This is Passion Week
Decades ago when I was active as a single young adult in the church and thinking activities were the most important aspect of being a Christian, I participated in a movement/event that made its way to our church called “The Walk to Emmaus.”
For you who are not familiar with the Emmaus story, the “Road to Emmaus” is from the Gospel of Luke (Luke 24) centered around two followers of Christ who were walking the seven mile journey from Jerusalem to Emmaus three days after Jesus’ death on the Cross. On the way they meet a stranger who becomes their travel companion. He inquired about their downcast appearance and they were surprised the man did not hear about Jesus being crucified. The stranger then spoke in rich details about Scriptural teachings and how Christ’s suffering and death on the Cross was a fulfillment of Bible prophecy and God’s will.
It wasn’t until the end of their visit together as they were sharing a meal and breaking bread that their spiritual eyes were open as the stranger departed. They realized the traveler was Jesus Himself, risen from the grave on that day of His resurrection. Amazed by the His teachings, they said to one another, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?” Immediately they proceeded to return to Jerusalem to report the amazing news to the disciples.
One could consider this experience like a “mountain top experience.”
This “heart burning” or “Heart warming” experience, or the interpretation thereof, was an inspiration to develop a multi-day retreat and immersion event that was designed to give people of sense of spiritual awareness of church doctrine, God’s love and sense of discipleship.
Without going into much detail to preserve the spontaneity of the program (assuming it still exists), I did walk away with some strong personal observations which have remained after all these many years (over 30 years ago). Some are positive but I want to share my concerns.
While I cannot recall all the details of the event which I took part in, first as a participant and later as an art contributor and supporter for an event or two, I can give you conclusions which remain with me.
I feel the intent of the production is to recreate the somewhat rugged life of the early disciples and the bond through Christ they must have felt. However, the purpose of God is not necessarily served very well in an artificially created environment designed to be a kind of boot camp for jump starting spiritual awareness or the presence of God’s glory. The effect would be different between children and adults, but I believe my premise remains.
I discovered the amount of preparation to help bring about a “heart burning” experience, is too demanding and it hurts authenticity. In fact, one of the people I know who was responsible to help organize these retreats found himself, many years later, not even knowing who Christ was. While one case does not make necessarily denote a trend, it’s still a sad fact that a potential consequence of being involved with generating a mountain top experience for Christians results in a broken or prodigal relationship to the Lord.
In other words, I find the value of artificially created mountain top experiences or even the pursuit of mountain top experiences over-rated. They are not without purpose, but overrated in terms of coming to grips with spiritual truth.
How does one help another seek the truth of Jesus Christ?
If you want a human nature perspective, if we’re not satisfied with life it may very well be a problem with our sense of humility and gratitude for what we have, not necessarily a lack for something that we need to create. The Bible warns of finding our satisfaction from pursuing worldly things or to rely on surrogates that are best served through an engaging relationship with God through Christ and the Holy Spirit.
I spent my share of time pursuing those grand experiences that make memories, but they don’t necessarily bring us to glorify God or to develop a stronger relationship with Jesus if one has not yet surrendered their life to the Lord.
Do we generate a sense of exhilaration and then tag it something God ordained? This challenge extends to the design of worship services also. Are we trying to pump air into a leaking tire of an unsurrendered soul?
How do we handle the situations when life feels miserable and it seems everything is working against you? Where is God in those instances? Or rather, how should we seek strength from God in those period of life when things are not so hot?
I find the down sides of life are more apt to reveal spiritual truth. It’s when we hit rock bottom or get dragged across the bottom we are more open to the Truth. We are more open to the truth when our egotistical pride in worldly things get shaken, when our dependency on worldly power, worldly riches, worldly comforts, distractions and lusts fail, utterly fail.
The loss of the very things we are commanded to let go of or to be prepared to not turn back to (i.e. to not be like Lot’s wife in Luke 17:31-33 or Genesis 19:17, 26) will make way for the freedom to take up ones cross and bear it.
Not a popular spiritual truth, to take up the Cross of Jesus Christ.
Wow, that means we need to give up something or even embrace suffering? You mean we need to release the idolatrous baggage that we’ve been hauling around all our lives? Don’t tell that to the prosperity, get rich crowd or even the armchair general or the sunshine patriot.
30 So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one. 31 Therefore I have poured out My indignation on them; I have consumed them with the fire of My wrath; and I have recompensed their deeds on their own heads,” says the Lord God. – Ezekiel 22:29-31
Mountain Top experiences are much the opposite of the manner in which Biblical characters find themselves in the page of Scripture. Confronting the circumstances of life requiring courage armed with a strong sense of who God is and a willingness to obey His commandments. This is one of the important lessons to learn from the Old Testament especially, where we can track people’s lives along their spiritual highs and lows, even the Kingdom of Israel’s highs and lows.
Our spiritual role models offered in scripture have some common qualities: Sin (except for Jesus), prayer, faith, obedience to God, service to God despite the often horrendous odds. There’s not much time spent looking for mountain top experiences but rather being obedient to God’s will. There are multiple highlights in Scripture, they just happen in obedience to God’s instructions or following in the path of Christ (i.e. Peter, John and James on the Mount of Transfiguration (Matthew 17), or God’s miraculous battle of worship through Elijah against hundreds of priests of Baal (1 KINGS 18), Isaiah encounters the glory of the Lord which alarmingly strips away pride and magnifies the extreme depravity of humanity (ISAIAH 6) are just three of many examples set throughout the amazing pages of Scripture.
The reality of people’s lives is that there is pain, often punctuated by agonizing losses, but there is also the peace of God that defies understanding, the small light that offers divine hope and can take command over the room full of darkness.
This week is Holy Week. Just before Jesus offers His last pre-crucifixion teachings, promises, and words of comfort to His disciples who will not know what hit them in just a matter of hours. Then there is Jesus’s facing the worst suffering that any one ever suffered, and He did it for us all.
This leads to some mountain top experiences you’ve maybe never considered.
Passion Week:
Worldly Mountain Top Experiences
Worldly Mountain Top Experience #1: The raving crowd of religious leaders and people outside Pilate’s court demanding the death of Jesus. They appear to get their heartfelt desire.
Jesus didn’t fit their idea of what a Messiah was nor did the Jewish leaders understand their own Scripture. They’ve been wanting to get rid of Him or to get Him killed ever since He posed a threat to their religious system. The heretical system they’ve established was being threatened by this man who teaches and heals like no others. His miracles abounded. He teaches as a Man sent by God and without the traditional learning. They could find no sin in Him, yet the religious leaders accuse Him of being demon possessed and threaten the people with being driven out of the synagogue or Temple if they support Jesus.
To emphasize their case by applying political pressure on Pilate, the religious leaders declare they have no king but Caesar (John 19:15).
Many of the people who just days before were cheering the arrival of the King on Palm Sunday have abandoned him, much because of the threats created by religious leaders fearing their loss of power. They twisted their own laws of justice to condemn an innocent man.
Worldly Mountain Top Experience #2: Pontius Pilate meets the King of the Jews, the Son of God, and doesn’t have time to seek to know what is the truth or to explore this rare encounter. “What is Truth?” Pilate rhetorically asks in response to Jesus declaration that He has come to testify of the Truth (John 18:37). But Pilate is in no mindset to believe there is any truth except his exigent concerns of the moment: how to protect his position as governor and how to get rid of the enraged crowd of Jews.
He’s too busy and too scared of threats of the raving the Jewish leaders and blood thirsty crowd protesting and threatening to report him to Caesar, the world’s king.
To exacerbate things for Pilate, his wife is standing in the background having warned her husband not to have anything to do with this Just man (Matthew 27:19).
(For any of you husbands out there, what happens when you ignore your wife’s advice before you make the most consequential and worst decision you will ever make in your life?).
Despite declaring Jesus as innocent, the Jewish leader continue to strengthen their arguments. Pilate attempt to appease the angry crowd by scourging Him fails. At last, Pilate succumbs to pressure and ends up ordering Jesus to be put to death on the cross.
Perhaps, as a small token of his conscience, and maybe in spite of Jesus’ blood thirst accusers, Pilate orders the cross the bear this inscription:
JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS
20 Then many of the Jews read this title, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin.
21 Therefore the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but, ‘He said, “I am the King of the Jews.” ’ ”
22 Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.” – John 19:20-22
Passion Week:
Heavenly Mountain Top Experience
Heavenly Mountain Top Experience: Jesus despite the hatred, unjust trials, the brutal scourging, humiliation, beatings, getting crucified, enduring agonizing pain, and experiencing something He has never felt before since before the beginning of time, the coming separation from God because of His becoming unrighteous because of our sin.
With divine wisdom, strength and grace Jesus faces the injustice, suffering excruciating pain because His commitment to fulfill His Father’s will and perform this tremendous act of love will cost Him his earthly life.
His disciples scatter for fear for their lives. Only a few of Jesus’s family and followers, including John, witness His crucifixion and death on the Cross.
In His final moments of Jesus’ life:
28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, “I thirst!” 29 Now a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there; and they filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on hyssop, and put it to His mouth. 30 So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit. – John 19:28-30
After that final sin of the world throughout all time was transferred upon Jesus, He declared “It is finished!” Jesus paid for our sin debts PAID IN FULL (as translated from Greek) and voluntarily let go of his life all for us. PAID IN FULL means the entire payment had been made.
We can share in Jesus’s mountain top experience, the fulfillment of His earthly mission by accepting His sacrifice as a propitiation for our sins, otherwise we will not be able to be in the presence of Holy God nor receive the gift of the Holy Spirit which begins to transform our hearts and lives here and now.
Don’t be satisfied with offering the Lord sour wine when He came to offer us the best wine (John 2) and fullness of life.
Jesus, the Son of God, defeated death in His Resurrection and we now have the ultimate high priest:
23 The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, 24 but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. 25 Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.
26 For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.27 He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself. 28 For the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever. – Hebrews 7:23-28
For a detailed explanation of who Jesus Christ is from the Bible’s perspective go to the video in this website , “Who is Jesus Christ?”
For a review of the Ten Commandments: https://www.challenyee.com/the-ten-commandments/
CKY
typos and all, I do not use AI
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