Three Beacons On High Ground

Exodus 19   Luke 9:28   Acts1:9-13

The only lights on that hillside came from the cars which had sneaked their way up the steep little country lane.

Other than that it was pitch black everywhere.

We stumbled out onto the footpath which was like a narrow ledge round the side of the hill and we made the rest of the ascent on foot, being careful not to trip over the stones and old tree roots or indeed each other.

We knew where we were going of course because the beacon was already blazing.

A great wall of fire it was, crackling up into the night sky.

Only when we gathered round it, could we begin to see each other’s faces.

We looked west and there was another great blaze right on the top of Butser Hill.

We looked east and if you strained your eyes enough, you could just make out another glow from Chanctonbury.

It was the turn of the century and all along the downs beacons were being lit – like a chain of fire across the land.

Older Hill, Woolbeding was not on the official list of millennium beacons but we had done one anyway – just to be part of it.

Why did Jesus climb a mountain in order to return to the Father?

Why was the high ground so important to Him?

We tend to make the fatal mistake of believing that it was because it made him nearer to heaven to leave earth from here.

And we teach our children about that, about heaven being up there, beyond where we are and Jesus is returning like a rocket to his Father beyond the clouds – that grand old man with a white beard.

When all his teachings have been geared to us finding heaven in our midst, a kingdom where we are – God with us.

The truth is that the mountaintop has always been the place to which God calls his people in pilgrimage. He meets them there.  Reveal something of himself there.  Bestows gifts there. Gives grace there.

So as Jesus took his disciples clambering up the Mount of Olives to say his farewell, he was perhaps thinking of other times when God and man had made this trek together.

Just like our beacon on Older Hill, we must not see our light in isolation, but the way it fits in with other blazes on other holy hill tops.

There are three beacons of light which fit together in this way for me.

Mount Sinai where he gave the ten commandments to his travelling people.

Mount Tabor where revealed his glory to a tested people.

Mount Olivet where he gave his Spirit to a testifying people.

Each of these three meeting places between God and man have things in common.

He called only his chosen ones there.

He called them at a time of weakness and wondering.

He made himself known amidst cloud and shimmering light.

He gave a gift beyond all imagining.

When those who had met him there returned to the valley they ran slap bang into opposition.

On Mount Sinai he gave the Ten Commandments to his travelling people.

He called Moses to that high place and gave him rules for living for people on the road.

For wilderness travellers who had no place to call home and yet had the hope of a promised land, he gave them law to fold up and keep safely in a pocket of the rucksacks.

A law to bind people together with their God and each other.

A law to get them through rough terrain and sudden opposition.

But when he brought this gift down to the people, they had already turned their backs in favour of a golden calf who was never going to be as challenging.

The beacon on Sinai still shines out for us today.

I wonder if you can see it on the horizon from the place where you’re sitting.

The gift of law for travelling people is still offered to those who are on the way to a promised land but are not sure how to get there.

On Mount Tabor, He revealed his glory to a tested people.

Jesus called his three closest disciples to another beacon, to give them an experience of what the future could hold.

For just prior to this he had been teaching them some deeply unsettling things.

He had been teaching them that to be a follower they would have to give up everything they held dear, even life itself. It must have made them gulp and long for the fishing nets of Galilee.

In Luke, when Jesus has said these things there is an eight day silence as if everyone is too stunned to speak.

Then he takes Peter, James and John up Mount Tabor, to become enfolded in a beacon of light. They see Jesus in a way that dazzles. They see Jesus in a way that shows him as having in his body, the very essence of God’s glory.

They want to preserve the moment for ever – like a concert for which there must be an encore.

They get a sense that this glory might be for them, if they could really let go of earthly distractions.

But when they come down into the valley literally buzzing with it all, they walk straight into demon possession.

The beacon on Tabor still shines out for us today.

I wonder if you can see it from the place where you’re sitting.

The gift of a glimpse of the glory of God for people who are spending time with the teachings of Jesus and feel tested beyond their means by the implications of it all.

On the Mount of Olives, He promises His spirit for a testifying people.

Up to this third beacon he leads the whole rag, tag and bobtail of the remaining eleven disciples.

As they climb together he teaches them about their calling to complete the work he has begun. That they are to testify to Him in all the nations of the world and at the heart of the testimony, to proclaim repentance and forgiveness of sins.

It’s an impossibility for they had not yet even grasped the reality of resurrection.

Yet, something strange happens on that mountain top, for they return to the city full of joy.

 Joy, even though the city is full of those who had wanted Jesus dead.

 Joy, even though they had previously met behind locked doors for fear of the Jews.

 Joy even thought they were in a minority of eleven against thousands.

Joy, because the Spirit had touched them there – and the Spirit means you are no longer afraid.

The beacon of Olivet still shines out for us today.

I wonder if you can see it from the place where you are sitting.

From its blaze comes the gift of empowerment for people of God who can see there is a job of testimony to do, but who do not feel strong enough to do it.

I think I believe that every time we come to St Matthew’s – we come to climb again to a high place with the Lord. The well worn track Moses took to Sinai, Peter James and John took to Tabor and the eleven took to Olivet.

 We tread in their footsteps as we come to worship and we make a beacon of light right here in Station Road.

And from this place we’re high enough see the beacon of the law given for travelling people – still burning for us.

The beacon of the glimpse of his glory for tested people – still burning for us

And the beacon of the promise of His Spirit for testifying people – still burning for us.

And as we praise Him for these enduring gifts, we gladden the heart of the God who loves us and of you dare to look a second time before we take a deep breath and go back down into the valley, you will see the flame is burning that little bit brighter.

RH 1.5.08