Prayer
O god, whose Son, your Beloved, was transfigured in dazzling light, with reverent awe we enter your holy presence. Your presence cannot be contained in tents our hands have made but must be sought in your creatures and all that your hands have fashioned. Lead us from the high mountain to seek you in the lowly of the earth, serving them, after Christ’s example, in peace and sacrificial love. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever. Amen.
From Prayers for Sunday and Seasons, Year C, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992.
Some Thoughts on Luke 9:28-36(37-43)
"God promises us that through Scripture we will meet God, and our identities as individuals and a community of faith will be formed and transformed."
"Transforming Transfiguation," Alyce McKenzie, Edgy Exegesis, 2013.
"The Transfiguration is an apt Preface to Lent and Jesus' journey to Jerusalem, because what lies ahead is both a confrontation between the non-violent justice of the Kingdom of God and the violent injustice of the Roman Empire; as well as the non-violent way of the Beloved versus the hoped-for victory by the Messiah."
Holy Textures, Understanding the Bible in its own time and in ours, Luke 9:28-36, (37-43), David Ewart, 2013.
Oremus Online NRSV Gospel Text
We conclude Epiphany with the Transfiguration and from time to time the Feast of the Transfiguration falls on a Sunday. As Luke Timothy Johnson calls the passage “Recognizing Jesus,” we are not surprised that this season of revelation and light ends on the mountaintop.
If you are interested in how the other texts tell the story of the transfiguration, you can find the parallels for today’s Gospel reading here:
One of the things I want to draw our attention to as we begin to survey this Gospel reading is that the lectionary has divided it in an odd place. I very much like the division of the passage as 9:18-36. Here we have a complicated disagreement between the New Testament scholar and the Liturgist. Overlooking that, we see plainly as we open up our Bibles that Luke intends to begin the account by transitioning from the miracle of loaves and fishes to a private time of prayer between teacher and disciples.
In the previous passage, the miracle of multiplication and abundance concludes as we see the ochlos (mentioned above as "the crowd") transformed in the new nation of God’s people – the
As before, we see the revelation, and then a response of discipleship offered. So we come to verse 28 and the test. Just how are our disciples doing? We might remember Simon’s response last week of humble repentance. What happens this Sunday? Are we there yet?
We begin with these words, “as he was praying.” Many scholars focus in on the changes that Luke makes to the end-time predictions of Mark and the imagery of Christ’s second coming, and the number of days from the revelation of Jesus as Messiah (Mark’s 6 to Luke’s 8).
What strikes me and seems so very profound is that the transfiguration occurs in the midst of prayer. Specifically, while Jesus is praying, the transfiguration takes place. We have not ventured too far from Jesus’ baptism so we can remember that the moment of recognition of Jesus as God’s beloved came during prayer as well. Again here we see the reality that the Holy Spirit comes in prayer; it comes when we present ourselves to God. It comes in words, and it comes in silence.
Jesus is praying. As he prays, his appearance is altered and his clothes become dazzlingly white. Two men were seen speaking to him: Moses and Elijah. They, too, are witnessed to be in glory. And they were talking about the death and resurrection and events about to take place in
I believe the importance of this moment is highlighted by the very particular words used by Luke to describe the transfiguration. The word for departure is a direct translation of exodus. Jesus is God’s glory; he is the Messiah to lead the new nation out of bondage. Jesus is like Moses and Elijah; he is a great prophet. But he is also God’s Glory, the revelation of the Godhead. Jesus is also the one through whom all nations shall become inheritors of Abraham’s covenant.
The disciples are asleep and miss most of the action. Perhaps in their confusion, perhaps in that same way they did not want to go into the deep water, here they offer to build tents. This of course, is a tie to the feast of Booths. However, we are told that Peter doesn't really know what he is saying. We have the answer to the question in Stephen’s witness (Acts 7:48-50), “The Most High does not dwell in houses made with hands.” So, quite frankly, this is a silly idea.
Furthermore, Peter is wrong. By offering three tents, he misses the point. He has placed Jesus merely on a parallel prophetic course as Moses and Elijah. Clearly, more is desired by God. (Luke, Luke Timothy Johnson, 156).
So often, our excuses and our ideas about why the reign of God must follow our desires are just silly. They are foolish. I imagine, like Peter, it is hard to see. I know for me it is difficult to see just how foolish they really are until I have some distance and can look back and see exactly what Jesus was doing.
God then proclaims that this is indeed his Glory, the one who has been selected, the one who is his beloved, and God instructs those who witness this event to do as Jesus asks.
Imagine in this moment the fear of witnessing such an event. Certainly, the disciples are afraid as they are engulfed in this cloud and bear witness to a truly divine interaction. Their response is silence, silent contemplation.
Luke gives us a very clear sense of the essential ingredient in ministry and how so very much hinges upon prayer: prayer before the action of following Jesus; prayer before the coming of the Holy Spirit; prayer in which God will speak; prayer that is revelatory; prayer that knocks you to your knees; prayer that gives you ministry; prayer is where you will hear the voice of God speaking and calling to you.
This makes me wonder. When people come to our churches, do they experience the transfiguration? We have certainly built booths. And we work hard to keep God imprisoned there. We try not to live into Jesus’ teaching much more than those of Moses or Elijah. We aren't that different from Peter. Such a message is important to contemplate on the eve of Lent.
What would it be like if when people left our worship services, they felt as though they had been a part of witnessing the transfiguration? What would it be like, Sunday after Sunday, if they left worship forever changed? They left in quiet contemplation, waiting to hear where Jesus was calling them to serve. They left the mountaintop to experience Jesus in the world?
I am not advocating a worship that is either charismatic, renewal oriented, modern, post-modern, or traditional. To believe there is only one style of worship that is missional or where God can be experienced is to participate in booth building. But when we celebrate, do we believe what we are saying? Are we in the moment praying or simply saying the words? How do we prepare ourselves to lead this kind of worship? How do we prepare our laity to be leaders in this same way? How do we get out of the way and truly become vessels of the Most High God so that those who seek him find him and don’t discover a tired worn-out congregation?
As a leader of worship I wonder am I in tune with the sacred things being undertaken in this moment; or is this just another Sunday to get through so I can go on to the next thing?
Some Thoughts on I Peter 1:17-23
"Old habits die hard, especially when they have had a lifetime to reach their roots deep into the human psyche."
Commentary, 1 Peter 1:17-23, (Easter3A), Daniel G. Deffenbaugh, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2011."The good news of God's announcement of grace could be matched with several aspects of the human condition. To give just one example we can mention our mortality."
Commentary, 1 Peter 1:17-23, Richard Jensen, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2008.
In Peter's letter, we see an emerging concern over what happens when Jesus returns. I will always remember how my NT professor drilled it into our heads that the first followers of Jesus thought that we would return soon and very soon - as the hymn goes. Peter says to be ready. God is returning. Do good works. Peter says, in Texas speak, "Look y'all Jesus is coming back, he has purchased your freedom with his blood, so get busy doing his work."
Christians receive grace, mercy, forgiveness, and love from God in Christ Jesus and then we are asked...so what is your response? Peter's invitation is that our response should be to live a life worthy of the cross. Live a life that grows life and hope and meaning and love in the world.
This is going to separate you from the world. You will make different choices than the rest of the world; and, that is okay. God keeps his promise, the one set from the foundation of the world, to give his love. Your work is to recognize this gift and to approach the world with the gift of love and peace in mind.
This is very important - approach the world as forgiven people who did not deserve to be forgiven Peter might say. So meet all those around you with love and forgiveness as well even though they are not deserving. God came low to be with us and we should do the same.
Peter then offers the notion that this notion of forgiveness and love is rooted in baptism. Baptism is a new birth reorienting our life. Peter writes:
Peter then offers the notion that this notion of forgiveness and love is rooted in baptism. Baptism is a new birth reorienting our life. Peter writes:
Now that you have purified your souls by your obedience to the truth so that you have genuine mutual love, love one another deeply from the heart. You have been born anew, not of perishable but of imperishable seed, through the living and enduring word of God.
Some Thoughts on Exodus 34:29-35
"Today's Gospel reading dramatizes the ultimate instance of divine-human mediation, as Jesus radiated divine presence while praying, and then as he engaged with the two preeminent Old Testament agents of divine mediation at the Mount of Transfiguration."
Commentary, Exodus 34:29-35, William Yarchin, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2016.
"How would our ministry change if we removed the veil between ourselves and God?"
"A Veiled Question," Ruth Everhart, The Hardest Question, 2013.
"A Veiled Question," Ruth Everhart, The Hardest Question, 2013.
"The Lukan reading picks up the story of the transfiguration story of Jesus and as Moses was the mediator in the past, it is now Jesus who brings the revelation of God. Both Moses and Elijah are present and speak with him as his face becomes radiant from being in the presence of God."
Exodus 34:29-35, Commentary, Background, Insights from Literary Structure, Theological Message, Ways to Present the Text. Anna Grant-Henderson, Uniting Church in Australia.
Exodus 34:29-35, Commentary, Background, Insights from Literary Structure, Theological Message, Ways to Present the Text. Anna Grant-Henderson, Uniting Church in Australia.
"Our lives are full with commitments and activities and pleasurable leisure opportunities. This passage reminds us, however, that life's real thrills for which our souls truly long have their one true source in the spiritual sun of God's glory."
Last Sunday of Epiphany, Year C: Exodus 34:29-35, Biblische Ausbildung, Dr. Stephen L. Cook, Virginia Theological Seminary.
We have already had the episode of the Golden calf and the people's fear that Moses would not return. Moses after having dealt with their fear and anxiety returned to the mountain. He returns and his face shines because of having stood and taken in God's glory. (An interesting side note from my art history days...the translation for the word "shine" can also mean horns. This why is some depictions of Moses we see him with horns.
What happens in the transfiguration of Moses' face and the conversation between God, Moses and the people is this - God comes close. God is present and close to God's people. There is an intimacy, a relationship, a connection between God and God's people. It is not a relationship that is built upon the freedom from slavery or the people's faithfulness. It is one of actual distance. God has come close.
This idea of closeness plays with the ideas around the transfiguration...in other words...God is not ever been far away. God has always been close. From walking among his creation with his creatures, to traveling with Abraham, to this moment in the reading... and on through the story until we get the transfiguration of Jesus...God's nature is not merely transcendence (though it is that as well). God's nature is also nearness with people and creation.
God is present at the heart of creation. We see that part of what happens in the transfiguration story is not merely a seeing that the past comes forward in Moses and Elijah to bless Jesus in some form or fashion. But that the disciples are actually recognizing in Jesus, at the transfiguring moment, that he is connected with the God who has been close to God's people all along. Jesus, in the transfiguration does not merely shine like Moses. These are not literary motifs. No. Instead what we see here is that the first followers of Jesus along with the gospel authors, see that Jesus himself is the God who has been close to his people, and walked in the garden, this whole time. It is a revelation not of a new something but that Jesus, in his perfect image of the incarnation, is the same as the one God the people knew all along.
Last Sunday of Epiphany, Year C: Exodus 34:29-35, Biblische Ausbildung, Dr. Stephen L. Cook, Virginia Theological Seminary.
We have already had the episode of the Golden calf and the people's fear that Moses would not return. Moses after having dealt with their fear and anxiety returned to the mountain. He returns and his face shines because of having stood and taken in God's glory. (An interesting side note from my art history days...the translation for the word "shine" can also mean horns. This why is some depictions of Moses we see him with horns.
What happens in the transfiguration of Moses' face and the conversation between God, Moses and the people is this - God comes close. God is present and close to God's people. There is an intimacy, a relationship, a connection between God and God's people. It is not a relationship that is built upon the freedom from slavery or the people's faithfulness. It is one of actual distance. God has come close.
This idea of closeness plays with the ideas around the transfiguration...in other words...God is not ever been far away. God has always been close. From walking among his creation with his creatures, to traveling with Abraham, to this moment in the reading... and on through the story until we get the transfiguration of Jesus...God's nature is not merely transcendence (though it is that as well). God's nature is also nearness with people and creation.
God is present at the heart of creation. We see that part of what happens in the transfiguration story is not merely a seeing that the past comes forward in Moses and Elijah to bless Jesus in some form or fashion. But that the disciples are actually recognizing in Jesus, at the transfiguring moment, that he is connected with the God who has been close to God's people all along. Jesus, in the transfiguration does not merely shine like Moses. These are not literary motifs. No. Instead what we see here is that the first followers of Jesus along with the gospel authors, see that Jesus himself is the God who has been close to his people, and walked in the garden, this whole time. It is a revelation not of a new something but that Jesus, in his perfect image of the incarnation, is the same as the one God the people knew all along.
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