Luke 9:28-43
We picture the mountain top experience of the disciples … Peter, James and John, chosen to go up to the mountain top with Jesus, to receive a new vision. But it wasn’t what was expected. They were awed and frightened. They didn’t know what to do. One disciple wanted to build special festival booths for Moses, Elijah and Jesus, where people could come to receive healing and blessing. It would have been so easy to stay up on the mountain and never again descend to the hungering valley below. But Jesus has work for us to do. We are called to receive the blessing, not for ourselves alone, but to give it to others; to offer healing, mercy, forgiveness, compassion, hope and peace.
We have to enter into God’s presence and spend time with God. The Transfiguration isn’t about celebrating glory. It is about encountering God in the turbulence. You won’t hear God — you can’t really know the presence — in temples that commemorate dazzling miracles. Rather, the Voice speaks in the midst of tumult. And its directive is odd — not “come and see,” a phrase often repeated in the gospels, but it is instead, “listen.”
Mountaintop experiences are wonderful. There is so much to see, but you are called now to go to the valley where there is much to be done. You are not alone; God goes with you, bringing healing, hope and peace. Go now in God’s peace and let it flood through you to others. Breathe. Trust. You are not alone
Rev. Jann Osborn
3/2/2025
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