Mountain top experiences and daily love

From Helen 

This morning I deliberately changed the gospel reading (Luke 9:28- 36) so that we could think about a feast that is celebrated on Tuesday. That feast is the feast of the Transfiguration.

At the Transfiguration the disciples were shown something new, they saw Jesus in all His glory. It must have been an incredible sight. I don’t blame Peter for wanting to hold the moment, so that he could keep Jesus, Moses and Elijah there forever. 

Every Jew would have known the importance of Moses who gave the law to them. Elijah represented prophecy. Elijah had been one of the great prophets who were God’s mouthpiece for the people. The prophets had the role of bringing people back to God, they had the role of telling people how they should behave, even kings ! 

For Peter and the others when they saw Moses and Elijah they saw two great representatives and heroes of their faith. It is no wonder that they wanted to keep them there. Then of course there was Jesus, and by Jesus being with Moses and Elijah and by God telling them to listen to Jesus and seeing the glory of God it was clear that Jesus wasn’t just  the best parts of these heroes of the faith, He was greater than them both.

To say that Peter, James and John must have been in a bit of a tizz is an understatement.  Right before them they had seen the awesomeness of God. Right before them they had seen the glory of God. Right before them the most amazing thing had happened.

Faith is like that. We can have these incredible feelings and moments. A while ago I heard a 9 year old boy describing happiness as those moments when you want to jump over the whole world. That you are so happy you want to do the most incredible things.

There are times in our life of faith when we feel great, life is good and we feel close to God. We feel that every time we pray He listens and answers us with a yes. These are the mountain top moments of our faith. Those moments that we never want to end.

The point is though that these mountain top moments help us for the everyday. We know God is good, we know we are loved by God because we have felt Him close to us and so even when things aren’t good we have these moments to remind us.

In our epistle reading (Col. 3:1-11) from the letter to the Colossians we heard of Paul telling the people to whom he was writing all about the way to live. These people had all been following a different type of life. They had been following God in a different way. Some would have been Jews, some may have worshipped pagan gods and some may have been following a mixture of different faiths almost like a pick and mix. These people though had come to know Jesus.

They had received a mountain top experience as they turned to Jesus. They had left their old ways of living behind and turned to a much better way of life. 

Paul as he wrote to them was in prison and from prison he could remember his mountain top experience on the road to Damascus. That moment when Jesus spoke to Him in a vision. In that vision Paul had a mountain top experience as he discovered that he needed to change his life. 

Paul had been changed and so as he wrote to the people in Colossae he knew that he was sharing with people who had received this mountain top experience and he wanted them to remember that it wasn’t just about having this experience and forgetting it. Life was to be changed. They were to become more and more like Jesus.

Paul was explaining to them that they needed to be changed and they would continue to do this by keeping their eyes on Jesus. They needed to look at Him, to think of things above and not to be caught up with all the things going on around them that might stop them looking to Jesus. They had received a mountain top experience and by thinking of things above they would be able to keep walking with Jesus.

The disciples had an amazing experience, we have all had amazing experiences. Like Paul and the Colossians we have had mountain top experiences. The question is how do we let those change us and our lives. 

Peter couldn’t hold on to what he had seen by making special rooms, booths. He needed to go out strengthened by God and live his life. We can’t hold on to all the best moments, and that can be really painful but it is in knowing that we have had those moments that we can have the strength to carry on.

Paul when he wrote to the Colossians was in prison but he kept going – why, because he had experienced God and His love. Peter, James and John would see Jesus crucified, they would later be persecuted but they carried on – why, because they saw the resurrection. They had been sustained in their faith by the mountain top experience and they had felt the love of God.

In every situation we are able to stay strong in our faith because we have come to know and experience the love of God. 

Mountain top experiences are great. They are the moments when we can feel the love of God. You see though, for every day there has to be a way of living and carrying on and we can do this by remembering that we are loved. We have strength today because we know God loves us.

I know I have said this before, but it is always worth saying again. There is nothing we can do to make God love us more and nothing we can do to make God love us less.

When we remember that – well, then we have strength for each day, for the days in between the  mountain top experiences. We still have our eyes set on the things above and we can cope with the world around us because we know that we are not only loved but that love, God’s love, holds us. AMEN