Listen to Him

The more I sat with the readings for this Last Sunday after the Epiphany, the more I kept thinking that the operative phrase spoken from the cloud on that mountain top was "Listen to him!" I mean, if those who claim to be Christians would just listen to what Jesus says and then do those things, we'd be a lot better off.

But instead, we have the likes of Attorney General Pam Bondi, who had the gall to sport a gold cross on her necklace as she sat before the House Judiciary Committee, and rather answer questions, berated the Democratic members as they asked her simple and legitimate questions regarding the lack of information coming out of her department about the child sex trafficking ring once run by the late Jeffrey Epstein. Worse, when asked to turn around and apologize to the survivors of Epstein's sick and criminal activities, Bondi refused. Her callousness and coarseness make a mockery of that cross she wore around her neck and what it stands for.

Clearly, Pammy Jo doesn't listen to Jesus. She listens to only one person: the president who appears in the Epstein files over a million times from some accounts. 

Shame. 

Text: Matthew 17:1-9

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I want to start with us taking a moment…each one of us…to do a thought exercise.

You can close your eyes if you wish or just soften your gaze.

Try to remember a time when something happened that made you stop in your tracks.

An event or an occurrence that left you transfixed by the wonder or the awe of the thing.

Do you remember the sounds in the air?

Any colors that you associate with that moment?

The sense of time and space: were you standing or sitting or lying down?

Are there certain aromas or other smells that you associate with whatever this moment is?

These sorts of sensory details live on in our memories long after a major event.

Often…we associate them with tragedies.

Whenever we come up to the anniversary of some catastrophe…there are always retrospective reports and people asking each other on social media,

“Do you remember where you were when “x” thing happened?”

And usually…people share in vivid detail.

There was no Facebook or X or Instagram on the day Jesus led his friends Peter, James and John up that mountain.

But as we heard in the account in Second Peter…the vision of seeing Jesus almost exploding with light…flanked by Moses and Elijah…the cloud descending around them and that voice booming, “This is my Son, the beloved, with him I am well pleased: listen to him!”…that all left a pretty significant impression on those witnesses.

In this moment…God is pulling back the veil and showing these three disciples that Jesus is not merely the Son of Mary.

He is God’s Beloved Son…the one sent to bring salvation to all the world...

Listen to him.

The lead up to this moment of the transfiguration is important.

 In the chapter before this morning’s reading…Jesus had quizzed the disciples about his identity.

“Who do the people say that the Son of Man is?”

And they give him lots of answers.

“Well, let’s see…Elijah, Jeremiah, John the Baptist…”

“Yeah, OK, but who do YOU say that I am?”

And…that’s when Peter pipes up with saying Jesus is the Messiah.

But when Jesus tells them what being the Messiah means…that he will suffer and die in Jerusalem and then rise on the third day….Peter doesn’t like that idea and tries to tell Jesus to come up with a different ending.

And Jesus tells Peter, “Get behind me Satan.”

He also reminds all the disciples that to follow him…to be on Team Jesus…means to experience suffering.

It will mean sacrifice.

But he assures them that there is more to gain in losing their life….that false sense of security… for the sake of following him …because there is a better more abundant life if they live into his Love-ethic of compassion…mercy…and justice.

That brings us to today’s reading when they ascend the mountain…and have this mountain top moment with Jesus…and that voice:

Listen to him!

Listen to what he has told you:

“Those who want to save their life will lose it…and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.”

We may not be standing on a mountain top in the territory of the Golan Heights.

But on this Last Sunday After the Epiphany… I want to suggest that we are in the same spot as Peter…James…and John.

We have had five weeks to hear…read…mark…learn…and inwardly digest the words of Jesus.

We have had time to consider the call that God is making on our lives…to align our day to day living in such a way that others can see something in us that makes them think, “I want to know that person. There’s something about them that says, ‘I am kind. I am trustworthy. I will see you.”

We’ve been reminded that it’s the people…the ones who don’t have all the power…or the answers to the biggest questions…who are blessed…who are the salt…and the light.

It’s the ordinary ones who have within in them what is needed to make things right in the world…and to do the work of repairing the breaches in society.

These five weeks have been building to this moment where we are now…the moment of this foreshadowing of the risen Christ…a brilliant light shining into the darkness of a world marked by violence and corruption.

We are summoned here to this instance…to fix the eyes of our hearts on this transfigured Jesus.

We’ve been brought here to prepare ourselves for the next step.

Because as wonderful as it might be to hang out on a figurative mountain top…basking in the light and delighting in the awe of it all…the truth is this is just a moment. 

There is still work to be done in the valley.

And indeed…the next scene in the Gospel that follows Jesus’ transfiguration is a father asking Jesus to heal his possessed child because Jesus’s disciples couldn’t do it.

Seems that once they are back in the valley…away from the mountain top…. they become people of “little faith.”

We…too…face similar challenges when we leave this place each Sunday.

While we’re here…gathered together…we’re fed both with the Word and with the bread and wine…the body and blood of Jesus…at this table.

We may leave here with the last hymn still playing in our heads.

And then we face the circumstances of the world around us…the needs of our families…friends…and communities.

And our “little faith” gets put to the test repeatedly.

We pull back from others.

We stay silent when our voice is needed.

And instead of listening to Jesus…we listen to that nagging critic that tells us the lie that we don’t matter…we can’t change systems.

We forget that Jesus talks about having the faith the size of a mustard seed…and that we still can accomplish amazing things.

“Listen to him.”

Jesus keeps reminding us that we can’t avoid the difficulties of the world.

But…placing our faith in God…we have all that we need to make things better.

And we are to not hold back…but to give and share our Love…a love that comes from a God who loved us first.

That powerful light of God that was glowing through Jesus is the beacon for us…that lights the torch we are to carry into those times and places when things are look their bleakest.

Listen to him…and remember his words…and take this light out to others.

It’s the light to enlighten all nations…all peoples…and it will not be extinguished by any darkness.

In the name of the One Holy and Undivided Trinity.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"God's Dream for Us" Feast of the Transfiguration

 

It's not every day that a major feast of the church falls on a Wednesday. But when it does...I figure: hey, let's have church tonight. 

Being bivocational and very part-time in this vocation limits my ability to do a lot of the "things" they told us we'd be doing when we were in seminary. But I do love sharing the faith, and especially the key elements of the Christ story. And so if the holiday happens to be at the time I would normally be in Valdosta....bring a potluck dish for afterward and let's gather! 

Luke 9: 28-36

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Our Gospel presents the human Jesus at a critical moment.

He’s steeped in prayer.

Suddenly he becomes bright and glowing.

This light is enough to catch the attention of his sleepy-eyed friends.

And what they saw were the two giants of Judaism…Moses and Elijah…on either side of Jesus speaking to him.

Moses…the one who brought the Torah to his people…and Elijah…the prophet who lived and breathed and demonstrated Torah in action.

The symbol of the Law and the Prophets.

We don’t know what these two were saying to Jesus.

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 the prophetic words of Isaiah in the temple.

It’s possible he was seeking a clearer sense of what his purpose was on earth.

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.

Maybe Elijah was there to give him the reassurance that he must make the trip to Jerusalem…even though it was not going to go well.

Elijah knew what it meant to be rejected!

Sometimes…we get so caught up in emphasizing Jesus as part of the Godhead that we forget he was not 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 of course…this moment on the mountain top…doesn’t happen in a vacuum.

In the ten verses before our Gospel…Jesus is again praying…alone. He then goes to his disciples and asks,

“Who do the crowds say that I am?” (Lk. 9:18c).

Like you and me…Jesus knows fear.

He’s undergone testing in the wilderness and understands that he’s on a mission.

He also knows that this calling is leading him into the mouth of a roaring lion called the Roman Empire.

And he knows that he’s going to pay a price for that.

Do the people get it? Do they know?

His followers give him various answers to this question—“Oh, some think you’re John the Baptist, others say your Elijah, maybe one of the other prophets”

Everyone with their ear to the ground is playing a guessing game about him.

But Peter is the one who blurts out “You’re the Messiah of God!”

You—Jesus—you’re the one who is going to take the fight to the Roman Empire and save the Jewish people from this oppressive regime.

This is what Jesus has in his head and what’s weighing on his heart as he takes Peter along with James and John to the mountain top about a week after this conversation.

And he prays.

And God comes to him…with Moses and Elijah…to illuminate his mind…and to command to his friends:

“This one…this Jesus before you…he is my Chosen One. Listen to him”

There’s quiet. And as the cloud lifts 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’ve been following is embodying something more than just rabbinic wisdom. This is God’s son.

Not only have they seen Jesus changed. They’ve been changed because they have been witnesses to this change.

This is a lot to process.

Life is different now for all of them.

For Jesus…this mountain top moment is the final sharpening and shaping of who he is and what he must do.

Because… fifteen verses later in this chapter of Luke…we will hear that “the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.” (Luke 9:51)

I think this feeling of groundbreaking…and life-changing shifts in the world…is something we all can relate to.

Those of us who have lived for any significant amount of time have seen lots of world-changing events.

We’ve likely felt those moments where we bear witness to something and know that this is so big…nothing will be the same.

I like history.

In my home office…I have calendar that focuses on big moments from our past.

And on this particular day…as we are celebrating the Feast of the Transfiguration…we are also marking sixty years since the signing of the Voting Rights Act.

Talk about a moment of illuminating the conscience of the nation.

Despite amendments made to the Constitution at the end of the Civil War granting black men the right to vote…several Southern states found ways to disenfranchise blacks.

They’d make up all kinds of trials and tests.

Hopeful black registrants would be asked to recite the U.S. Constitution.

Clerks of Court would require them to guess the number of jellybeans in a jar.

What finally moved President Johnson to act on behalf of black voting rights were the images of peaceful protestors marching from Selma to Montgomery in March 19-65.

When white police attacked the black marchers with clubs and dogs on the Edmund Pettus Bridge…that was enough.

About a week after the incident…Johnson spoke before a joint session of Congress and demanded they pass voting rights legislation…and within four months…both chambers overwhelmingly adopted the Voting Rights Act.

The legislation banned the use of literacy tests….provided for federal oversight of voter registration in areas where less than 50 percent of the non-white population had registered to vote… and authorized the U.S. attorney general to investigate the use of poll taxes in state and local elections.

While it didn’t solve all the problems of racism in America…it was a momentous occasion that shined a new light on the abuses occurring…and brought more people into participating in democracy.

And it worked.

In Mississippi…in 19-64…blacks made up six percent of the voting population.

Five years later…by 19-69…it was 59-percent.

The tragic violence of the March to Selma caused a new light to shine in the country that moved us forward.

A light that should and must be passed on from one generation to the next…shared from parent to child…so that all will be lit up with that sense of self-worth…knowing that they have a stake in the larger world.

That is the struggle we’re in now…to keep the light of love…life…and liberty shining.

That is the dream of God…that we learn to live in Love with one another and all of God’s creation….granting everyone respect and dignity.

Because Love is the source of life and liberty.

May we continue to work toward transforming this world from God’s nightmare into God’s dream.

In the name of our One Holy and Undivided Trinity.

 

Transfiguration: Let the Light Shine

There's been a lot of heaviness in the news lately. The prior occupant of the White House has been indicted now for a third time, this one dealing with the very serious crime of attempting to thwart the peaceful transfer of power. 

There's been the overthrow of the democratically elected government in Niger. 

The war in Ukraine continues. 

The climate is no longer experiencing "global warming but global boiling" according to a United Nations report. 

And, closer to home, I'm sensing an uptick in the "othering" of the LGBTQ+ community...again. 

I guess I needed some good news, and words to encourage me. I hope I did that for others with this message. 

Text: Luke 9: 28-36; 2 Peter 1: 13-21

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Sometimes…the church calendar…the lectionary… and our lived experiences as creatures walking on the face of the earth all seem to come together in a wonderful and fortuitous way.

For Episcopal Church nerds like me… this is one of those cool times when one of the feast days actually lands on a Sunday… and mixes things up in our lectionary readings.

No Jacob.

No Paul.

No parables about what the kingdom of heaven is like.

Nope. We’re not even in Matthew’s Gospel.

Instead, it’s Luke…and the drama that took place on a mountain top…with Moses and Elijah flanking Jesus and talking to him.

With all the things happening in the world and with school having started or about to start for so many…it seems like perfect time to interrupt our normally scheduled readings and join with the three disciples inside the cloud on the mountain top.

Because this mountain top moment is a beginning.

It’s the beginning of Jesus’ mission to confront the corrupt and the self-centered powers of his day in Jerusalem… as he takes a stand for God’s love, justice, and mercy.

As I was looking at this Gospel lesson… I thought about Peter.

For me, Peter often stands in as the near-perfect archetype of any of us who believe and want to follow Jesus.

Immediately before the reading we just heard this morning, a couple of things have happened.

Jesus has asked, “Who do you say that I am?” and Peter has piped up with “You’re the Messiah.”

Jesus then tells them what happens to the Messiah in Jerusalem.

Basically, nothing good is going to happen.

To be the Messiah means to be rejected.

There will be a sham trial followed by a brutal execution.

And then resurrection.

Jesus goes on to say that this is the way things are for anyone who wants to be his disciple.

Take up your cross and follow me.

Follow me into hardship.

Follow me into suffering.

Follow me into those places you do not want to go.

Follow me into deliverance.

In other Gospels… we hear that Peter doesn’t like all this talk.

 He tries to get Jesus to take it back, but that’s not what happens in Luke’s telling of the story.

We don’t know how Luke’s Peter responds.

But we do know that he goes up with Jesus and James and John to the mountain to pray.

“Praying” is that opening for all kinds of revelatory things to happen.

And what could be a bigger thing for Peter and James and John than to suddenly see Jesus transformed into the biggest…brightest…most shiny object in the world?

Well… maybe something bigger is to see bright shiny Jesus AND the two major pillars of Judaism Moses and Elijah standing next to him and speaking with him.

For Peter…this is clearly such an amazing and unbelievable moment.   

It’s so huge that Peter wants to capture it…hang on to it… and never let it go.

“Let’s build booths…just like at the Jewish Festival of Sukkot! We’ll all stay up here and eat meals and hang out together!”

And then…the cloud descends and envelops all of them on that mountain top…and the voice booms out of the cloud…”This is my Son, the Chosen, listen to him!”

If seeing shiny Jesus with Moses and Elijah wasn’t big enough… having the presence of God…the cloud… and the voice come at them like a Dolby-surround sound system… must have been beyond comprehension.

And perhaps that’s why when it was all over and they only saw Jesus…they went silent.

How could they possibly describe what they saw, what they experienced?

Sometimes when we experience something so incredible…words fail to fully convey what happened, don’t they?.

 It’s like we’re reduced to a stumbling and bumbling, “you have to see this to believe it!”

But having seen it… having been in the presence of whatever it was that knocked our socks off… we are changed.

The changes might not bear fruit right away… but they will show up.

In the case of Peter… this mountain top moment planted a seed.

We hear in his second letter…which scholars believe were words a student of Peter’s gathered together from things that he had said while in Rome before his death… that this moment wasn’t some cooked up fantasy.

He remembered it.

But even Peter… the one who so boldly stated to Jesus… “You’re the Messiah”… didn’t fully grasp the depth of the meaning of what that meant.

Even having heard the voice in the cloud…seen the figures of Moses and Elijah at Jesus glimmering sides…didn’t quite make sense for Peter.

Peter would still have to undergo the grief and suffering of turning his back on Jesus at the time of the crucifixion.

 He still needed to go through the emotional upheaval at the word that Jesus had been raised from the dead.

Then… after going through those rings of fire… Peter began to understand the meaning of a Messiah who is the Chosen One.

We hear in the Book of Acts that Peter grew even more bold and daring once the Holy Spirit blew open the minds and opened the mouths of all those people locked away in the upper room.

The change that happened on that mountain top came alive in Peter.

That seed that had been planted in him began to bloom.

The light to which he and the others had been a witness to… burned brightly in his heart…as Peter took his place as a leader of this movement toward more love…more justice… and compassion for all people…Jew and Gentile alike.

Having been enlightened by being a witness to the presence of Jesus… Peter… and even James and John… had what they needed to be a light to others at time and a place in their history when things were looking pretty bleak and dark.

In so many ways… that is what the role is for all of us in the church.

We come here week after week… we get fed through the words of Scriptures… through prayer and music… bread and wine… and even in the fellowship of the coffee hour.

All of it in the hopes that we will take what we have received here…let it light a fire in us… and let it shine through us when we encounter a world that too often looks for ways to snuff out that light through both active negativity and passive uncaring.

Brother James Koester of St. John the Evangelist in Cambridge Massachusetts shared a reflection about letting our enlightened hearts shine in the world around us.

Brother James said, “ I wonder how differently we would live if we were conscious that the glory of God not merely shines upon us, but like an electric flash pulsates from within us, filling the world with the grandeur of God. For Jesus, and for us, ‘now’ is the time to shine with the grandeur and the glory of God.”

As we enter into a new school year… and as we go forth from here back to our homes and our jobs…may we carry the light that is within us and be a lamp to those looking for some kindness in their lives.

In the name of God… F/S/HS.

 

 

 

In and Out of the Clouds: A Sermon for the Last Sunday after the Epiphany

 

I have never been to the Holy Land. And, knowing my congregation, I could hazard a guess that most of them have never been to the Holy Land either. 

A number of my friends from seminary have gone. They've posted photos and commented on the amazing experiences that they've had. 

And I admit: I'm jealous. 

So as I went through the readings for the Last Sunday After the Epiphany, the Sunday where we always have the story of Jesus' transfiguation on the mountain, I had to spend some time trying to imagine what that must have been like to witness this? What must it have been like to be "in a cloud." 

That's how I arrived at a ride in an airplane. See if this works for you.

Texts: Ex.24:12-18; Ps. 2; 2Peter 1:16-21; Matt 17:1-9

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I want to start this morning by giving us an image.

Close your eyes if you want to for this.

I’m pretty sure we’ve all flown in an airplane.

We know that experience of the plane taxiing and taking off and climbing up into the sky… bumping along as it makes it way through the clouds and finally reaching that “cruising altitude.”

On a clear day… we can look down and see the geometric patterns of cities and country sides… homes and buildings dotting the landscape.

On cloudy days…we see only…the clouds.

The pilot has taken us up above these inducers of turbulence…and now we are in this realm of brightness…as the previously hidden sun shines its light above the clouds.

We travel along…maybe reading…or sleeping… or playing a game or music through earbuds.

And eventually we come down again…through the clouds…bumping and jostling the plane… until we touch down on ground again.

In a different place… ready for whatever is our next adventure.

I want us to hang on to that idea and experience of what it is to go up into the clouds… and then come back down.

I’m guessing that this is a modern-day equivalent to what it must have been like for those who were climbing the mountains in ancient Palestine.

In our reading from Exodus… we hear about Moses and Joshua going up the mountain and Moses entering into the cloud.

There in the clouds is a devouring fire.

Devouring fire might make us think of the destructive wildfires happening out west in places such as California.

Or perhaps this fire is the sun….shining brightly above the clouds.

What we know is that Moses is invited into this space… and the experience of this transcendence brings him out as a changed man.

In our Gospel… it’s Jesus, Peter, James, and John going up the high mountain…encountering Moses and Elijah and Jesus starts shining like the sun.

Again… a cloud enshrouds them and we hear the voice:

“This is my Son, the Beloved, with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!”

Climbing mountains.

Fire and bright light.

Clouds.

All of these are the imagery and metaphor for being swept up into the presence and power of an encounter with the Holy One.

These revelations… like when a plane is moving through the bumpiness of the clouds and into that smooth glide above them… these “mountain top moments”…represent times of revelation and change…taking us from where we were to where we are going.

Moses and Jesus both are transfigured in their appearance.

It wasn’t in our reading this morning…but part of the story of Moses is that every time he has one of these mountain-top encounters… his face shines so brightly that he has to cover it with a veil so as not to scare people.

Jesus also undergoes a change…standing there with Moses and Elijah…the symbols of the Law and the Prophets.

What is revealed is that Jesus is one with the Law and the Prophets.

This is the future that had been promised to God’s people.

The interesting part of both of these stories is that these moments are not done in isolation… away from others.

There are witnesses.

Joshua… was there with Moses.

Peter, James, and John saw what happened with Jesus.

These transcendent moments are not just for the individual; they are communal…and shared.

What must have it been like to witness such a sight?

We get an idea of it from our Epistle lesson out the Second Letter of Peter.

Now… I hate to burst anyone’s bubble… but biblical scholarship throughout the centuries has been able to determine that this Second Letter wasn’t written by the apostle Peter himself… but rather a teacher from the “School of Peter.”

The second century was a time where varying schools of philosophy were belittling the early Christian communities… and encouraging an ethic of “Live like there’s no tomorrow!”… a direct contrast to the Christian hope…and living for a better tomorrow.

Nonetheless… its purpose then and now… is to give guidance and assurance to Christians in the face of those who say, “Where is your God?”

 

So…that’s where this Second Letter of Peter is coming from.

The writer defends the idea that the words we have in Scripture are words passed down to us from our ancestors who had these mountain top moments.

 Having borne witness to this event has both tested and sustained them in ways that something of human origin simply could not.

For Peter, James, and John… it was hearing of that prophetic pronouncement from the cloud:

“This is my Son, my Beloved, with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!’

Such a powerful and prophetic pronouncement… spoken in this high place in the cloud… obviously left an impression on Peter.

And yet… coming from the mountain… we also know that he still lost his way.

He would still deny knowing Jesus when the chips were down.

He would still cry and regret that he let his fears overcome him and make him deny his teacher and friend.

And Jesus would still forgive him… and predict that he would have to grow up into a man who could stand in the face of oppressive systems and speak truth to power.

Because that’s what it means to be the Rock of the Church.

So while this letter may not have been written by the apostle himself… it still contains a line that stands out as an important message for the Christians of then and now:

“You will do well to be attentive to this lamp shining in a dark place until the day dawns and the Morning Star rises in your hearts.”  

This lamp… these words of declaring the beloved of God… these words which serve to fortify us in our faith…is what we can carry with us into those dark places that we encounter in our lives.

It is through our attentiveness in those moments where we come in contact with the Holy… that we receive what we need to let God shine through us to others.

At the same time… Peter is a great role model to remind us that we are not sinless.

We will mess up.

And when we do… there is grace.

There is forgiveness.

There is always the opportunity to make things better.

We have an aid… the Scriptures… which tell our story.

We can turn to those words… those stories… as a reminder that we are never doing this life alone.

We can see how others have encountered hardships and faced systems designed to frustrate and instill fear… and yet we are reminded to listen to Jesus and hear what he said to his disciples on that mountain:

“Do not be afraid.”  

God was with them then… and will be there for us, too.

All of this seems like such a fitting climax to this time we’ve been in after the  Epiphany…a period of teaching and learning what it means to be his disciple.

Like a plane coming in for a landing… we are moving from this season and this dazzling moment with Jesus on the mountain top… back down through the clouds to the ground into season of Lent…where there is still much work to be done on ourselves and in the community around us.   

May we take what we’ve gleaned in Epiphany into the next phase of the journey.…knowing that we have the stories of our ancestors to help give us the strength to meet the challenges of our times.

Do not be afraid.

In the name of God…F/S/HS.

 

Mountains and Messages: A Sermon for the Last Sunday After the Epiphany

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.