thin air and the elevated perspective contribute to their clarity of vision? When they came down from the mountaintop, did they take their new capacity to see into the low places and crowded city streets? Can we? And when we see the face of God shining through those who are familiar to us, do we truly, deeply listen to them?”

It’s like the words from a song that Barbra Streisand sang years ago. “On a clear day rise and look around you and you’ll see who you are. On a clear day how it will astound you that the glow of your being outshines every star . . .” 

The face and being and the humanity of Jesus Christ outshines every star, and as we fix our gaze on him we can glow, too, because we learn from him who we really are. On that mountain in his presence we gain confidence in his purpose for our lives. As Barbara sang in the last two lines of the chorus, “You can hear, from far and near, a world you’ve never, never ever heard before. And on a clear day, on a clear day, you can see forever, And ever, and ever more.”