Last Epiphany B
February 11, 2018
1 Kg 19:9-18 Psalm 50:1-6
2 Corinthians 4:3-6 Mark 9:2-9
1 Kg 19:9-18 Psalm 50:1-6
2 Corinthians 4:3-6 Mark 9:2-9
Have you ever been witness to the moment when a butterfly breaks out of the cocoon and struggles to unfurl its wing? Perhaps you've seen it on a video, but there is nothing like witnessing it in person. There are unique occasions in life that we feel lucky to witness in person.
The event of the Transfiguration was a unique manifestation of Jesus Christ. Jesus went up a mountain with Peter, James and John, the three hot heads of the 12. Peter was known for his cursing and swearing and James and John were given the nickname of "Sons of Thunder." They were the lucky attendees with Jesus for this visionary event.
In the clouds on the mountain, the face of Jesus began to shine. Apparitions of Moses and Elijah appeared to talk with Jesus. This was presented as proof that Jesus was a valid successor of the traditions which derived from the Law and Prophets of the Hebrew Scriptures. The shiny face of Jesus mimics in comparison, the shiny face of Moses when he met with God on Mount Sinai. Elijah, even more dramatically went into heaven on a chariot and horses of fire.
What is the meaning of this event of the transfiguration of Jesus Christ? In the life of the early church it had several meanings.
First, as the Jesus Movement was separating from the synagogue, because of the gradual transition to Gentile Christianity, did this mean that Christians would lose their valid connection with the Hebrew Scripture tradition? The Transfiguration story embodies a statement by the early church. If Moses and Elijah appeared to take counsel with Jesus Christ, then this meant that the chief spokespersons for the Law and the Prophets were conferring on Christ the designation as the valid successor of the Hebraic/Judaic traditions. The clouds and the light indicate that Jesus was in the same company of Moses and Elijah who had their own fire and light shows on mountains. The Transfiguration experience is also a tie-in with the King David of the Psalms, who is a proto-type for the messiah to come. In a Royal Psalm, the king is poetically designated as the Divinely conceived son of God. "The Lord said to my lord, today have I begotten you." What did the voice of God the Father say on the Mount of Transfiguration? "This is my Son, the beloved. Listen to him."
One of the main purposes of this story is to establish the continuity of Jesus and the Jesus Movement with the tradition of the Hebrew Scriptures. Jewish members of the Jesus Movement were disappointed that many who remained in the synagogue tradition did not accept the messianic tradition of Jesus Christ. The New Testament are writings to claim that the Hebrew Scriptures are Christian heirlooms which belong with our family. This disagreement with the synagogue over the heirloom of Hebrew Scripture defines the situation for the birth of the Christian tradition.
The event of the Transfiguration represents the transference of a metaphor from the written word of God to God in the person of Jesus Christ.
The Torah, the written word of God was called the light. "Thy word is a lamp for my people and a light unto my path." What do the New Testament writers call Jesus Christ. They call him the Word of God from the beginning. They call Jesus the Light of the World. The word of God, the Torah of God as lamp and light is transferred onto the person of Jesus Christ. And this is made a very physical thing in the visionary event of the Transfiguration. The face of Jesus becomes the filament and is literally lit up for those who beheld the face of Jesus. Why is Jesus the Light of the World? Well, some had the vision on the Mount of Transfiguration they were able to see this metaphor become an actual reality in the face of Jesus Christ.
Thirdly, the transfiguration put into story form the spiritual methodology of St. Paul and the early Church. The spirituality of the early church is in part, a theology of time. The theology of time is that we and everything in freedom is always being changed. The transfiguration is not just a belief about time as being perpetual change; it involves a belief that we can experience time and change as being guided in a positive, hopeful direction.
The process of change in nature is organic and cyclical. In nature we designated organic and cyclical change of time as metamorphosis. The word transfiguration in the Greek is the word from which we get the English word metamorphosis. St. Paul and others confessed that we are being changed into the likeness of Christ. The Gospel was the light of the glory of Christ and the light of Christ has shone in our hearts to give us the knowledge of the glory in the face of Christ. St. Paul and the Gospel writers wrote that if we are inevitably subject to the changes of time, let us appropriate a positive direction for change and time. The light of Christ is the positive energy of time which impels the direction of change. The spiritual end is to become more like Christ.
You and I as persons and as community are in perpetual metamorphosis. And like Peter on the Mount of Transfiguration, we have our favorite phases. So much so we want to make a tent in time as a way of stopping the clock within a spiritual high. But life is not like that; just as the egg, larva, cocoon and butterfly are all true phases of the cycle of life for the butterfly. But why is the butterfly the ending phase if all phases have equality of occurrence?
Can we see our lives as persons and as parish community in perpetual process of metamorphosis? I invite us to do so and how can we do this? How can we be content with all phases of metamorphosis? The egg is equal to the butterfly, just different.
The phases of the life of Jesus were different: baby, young lad, obscure and unknown/unrecorded for almost thirty years, preacher, healer, solitude man of prayer, tempted, accused, transfigured, mocked, praised as king, confessed as messiah, called mad, demonic and a drunkard, betrayed, denied, crucified, a dead body, buried, resurrected, ascended, glorified. Jesus was equal but different in all of the phases in life. We, too, will know equal but different phases of how Christ is with us in our spiritual metamorphosis. We may prefer transfiguration and resurrection, but the whole set of metamorphosis all come together as a package.
Let us accept all of the phases of metamorphosis in our personal and parish life today. There are many phases in our parish life that are shiny and transfigured today. And yet some of our parish seems in the dormant cocoon phase of seeming lack of life, energy and ministry.
Faith is learning how to live with contentment given all of the phases of metamorphosis that are evident in our parish and personal lives.
How can we have this faith? Let us believe that the Light of Christ is the very energy that drive both change and the direction of change. Let us not grow weary in believing the positive direction of metamorphosis for our personal lives and our parish lives. And let us all be ready to be inspired to be the go-to person for the passing into a transfigured and climactic phase for the good of the parish. Your gift, your offering, your ministry may be the way in which we break out of a dormant cocoon and help us to unfurl our butterfly wings for something new and transfigured.
The Gospel today is that the freedom of time and change means that we are already committed to metamorphosis. But the Light of Christ is the promise to us that time and change can be known to be propelled toward positive outcomes even as we also have the grace of contentment in the times when success does not seem as evident or as apparent as we want.
Because of freedom, time and change, we have no choice about metamorphosis happening. But we have the choice to walk with Christ and to climb the mountain and to witness his light as driving the future positive outcomes that await us. Can we believe this today? Then welcome to the transfiguration of Christ. Amen.
What is the meaning of this event of the transfiguration of Jesus Christ? In the life of the early church it had several meanings.
First, as the Jesus Movement was separating from the synagogue, because of the gradual transition to Gentile Christianity, did this mean that Christians would lose their valid connection with the Hebrew Scripture tradition? The Transfiguration story embodies a statement by the early church. If Moses and Elijah appeared to take counsel with Jesus Christ, then this meant that the chief spokespersons for the Law and the Prophets were conferring on Christ the designation as the valid successor of the Hebraic/Judaic traditions. The clouds and the light indicate that Jesus was in the same company of Moses and Elijah who had their own fire and light shows on mountains. The Transfiguration experience is also a tie-in with the King David of the Psalms, who is a proto-type for the messiah to come. In a Royal Psalm, the king is poetically designated as the Divinely conceived son of God. "The Lord said to my lord, today have I begotten you." What did the voice of God the Father say on the Mount of Transfiguration? "This is my Son, the beloved. Listen to him."
One of the main purposes of this story is to establish the continuity of Jesus and the Jesus Movement with the tradition of the Hebrew Scriptures. Jewish members of the Jesus Movement were disappointed that many who remained in the synagogue tradition did not accept the messianic tradition of Jesus Christ. The New Testament are writings to claim that the Hebrew Scriptures are Christian heirlooms which belong with our family. This disagreement with the synagogue over the heirloom of Hebrew Scripture defines the situation for the birth of the Christian tradition.
The event of the Transfiguration represents the transference of a metaphor from the written word of God to God in the person of Jesus Christ.
The Torah, the written word of God was called the light. "Thy word is a lamp for my people and a light unto my path." What do the New Testament writers call Jesus Christ. They call him the Word of God from the beginning. They call Jesus the Light of the World. The word of God, the Torah of God as lamp and light is transferred onto the person of Jesus Christ. And this is made a very physical thing in the visionary event of the Transfiguration. The face of Jesus becomes the filament and is literally lit up for those who beheld the face of Jesus. Why is Jesus the Light of the World? Well, some had the vision on the Mount of Transfiguration they were able to see this metaphor become an actual reality in the face of Jesus Christ.
Thirdly, the transfiguration put into story form the spiritual methodology of St. Paul and the early Church. The spirituality of the early church is in part, a theology of time. The theology of time is that we and everything in freedom is always being changed. The transfiguration is not just a belief about time as being perpetual change; it involves a belief that we can experience time and change as being guided in a positive, hopeful direction.
The process of change in nature is organic and cyclical. In nature we designated organic and cyclical change of time as metamorphosis. The word transfiguration in the Greek is the word from which we get the English word metamorphosis. St. Paul and others confessed that we are being changed into the likeness of Christ. The Gospel was the light of the glory of Christ and the light of Christ has shone in our hearts to give us the knowledge of the glory in the face of Christ. St. Paul and the Gospel writers wrote that if we are inevitably subject to the changes of time, let us appropriate a positive direction for change and time. The light of Christ is the positive energy of time which impels the direction of change. The spiritual end is to become more like Christ.
You and I as persons and as community are in perpetual metamorphosis. And like Peter on the Mount of Transfiguration, we have our favorite phases. So much so we want to make a tent in time as a way of stopping the clock within a spiritual high. But life is not like that; just as the egg, larva, cocoon and butterfly are all true phases of the cycle of life for the butterfly. But why is the butterfly the ending phase if all phases have equality of occurrence?
Can we see our lives as persons and as parish community in perpetual process of metamorphosis? I invite us to do so and how can we do this? How can we be content with all phases of metamorphosis? The egg is equal to the butterfly, just different.
The phases of the life of Jesus were different: baby, young lad, obscure and unknown/unrecorded for almost thirty years, preacher, healer, solitude man of prayer, tempted, accused, transfigured, mocked, praised as king, confessed as messiah, called mad, demonic and a drunkard, betrayed, denied, crucified, a dead body, buried, resurrected, ascended, glorified. Jesus was equal but different in all of the phases in life. We, too, will know equal but different phases of how Christ is with us in our spiritual metamorphosis. We may prefer transfiguration and resurrection, but the whole set of metamorphosis all come together as a package.
Let us accept all of the phases of metamorphosis in our personal and parish life today. There are many phases in our parish life that are shiny and transfigured today. And yet some of our parish seems in the dormant cocoon phase of seeming lack of life, energy and ministry.
Faith is learning how to live with contentment given all of the phases of metamorphosis that are evident in our parish and personal lives.
How can we have this faith? Let us believe that the Light of Christ is the very energy that drive both change and the direction of change. Let us not grow weary in believing the positive direction of metamorphosis for our personal lives and our parish lives. And let us all be ready to be inspired to be the go-to person for the passing into a transfigured and climactic phase for the good of the parish. Your gift, your offering, your ministry may be the way in which we break out of a dormant cocoon and help us to unfurl our butterfly wings for something new and transfigured.
The Gospel today is that the freedom of time and change means that we are already committed to metamorphosis. But the Light of Christ is the promise to us that time and change can be known to be propelled toward positive outcomes even as we also have the grace of contentment in the times when success does not seem as evident or as apparent as we want.
Because of freedom, time and change, we have no choice about metamorphosis happening. But we have the choice to walk with Christ and to climb the mountain and to witness his light as driving the future positive outcomes that await us. Can we believe this today? Then welcome to the transfiguration of Christ. Amen.
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