Come off the Mountain
The Mountain or The Mess?
If you read Isaiah 2, you find a beautiful picture - almost a dreamlike fantasy we all share - about the Kingdom of God and Peace. In the spiritual snapshot, we are all invited to the mountain to worship and learn from the Lord, and the fruits of it are weapons tamed into gardening shears.
It makes sense then, that in Mark 9, when we find Jesus transfiguring himself before Peter on the mountain, that Peter responds with wanting to tabernacle Jesus, Moses, and Elijah. After all, isn’t this what was supposed to happen - the law and the prophets point us to the mountain where Jesus will rule in peace in harmony again.
But Jesus does not allow this to be so - even after God pronounces, “that this is my beloved son, listen to Him,” Jesus marches them down the mountain and into a very gruesome situation - a demon possessed boy. The disciples have been unable to cast the demon out, and Jesus comes back to free the child, and teach the disciples again and the surrounding community.
We cannot argue that the church has valued safety and security, often at the expense of bringing light to the mess. Often we would rather gather together as sons and daughters of light in the tabernacle, then live in the darkness of our own nearby communities. But we are not given the option - as Jesus leads them, He leads us. The promise is that the light appeared in the darkness, and that it overcame the night.
The law and the prophets point us to Jesus, who points us to bringing the Kingdom of God now. We cannot escape into tabernacles with spiritual teachers - we must in fact follow the pattern of Jesus. Can we not have spiritual teachers on the road with us? Was not the greatest sermon known, the sermon on the mount, taught within the overall idea of “movement.”
The best plan is “both/and” - let’s figure a way to gather in the building to strengthen the down the mountain mentality. We can have all the real estate in the city - that is the promise of Jesus. “All authority on heaven and earth has been given to me, so go and make disciples, everywhere…”
Join the movement - on the West Side, at Pershing, on State Street - or where you are - perhaps there are new movments I have no idea about - please let me know. Leave comments by clicking on the comment space!