Looking Back at the Mount

Looking Back at the Mount

(II Pet 1:16-18; Matt. 17:1-9)

 

Stunned we stood upon the Mount,

As echoes of Heaven's Voice

Resounded in our ears.

This Man Who shared the stage

With God's great voices of the past

Was not merely one of three,

As it appeared to me,

But One Alone, the Father's Son,

More than Law and Prophets both.

How little I understood

The words that God had made me say

When the Master asked us who we thought He was;

For before my words were cold,

I rebuked Him

For walking toward the cross

That was His goal

As sole, obedient Son—

The only One Who could embrace

Such pain for all of us.

Only later did I know

What had to be endured

Before the Glory of the Mount

Could be told to all the world.

Who would have believed

That Heaven's Glory could stoop so low,

Or love so much?

 

                                                                  Elton D. Higgs

                                                                  Sept. 14, 2002

Photo: "CHURCH OF TRANSFIGURATION - MOSAIC" by IsraelTourism. CC License. 

Elton Higgs

Dr. Elton Higgs was a faculty member in the English department of the University of Michigan-Dearborn from 1965-2001. Having retired from UM-D as Prof. of English in 2001, he now lives with his wife and adult daughter in Jackson, MI.. He has published scholarly articles on Chaucer, Langland, the Pearl Poet, Shakespeare, and Milton. His self-published Collected Poems is online at Lulu.com. He also published a couple dozen short articles in religious journals. (Ed.: Dr. Higgs was the most important mentor during undergrad for the creator of this website, and his influence was inestimable; it's thrilling to welcome this dear friend onboard.)