On the Mountain

Why climb a mountain? “Because it’s there,” George Mallory famously said, before perishing in an attempt to scale Mount Everest.

God is an event planner; every detail matters, and the location is most crucial of all. On the mountain, God demanded the sacrifice of Isaac. On the mountain, he restored Isaac to his father. On the mountain, Jesus was transfigured, revealed in all his mystifying glory as the beloved Son of God, the sacrifice which would finally balance the scale.

These things happened on a mountain because they could only happen on a mountain. The mountain is where the reckoning happens. It is where God takes, where He gives back, where He hands down.

In Lent, we encounter the mountain. We are removed from the distractions of ordinary life and placed outside the confines of our everyday habits. We find silence and mystery, pain and truth. We struggle and we become tired, and there is always a moment when we wonder if, perhaps, it would have been easier not to climb. There is always a moment when others look at us and think: “Why climb a mountain?”

I confess, I am not much of an outdoorswoman. Hiking, in my family, is any walking you do on a trail that is not paved, so I am far from qualified to comment on whether or not the view from the summit was worth George Mallory’s life. But I do know a thing or two about struggling through a difficult experience. I know the strange peace that exists in the moment after it’s all over and you catch your breath and realize you are a better, stronger, wiser person for the pain.

The mountain is there. Let’s climb it.

“God put Abraham to the test. He called to him, ‘Abraham!’ ‘Here I am!’ he replied.” — Genesis 22:1

©LPi