Century Christian Church
(Disciples of Christ)

1301 Tamarack Road, Owensboro, KY 42301, (270) 684-0286, Pastor:  Rev. Jim Westmoreland

Would You Go To The Mountain?
Exodus 24:12-18 and Matthew 17:1-9
by Jim Westmoreland

The question this morning is, Would you go to the mountain? The mountain is the setting for both of our readings this morning. In both cases something profound, something beyond our expectation, something sacred and holy occurs there. There is also kind of magisterium, a separation and otherness felt between servant and a royal, divine monarch, between creature and a sovereign, holy Other Creator. To go to the mountain is sometimes to be overwhelmed to find the words to describe it. Hearing someone else talk about going to the mountain when we have never been willing to go ourselves is more than we can comprehend or understand.

We are like the Captain's parrot on the ocean liner. A brilliant magician was performing on the ship, but every time he did a trick, the Captain's parrot would yell, "It's a trick. He's a phony. That's not magic. Then, one evening during a storm, the ship sank while the magician was performing. The parrot and the magician ended up in the same lifeboat. For several days they just glared at each other, neither saying a word to the other. Finally, the parrot said, "OK, I give up. What did you do with the ship?"

The parrot couldn't explain that last trick? It was too much to comprehend, even for a smart parrot. When we read about Moses going to the mountain or Jesus taking Peter, James and John to the mountain, with him, we must confess that this is territory that is difficult for us to understand or comprehend.

Moses' experience in going to the mountain is set in the context of the common view of a ruling monarch who had the power of life and death over his subjects. You could not enter the presence of the king without being summoned. You could never touch the king, and you didn't speak unless you were spoken to.

Our reading in Exodus 24:12-18 retells in a shorter form the story of Moses being called up to Mt. Sinai to be with God when he received the ten commandments. It is also told in Exodus 19 and 20. In 19:16 it is written, "there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mountain . . ." and in v. 18, "and Mt. Sinai was wrapped in smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire." In 24:15-18 it says, "then Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. The glory of the Lord settled on Mt. Sinai . . . and Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights."

Moses was summoned to the mountain by holy God, the divine ruler. To go to the mountain is to risk your life in encounter with God. So, here is Moses, alone with holy God, the transcendent Monarch of the universe. One could not look at God and live.

To go to the mountain is to receive God's words. Moses received the ten commandments and other instructions for the people of Israel. I believe that God calls us to the mountain of His Presence, but we are often too busy to make the trip. When he tries to talk to us, to penetrate our self-interest and non-stop schedule of activities, we are too busy and rushed to listen.

I'm reminded of the story told by Charles Swindol in his book Stress Fractures. He says he had gotten too busy in his life and was taking his stress and tension out on his family, as we are prone to do. He writes, "I was snapping at my wife and our children, choking down my food at mealtimes, and feeling irritated at those unexpected interruptions through the day. Before long, things around our home started reflecting the patter of my hurry-up style. It was becoming unbearable. I distinctly remember after supper one evening, the words of our younger daughter, Colleen. She wanted to tell me something important that had happened to her at school that day. She began hurriedly, 'Daddy, I wanna tell you somethin' and I'll tell you really fast.'

Suddenly realizing her frustration, I answered, 'Honey, you can tell me--and you don't have to tell me really fast. Say it slowly.'" He writes, "I'll never forget her answer: 'Then listen slowly.'" Could it be that we have trouble hearing God because we are too busy to take time to listen slowly?

You see, God desires to change us, to shape us into the kind o person that He created us to be, the person we lose sight of, but He doesn't. To go to the mountain means that we will be sent back a different kind of person, a different kind of husband and wife, a different kind of parent or child or teenager. We will come back a different kind of neighbor, employee, citizen. To go to the mountain and spend time with God is to be changed and transformed.

To receive God's words is to become responsible and accountable. Moses took the Law back to the people about how they were all to live before the Lord and with one another.

The Transfiguration passage in Matthew 17 is about another trip to the mountain. Jesus took Peter, James and John. They fell asleep and awakened to see Moses and Elijah, representing the Law and the Prophets, with Jesus. Jesus was the fulfilment of the law and the Prophets. We are invited to our mountain of personal encounter with Jesus. We receive His words, and He says, "If you love me, keep my commandments . . . Love God with all your heart, mind and soul, and love your neighbor as yourself. . . . If you show your love and concern for the least of these, you have done it to me."

When Dr. Elizabeth Kubler-Ross was doing research for her famous book on death and dying, she met a woman who was a member of the cleaning staff in a large hospital. This woman spent her days cleaning floors, emptying wastebaskets and tidying up patients' rooms. The hospital staff, however, began to notice that each time this woman finished cleaning the room of a dying patient, that person was invariably more content and more at peace.

The woman explained to Dr. Kubler-Ross that she had known a lot of fear and tragedy in her life, as well as good times when others helped her know of God's love. She had been up the mountain and she had been down the mountain. The worst time was when her three-year-old son was ill with pneumonia. She brought him to the public health clinic, and he died in her arms while she waited her turn. All of this could have embittered her, but she said to Kubler-Ross, "You see doctor, the dying patients are just like old acquaintances to me, and I'm not afraid to touch them, to talk to them, or to offer them hope."

The hospital decided to promote this woman to "Special Counselor to the Dying."⁽¹⁾

To go to the mountain is to find God, to receive Life and Love and compassion for others. To go to the mountain is to be changed, renewed and molded into His image. To go to the mountain is to confess, not only with our words, but with our lives, that Jesus is Lord. This morning, will you go to the mountain?