From the Mountaintop

Reading: Luke 9.28-45


Often when we are driving into Ingham in this kind of weather, we look out the left window… “No, we can’t see Paluma today! You would  be walking in the clouds right now!” We have been up there when it has been misty and moist – a challenge to the driver, but just the right time for a beautiful reflective walk. There might be an occasional car, but, walking in the clouds, the rush and bustle of the rest of life is set aside. On the other hand, when the weather is clear, go to McClelland’s lookout and gaze on the world “down there” – the world you left and that will soon be calling for you to return.

Both “up in the clouds” and “down there” are part of the same world – looked at from different perspectives. What is life all about? It is good to be “on” the mountaintop, but what will we do when we go “from” the mountaintop?

Didn’t our hearts burn within us ... ?

The two disciples who walked to Emmaus (Lk. 24.13ff) were met by a stranger who seemed to know nothing about the events in Jerusalem when Jesus was crucified. They were not only sad but confused. Not only had their friend Jesus been killed, but his body had disappeared and angels said he was alive. The stranger explained to them how the Scriptures clearly foretold that the Messiah had to suffer these things and then enter into his glory. Then, as they began a meal at their home in Emmaus, the stranger took bread, gave thanks, broke it and gave it to them. Suddenly they realised that it was the risen Jesus himself! It’s true! He’s alive! They said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” They now saw the whole conversation in a new light.

Luke 9 takes us back to some of the events that were pointers to Good Friday/Easter but which the disciples failed to recognise.

In verse 20 we hear Peter’s declaration, “You are the Christ of God” – given more fully in Matthew 16.16 as “the Christ, the Son of the living God”. Now that they have grasped that truth, Jesus warns them not to tell this to anyone and he explains to them that he would suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests, and teachers of the law. He would be killed and on the third day would be raised to life. Matthew records Peter’s protest – this isn’t his picture of “the Christ, the Son of the living God”! And Jesus’ rebuke, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men” (Mt 16. 23).

So the two who went to Emmaus shouldn’t have been so totally in the dark! But if Jesus was “the one who was going to redeem Israel”, this violent death shouldn’t have happened! Or, to get back to Peter’s words, if Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God, this should never happen to him!

So – back to Luke 9. About eight days after Peter’s great profession about who Jesus is – Jesus “took Peter, John and James with him and went up onto a mountain to pray.” While they watched, they saw Jesus with a glory that was hidden for most of his earthly ministry. Moses and Elijah appeared in glorious splendour, talking with Jesus. Moses and Elijah were key representatives of the Law and the Prophets. In Exodus 34.29 we are told that, when Moses came down from Mount Sinai, “his face was radiant because he had spoken with the Lord”. In 2 Kings  2.11 we read that “Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind”. These two were talking with Jesus “about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem” (Lk 9.31).

This is a bit curious. Jesus was going to fulfil his departure – the Greek word is exodos (exodus). The Good News Bible expands it helpfully – they “talked with Jesus about the way in which he would soon fulfil God’s purpose by dying in Jerusalem”. The New Testament doesn’t do away with the Old Testament. It fulfils it. Through Moses, the Law had set out God’s requirements for his covenant people, and set up a whole system of sacrificial offerings because these people – along with the rest of humanity – were found out to be sinners. God’s Law still shows us up as sinners. Through Elijah and the Prophets, God was calling people back into relationship with himself and looking forward to the coming of the anointed one (the Messiah or Christ) whose life would be given as the perfect and final sacrifice for sinners. The talk on the mount was about Jesus fulfilling his departure in Jerusalem.

This made a deep impression on Peter, James and John. John says in his gospel, “We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father” (Jn 1. 14b). He goes on to say that “the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” (v. 17). Peter writes in his second letter, “we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received honour and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.’ We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain(2 Pet. 1. 16b-18).

Staying up the Mountain

Peter was so impressed that he wanted to suspend the agenda of suffering Jesus had been speaking about and stay there. That is what we sense in his offer to build three shelters, “Master, it is good for us to be here!” (Lk 9.33). It’s as if he is saying, Stay here, Lord! If Moses and Elijah are here, the promises are fulfilled already! Let’s all stay here!

Then the voice from the cloud, “This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him” (v. 35). That means hearing for the sake of heeding, listening in order to obey!

But they haven’t really grasped this bit about Jesus’ “departure” at all. “The disciples kept this to themselves, and told no one at that time what they had seen” (v. 36b). There will be suffering before the glory will be revealed again. The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life” (v. 22).

A Family in Need

Jesus had come into the world for the sake of human need. He had laid aside his rightful exaltation in glory. He would continue to be submissive and obedient even to the point of death on the cross. And on the way to that redemptive suffering and death, he would continue to minister to needy people whose paths crossed his.

Having returned to the crowd, Jesus is met by an anxious father. He has brought his demon-possessed son to the disciples, “but they could not drive out [the evil spirit]”. We do well to note the comment of one writer, “Those who were ‘demon-possessed’... often had physical manifestations resembling epilepsy... However, demon possession is definitely not synonymous either with epilepsy or with mental disorder in general, and is clearly distinguished by the synoptists and in Acts (5.16) from the general run of disease” (A.P.W. in New Bible Dictionary).

Jesus commanded the demon to leave the boy and at once he was healed.

But of course, the disciples couldn’t heal him! It was not a matter of understanding and using the right formula. God is the healer. What they lacked was faith in God. With faith there are no limitations except the nature and will of God.

Jesus is alive – as one writer put it, “let loose in the world”! No longer is he limited by time and space. Peter, James and John had a glimpse of his glory, but his departure was yet to be fulfilled. Yet they had heard the voice from the Majestic Glory, and the call, “Listen to him!” – hearing for the sake of heeding, listening in order to obey.

Sometimes we are simply seeking a spiritual experience – “walking in the clouds”. And sometimes God gives those experiences. But in general, that isn’t where we live – for the moment! If we have a mountaintop experience, the issue is still about life “down there”. The revelation and intimacy “on” the mountaintop is to remind us who Jesus is, even when we can’t see him or feel his presence, and to call us to listen to him – to obey him when we have gone “from” the mountaintop into the ordinariness and situations of life where he is present but where we no longer see him in his glory.

Let us put our trust in him as our Saviour and step out trusting and obeying him as our Lord. He gives us the mountain-top experiences, then calls us into the valleys of service.


© Peter J. Blackburn, Halifax and Ingham, 14 February 2010
Except where otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from the New International Version, © International Bible Society, 1984.


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