A "mountaintop experience" if there ever was one. In fact,
I suspect that stories like this one helped coin the phrase,
"mountaintop experience."
In the news last week was word of what will soon become
another "mountaintop experience." An announcement from
Kathmandu, Nepal says that the grandson of one of the men in the
first successful expedition to scale Mount Everest 50 years ago
plans to set up the world's highest Internet cafe at the
mountain's base camp - 17,400 feet.(1) He hopes to open the cafe
next month to cash in on the flood of visitors anticipated for
the anniversary. It seems that thousands of trekkers and
mountaineers pass through the camp annually now and money from
the cafe will go to a project to clear Mt. Everest of the
hundreds of tons of garbage left behind every year. My, how the
world has changed!
Those of us who are old enough certainly recall that amazing
story a half-century ago. May 29, 1953. A New Zealand beekeeper
named Edmund Hillary and a Sherpa guide, Tenzing Norgay, are the
first ever to reach Everest's summit. Here was a mountain -
unreachable, tantalizing, fearsome, deadly - that had defeated 15
previous expeditions. Some of the planet's strongest climbers
had perished on its slopes. For many, Everest represented the
last of the earth's great challenges. The North Pole had been
reached in 1909; the South Pole in 1911. But Everest, often
called the Third Pole, had defied all human efforts - reaching
its summit seemed beyond mere mortals.(2) Now success. And
heightening the impact even further was the delicious coincidence
of their arrival just before the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II
and the dramatic announcement of their triumph on the morning of
the coronation. A "mountaintop experience"...literally.
The mountaintop experience of which we read in our lesson a
moment ago has Jesus and his three closest friends - Peter,
James, and John - going up on a high mountain. Nothing unusual.
Jesus often went off from the crowds to pray and rest. All very
ordinary.
But from here on, ordinary ends. No sooner do they arrive
than Jesus is suddenly "transfigured." He "glowed." As the text
has it, "his clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in
the world could bleach them." Not only out of the ordinary, but
absolutely out of this world - which, of course, is precisely
what the story wants to convey.
And if that is not out-of-the ordinary enough, two of
faith's most honored heroes suddenly appear by Jesus' side.
Moses, the great law-giver, and Elijah, the prophet par
excellence - the Law and the Prophets - paying respect to Jesus,
in whom both are brought together.
This is both literally and figuratively a "mountaintop
experience." No wonder Peter, James, and John are terrified. Of
course, a little terror never stopped Peter from speaking up; for
lack of any other ideas, he suggests erecting three shrines to
commemorate the event!
A big enough deal so far, but now, a cloud overshadows the
mountain. The damp air closes in and all the world slips away
into a grayness. Then the voice of God echoes around them
saying, "This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!" Glowing
face and clothes, visits from famous figures of the past,
hovering clouds and heavenly voices. Amazing! It was so extra
ordinary that when it was all over, and Jesus and Peter and James
and John were headed back down the mountain, Jesus told them not
to tell anyone about what they had seen. That made sense. Who
would have believed it anyway?
Back down the mountain. The real world. The mountaintop
experience was wonderful, exceptional, inspirational, but it
comes to an end, because there is work to be done. Back down the
mountain. Yes, we need to be inspired once in a while. Or even
twice in a while. But seeking religious thrills is not what the
Christian life is all about. Our call is to the valley where the
people are, where the needs are, where the hurts are.
Oddly enough, that incredible mountaintop experience at
Everest 50 years ago ends in a way very similar to the story of
the transfiguration. After Edmund Hillary had climbed Mount
Everest, he became an overnight celebrity. He was knighted by
Queen Elizabeth. His name became a household word. Think
Michael Jordan or Tiger Woods. He became a spokesperson for
Sears-Roebuck. His name appeared on sleeping bags, tents, and
boot laces. And he could have lived for the rest of his life in
his little shrine of success. But he didn't! Instead, he went
back to Nepal, back to the Sherpas, whom he had grown to know, to
respect, to love.
In a speech a few years ago, Hillary recounted how an
elderly Sherpa from Khumjung village, the hometown of most of the
crew for his Everest ascent, had come to him a few years after
that expedition and said, "Our children lack education. They are
not prepared for the future. What we need more than anything is
a school in Khumjung." So Hillary established the Himalayan
Trust, and in 1961 a three-room schoolhouse was built in Khumjung
with funds raised by the tireless mountaineer. In all, the trust
has built 27 schools, two hospitals and 12 medical clinics, plus
numerous bridges and airfields. In recent years the trust has
expanded its scope, devoting considerable funds to rebuilding
monasteries and to reforesting valleys and slopes in the region.(3)
Sir Edmund Hillary had his mountaintop experience. And it
moved him to a life of mission. And that is as it ought to be.
Yes, we need mountaintop experiences, and the view from up there
is incredible and inspirational. But we were never intended to
stay up there. Peter never built his shrines, Moses and Elijah
went back to heaven. And Jesus? Jesus went back to where the
people were, back to the valley to preach, to teach, to heal, and
eventually, to travel to the cross for you and for me.
From mountain to mission. In a moment, we will be invited
back up the mountain. Some nourishment and inspiration. We need
it for our mission back down in the valley. Come up...and be
blessed.
Amen!
1. Reuters Internet, 2/22/03
2. Don George, "A Man to Match His Mountain,"
http://www.salon.com/bc/1998/12/cov_01bc.html
3. "A Man to Match His Mountain"
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