We love Jesus’ miracles. They wow and inspire us. They do everything a mountaintop experience should do – awaken something within us, provide a sense of the extraordinary, and motivate us.
The downside is that we often think of the miracles as the end, the result, the goal. Jesus’ physical miracles are only the beginning. Just like every mountaintop experience, they are gifts meant to transform us. They are invitations to change, opportunities to prepare for the majority of life (the plains) and the most difficult phases of life (the valleys).
The physical miracles are an invitation. They call us to the table and provide a mysteriously beautiful taste of what the feast is all about. But it is not enough to take our invitation, to treasure it, to frame it and tell people about it. The invitation quickly becomes meaningless if we do not take advantage of the offer.
Jesus is offering relationship. He is offering to share a meal together. A feast! The mountain tops are just to get our attention, to hint at what might be possible if we commit to belief.
Sometimes you can hear Jesus’ frustration in the midst of His miracles. In Mark 9, he is prepping for a miracle but is frustrated with the lack of belief.
The mountaintops are not the end. They are not the destination, or the goal. They are terrain for the journey, meant to equip us, to inspire us, to invite us. The real heart of the journey is a meal at the table. The truest miracle is the possibility of intimacy with the Lord, the opportunity to participate in His Kingdom.