(Gn. 12:1-4a; Mt.17:1-9)
The evening news reports over 1500 people dead and thousands missing as the result of an earthquake and tsunami in Japan and people are holding their breath regarding the possible meltdown of damaged nuclear power facilities. Over two million households are without electricity; food and water are scarce; entire towns have been destroyed. Last week people were going about their business unaware that in a matter of hours their world would quite literally fall down around their ears. Now the people of Japan have come down from the mountaintop of complacency and economic security and vast portions of one of the most technologically advanced nations in the world have been reduced to rubble.
Abram was also living a kind of mountaintop existence, just going about his business, when God told him to leave everything that was familiar behind and go, sight unseen, to a land that God would show him. Did Abram feel like his world was falling down around his ears? Was he able to take any mementos with him? Did he ever see his family again?
Peter, James and John had an incredible experience, a mountaintop experience, and they didn’t want to leave. Like Abram and the people of Japan they wanted to stay where they felt safe and happy, but mountaintop experiences are not intended to last. God called them down from the mountaintop just as he had called Abram from his homeland. Because life is not lived on the mountaintop; life is lived on the plain. Abram would be asked to sacrifice his only son on the plain. Peter, James and John would face persecution and death on the plain. Earthquakes and tsunamis happen on the plain.
Where is God in all of this? Ships bring aid to the people. Search and rescue teams comb through wreckage. Members of the worldwide scientific community monitor conditions at the nuclear power plants. And God is present. Because even when it seems that the very earth is shifting under our feet, today, as in the days of Abram, Peter, James and John, God never leaves the people to come down from the mountaintop alone.
Vinal Van Benthem, sfo
