Exodus 24:12-18 2 Peter 1:16-21 Matthew 17:1-9 Psalm 99

Jesus was on the mountain with his disciples Peter, John, and James, the three disciples who accompany Jesus as was typical at particularly significant times in Jesus’ ministry.  The presence of these closest disciples alerts us to our own discipleship – our own presence in Jesus’ ministry.  Through the presence of Peter and John and James, we are present; we can relate to their confusion and misinterpretation of this awe-inspiring event in which Jesus, flanked by Moses and Elijah, was transfigured – his face changed, his clothes becoming dazzling white.  Through the earthly human eyes of Peter and John and James, we get a glimpse of the magnificent possibilities for us as disciples of Jesus Christ.

Peter, John, and James were no better equipped to fathom this otherworldly experience than any of us would be.  We would fumble and bumble much like Peter.  However, without doubt, the undivided attention of the disciples was captured; their attention was devoted to listening and observing with great intention.  God was physically present in this place.  And, this was truly, literally a “mountaintop” experience.  So, what is the message we are to gain through the privilege of being present here on the mountaintop with Jesus – and Moses and Elijah?

Peter, John, and James were faithful Jews steeped in the faith of God’s people, trained in the knowledge of their ancient Hebrew heritage.  There are few of higher standing, few who better represent Hebrew tradition than Moses and Elijah; and these three disciples would have no question that the presence of these two holy men there on each side of Jesus was momentous and intentionally significant.

Historically, many centuries earlier, on another mountain, Moses had been the recipient of the Law – straight from the hand of God on Mount Sinai.   With tablets in hand, God sent Moses down from Mount Sinai to deliver God’s Law to the people of Israel in the Wilderness.

And, centuries after Israel’s sojourn in the Wilderness, God’s prophet Elijah, under threat of King Ahab, had challenged the prophets of the pagan god Baal on Mount Carmel; God’s power prevailed over Baal in a bolt of lightning and great rains upon the mountain.  Later, as Elijah fled in fear, God was revealed to Elijah on yet another mountain, Mount Horeb.  In the “still small voice of God” – the sound of sheer silence, God spoke to the great prophet Elijah.  On Mount Horeb, God, speaking in sheer silence instructed Elijah to leave his fears behind and go down from the mountain, to get back to the work to which God had anointed him.  Mountains are significant in the ancient Hebrew history very familiar to Peter, James, and John.

On the mountain we visit in our Gospel lesson, Peter, John, and James, without doubt, knew God was speaking.  The continuity between Jesus and these most significant forebears of their faith – Moses and Elijah – was indisputable.  Slowly, reality began to seep in – Jesus, whom they knew as their earthly leader and teacher, was and is the Messiah foretold by the great prophets of the Hebrew faith.  It would be Jesus who would personify and fulfill God’s mission of redemption for all creation.  Moses, the personification of God’s Law, and Elijah, the personification of the Prophecy, themselves affirm God’s presence in Jesus Christ.

Our lesson tells us that Peter, John, and James were overshadowed by a cloud and from the cloud they heard the words, “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!”  Those who had been present for Jesus’ baptism at the very beginning of his ministry had heard these similar words of God’s affirmation of Jesus as the beloved Son of God.  The disciples fell to the ground overcome by fear, until Jesus, restored to his human nature, touched them, instructed them to rise, and assured them that there was no need to be afraid.  Together they descended the mountain.

If we read on in the verses to come, we read that as the four journeyed down from the mountain, they were met by a great crowd, among them a father seeking healing for his convulsive son.  The mission continued; Jesus, after this magnanimous mountaintop experience, came down from the mountain and, without hesitation, was again about the work of the mission to which he had been anointed.

The mountain known as Mt. Tabor was the first site we visited on our pilgrimage after we landed in Tel Aviv and drove northeast toward Galilee through the fertile Jezreel Valley and upward to the summit that has been marked by history as the location of the Transfiguration.  The vista, even through the rainy mist, is magnificent.  A church has rested on the site since the 5^th century; currently, the Basilica of the Transfiguration, maintained by the Franciscans, tops the summit.

Jet-lagged and weary from our overnight flight, I’m not sure any of us pilgrims internalized the awe of the Transfiguration, but there was much awe to come as we confirmed that our mountaintop experiences of awe and inspiration are important to our understanding of our individual callings, callings that would require our coming down from the mountain.  Time and again, with Jesus and Peter and James and John, we all come down from the mountain with greater direction and inspiration to return to our ministry.

As we pilgrims journeyed down from Mount Tabor and further into the landscape most known for Jesus’ birth and ministry, each coming day of our pilgrimage further enforced the overwhelming discomfort and challenge of being among the minority within the minority – the tiny minority of Christians among the minority of non-Jews – the Arab Palestinians.  This small percentage of Israel’s population is the tiny remnant of Jesus’ disciples clinging to the call to mission in this land of ancient and ongoing religious and political conflict.

This phenomenon is never more evident than among the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent DePaul at an organization known as the Creche in Bethlehem.  The Creche offers safe haven, medical care, and education for dozens of needy, orphaned, or abandoned children under the age of six.  Many of the children as newborns are literally left on their doorstep, located here in the West Bank where basic human rights are severely restricted and the simplest of life’s activities can quickly turn tragic.  The Creche is the only institution in the Palestinian Territories authorized to accomplish such a mission.  Yes, this is Bethlehem, the place of Jesus’ birth.

Here, at the Creche, pregnant unwed Muslim women are taken into secrecy until after childbirth to avoid being murdered by their families.  All children born here are by law registered as Muslim; yet, Islamic law forbids adoption of children.  The nuns cannot educate the children in the Christian faith, they cannot give them the traditional home and family many of them crave, but there is no hesitance on the part of the sisters to surround these blessed children of God with the love of Christ.

The obstacles are unthinkable for us who are so blessed to be citizens of the United States of America; we wept in the presence of their happiness.  Through these Daughters of Charity, led by their mountaintop call to mission in the valley below, the love of Jesus Christ fully encompasses all who enter the embrace of the Creche of Bethlehem – Christians, the tiny minority within the minority, and one of the few bridges to the peace of the love of Christ in the Land of the Holy One.

With the coming of Lent, we are called to the quiet mountaintop with Peter and James and John to pray with great intention, earnestness, and openness.  Perhaps these experiences will be ecstatic at times – true mountaintop experiences.  But our purpose is not there on the mountaintop; that is only the beginning or the renewal of our mission.  As Christ’s apostles, our mission is on the plains and in the valleys, wherever God’s people are gathered, wherever the suffering are in need of healing, wherever faith needs transfiguration through the redemptive power of the Good News of Jesus Christ.  We are called by God to the mountaintop and we are sent by God down from the mountaintop transfigured by the love of Jesus Christ to the work for which we are anointed.