Mountaintop Experience

This is a reflection and place for dialogue on my sermon and related themes from the last Sunday of Epiphany, on the Gospel text from Saint Mark 9:2-9.   

What exactly is happening here? Are Peter, James, and John experiencing a vision? Is the veil between our everyday reality and the fuller reality of life being pushed aside revealing Jesus in all his splendor? No one can say with certainty save that this incident became so significant to the early Christian community that it was included in the Gospels. Certainly, this event, qualifies as a mountaintop experience! 

What are we to make of these sorts of experiences? Should we desire them? Should we seek them out? The importance of this event in the Gospel is once again affirming Jesus’ unique identity as the Son of God, while no doubt, encouraging the inner circle of apostles along the way. I have met many people, some active in their faith, many not particularly, who have experienced some sort of supernatural or unusual experience. For many, these events whether visions, angelic visitations, miraculous healings, and the like usually seem to have strengthened the faith of these individuals.  

On the other hand, I know many who have begged and battered the doors of heaven for some sort of transfiguration in their own lives or the life of somebody they care about. A different path are those seeking spiritual experiences and spiritual powers. Some find more than they bargained for. Some get involved in things they later wish they had not. Some discover nothing and toss their hands up at the whole enterprise of faith. All of the great teachers of the spiritual life have warned against seeking special visions and powers. If such experiences come they are to be gratefully received, but not desperately clung to. They are to be acknowledged but not worshipped. The goal in the spiritual life is learning to listen to the divine voice more clearly and to follow it more nearly. In the Christian tradition, the voice of God always points us to the loving service of our neighbor.  

What did you hear in the sermon, in the text, or this reflection? What would you challenge, what would you add? What are you still wondering about?