It isn't easy to talk about the transfiguring power of Love when the world is embroiled in war with Russia's invasion of Ukraine. And we are reminded of the messed-up situations of extrajudicial police killings, and then state governors and legislatures add more toxicity to the public sphere with anti-queer rhetoric. Jesus keeps telling us to "love." The world keeps rebelling against that message. And I find that I need to keep going back to the well of prayer to prevent from falling into a funk. Love will win, Love will win, Love will win....
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We’ve been on quite a journey. For these past
almost two months, we’ve been catching these snippets of stories, snapshots of
Jesus as he instructs on loving each other…even when we may not really like
each other…a particularly difficult lesson for the times in which we’re living.
It’s hard to feel love as we witness war. And yet, that is the thing we are
commanded to do.
Throughout this season, Jesus has been expanding
the circle of whom we are to love. He tells the Jews that the Gentiles did a better
job of upholding the basic tenets of bringing good news to the poor, sight to
the blind, release to the captives, and freedom to the oppressed. That message didn’t
go over well with his kinfolk…and he moved on from his hometown.
He makes Peter go fishing again after the poor
guy had been out in his boat all night without having caught anything…and Peter
suddenly hauls in more fish than he can safely bring aboard. Jesus assures him
that this is just the beginning of a new venture, and that Peter will be “fishing
for people” in the future. More people; different people; not the same people
he’s been around his whole life. The circle needs to get wider, more diverse. That’s
what Love does; it brings people in and doesn’t leave people out…including the
person we call “enemy.” And as I said last week…that last bit about loving the
one who we view as a threat to us is the most difficult part of living into our
calling as followers of Jesus.
And speaking of following Jesus…we have Peter,
John and James again…our fishing buddies…this time up on a mountain with Jesus.
Mountain tops…as we see in the Exodus reading…are these thin places where a
person comes in contact with God. For Moses…this encounter with God…where he
received the ten commandments to give to the Israelites…causes his skin to glow
so brightly that he must put on a veil.
In the case of Jesus…however…there’s more going
on than his face glowing…or his clothes dazzling white. We hear that Moses and
Elijah…the representations of the Law and the Prophets…flank Jesus and are talking
to him. And then we’re told that they were “speaking of his departure which he
was about to accomplish at Jerusalem” (Luke 9:31).
I hadn’t really paid much attention to this
verse before, but this is the start of the inevitable trek that Jesus will now
undertake. Here we have Moses…the one who brought the written Torah to the Jews
and Elijah…the prophet who represents the Torah in action. We don’t know what
these two were saying to Jesus, but we can imagine what might have been going
on as these three became glowing in ways that only seem to happen when it’s a
Godly encounter.
Perhaps this appearance was the answer to Jesus’
prayer up there on the mountain. Maybe Jesus was seeking the strength to carry
on in the mission that had been laid upon him when he came out of Jordan at his
baptism or when he read from Isaiah in the temple. Moses would know and
understand the struggle to lead people and guide them to stick close to God
when there were so many temptations not to do so. And I can believe Elijah was
there to give him the reassurance that he must make the trip to Jerusalem…even
though it is not going to go well. Elijah knew what it meant to be rejected! I
think we spend a lot of time in Christianity emphasizing Jesus’ personhood as
God that we forget that the church also asserts that he was not just play
acting at being human; he was human. And his humanness shows up at different
times in the biblical stories. I think this is one of those times where the
human Jesus…after so much teaching and healing…needed a little help from his
friends.
And in the course of praying to God the Father…God
the Son is answered with illumination…insight…and the blessed assurance that he
is doing exactly as he was sent to do. Important as Jesus prepares for his
departure.
The Greek word Luke uses is actually “exodus”
as in the same “exodus” that took the Israelites out of Egypt and into the
wilderness. Jesus is heading toward Jerusalem. This may feel a bit like wandering
out into the wilderness for him. And his exodus will be his death, resurrection,
and ascension.
I’m also curious about how much of this is
really a change in Jesus…or is it more of a further revelation to Peter, John,
and James? We read that they’ve been weighed down with sleep…I guess praying wore
them out. But they see the glory that is before them…these three glowing
figures. And Peter…being that beloved extrovert…whatever is inside his head
comes out of his mouth…immediately thinks “let’s build booths.” He’s thinking
of the Jewish festival of Sukkot, a time where Jews build booths to commemorate
those many days of being in the wilderness. He wants to hang out with Moses and
Elijah and Jesus. And wouldn’t that be a great place to hang? And then the
cloud descends and envelopes all of them. And just as we heard a voice at Jesus’
baptism…the voice calls out:
“This is my Son, my Chosen. Listen to him!”
There is quiet. Perhaps at most there is the wind
swirling around on the mountain top. And to the astonishment of Peter and the
others…the only one before them…the chosen one…is Jesus.
They’ve now witnessed something breathtaking.
The scales have fallen from their eyes and they’ve seen that this teacher who
they have chosen to follow is embodying something more than just rabbinic
wisdom. And something in them…having seen this…has changed. It’s so big that
they not only don’t tell anyone…they probably can’t tell anyone because it is
just so much to process.
As I said…mountain tops are thin places where
we meet God in glorious and unexpected ways. They are literal experiences on
mountains… and they are figurative happenings in our everyday lives. You don’t
have to climb Mount Everest to have a mountain moment with God.
These blessed encounters give us hope, resolve,
and the fortitude to follow Jesus. And like Peter, James and John, much as we
might want to build a booth and just hang out with the Holy One up there on the
mountain…we aren’t allowed to do that. We inevitably must come back down into
the valley…because that is where God needs us to be to do the work of sharing
our hope, our resolve with others. There are still so many valleys…some of
which just seem to be sinking lower…as we might have felt in this past week. Through
bringing our experience of meeting Jesus on the mountain we can shine for others
still seeking to find meaning in everyday living.
My hope is that this season of Epiphany has revealed
enough of Jesus…and his counter-cultural ways of Love…that we are inspired to
be that love and light to all around us. The world needs that from us now more than
ever.
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