RonBlog

Sunday 19th February, 2012 Last Sunday after Epiphany
Transfiguration

Sentence
It is God Who said ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ Who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 2 Cor. 4:6

Collect
Almighty God, You have given Your only Son to be for us both a sacrifice for sin and also an example of godly life; give us grace that we may always thankfully receive the benefits of His sacrifice and also daily endeavour to follow the blessed steps of His most holy life, through the same Jesus Christ our Lord, Who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God now and for ever. Amen

Old Testament Lesson 2 Kings 2: 1 – 12

Now when the LORD was about to take Elijah up to heaven by a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal. Elijah said to Elisha, "Stay here; for the LORD has sent me as far as Bethel." But Elisha said, "As the LORD lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you." So they went down to Bethel. The company of prophets who were in Bethel came out to Elisha, and said to him, "Do you know that today the LORD will take your master away from you?" And he said, "Yes, I know; keep silent."
Elijah said to him, "Elisha, stay here; for the LORD has sent me to Jericho." But he said, "As the LORD lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you." So they came to Jericho. The company of prophets who were at Jericho drew near to Elisha, and said to him, "Do you know that today the LORD will take your master away from you?" And he answered, "Yes, I know; be silent."
Then Elijah said to him, "Stay here; for the LORD has sent me to the Jordan." But he said, "As the LORD lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you." So the two of them went on. Fifty men of the company of prophets also went, and stood at some distance from them, as they both were standing by the Jordan. Then Elijah took his mantle and rolled it up, and struck the water; the water was parted to the one side and to the other, until the two of them crossed on dry ground.
When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, "Tell me what I may do for you, before I am taken from you." Elisha said, "Please let me inherit a double share of your spirit." He responded, "You have asked a hard thing; yet, if you see me as I am being taken from you, it will be granted you; if not, it will not." As they continued walking and talking, a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them, and Elijah ascended in a whirlwind into heaven. Elisha kept watching and crying out, "Father, father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!" But when he could no longer see him, he grasped his own clothes and tore them in two pieces.

Psalm 50: 1 – 6

The Lord our God, the Mighty One has spoken: and summoned the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting in the west
From Zion, perfect in beauty: God has shone out in glory
Our God is coming, He will not keep silent: before Him is devouring fire, and tempest whirl about Him
He calls to the heavens above: and so to the earth, so that He may judge His people.
‘Gather to Me My faithful ones: those who by sacrifice made a covenant with Me
The heavens shall proclaim His righteousness: for God Himself is judge

Epistle 2 Corinthians 4: 3 – 12

If our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For we do not proclaim ourselves; we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus' sake. For it is the God who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our bodies. For while we live, we are always being given up to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus may be made visible in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you.




Gospel Mark 9: 2 – 9

Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them. And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus. Then Peter said to Jesus, "Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah." He did not know what to say, for they were terrified.
Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, "This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!" Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one with them any more, but only Jesus. As they were coming down the mountain, he ordered them to tell no one about what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead.

© New Revised Standard Version of the Bible
Copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the
Churches of Christ in the USA, and used by permission. All rights reserved

NOTES ON THE READINGS
Old Testament Lesson
I would have mentioned before that the phrase about ‘handing on the mantle’ – passing on the responsibility and privilege – comes from this old story from Kings. It is an interesting tale, marked heavily by the views and perceptions of the time, but showing just as clearly the sense of calling (and of need) of Elisha. It is no easy position to stand in the shoes of a predecessor especially when that person is of great significance. So the successor followed wherever was necessary, and pleaded for the capacity to fulfil the responsibility for which he had been chosen. There is a great doggedness in Elisha, And thank heaven for that!

Psalm
I wonder how many readers will catch sight of the irony in this psalm. God will come with fire and whirlwind, it says – and Elisha’s predecessor found out exactly the opposite. Remember that retreat of Elijah from Carmel to Horeb? In other words, one needs to read Scripture with one’s antenna very much raised, ready to learn from (have one’s perceptions transfigured by the experience of those ancient worthies.)

Epistle
Mention was made in last week’s notes about people who became quite myopic about the Faith and their response to it. The Apostle was quite aware of that shortcoming in people, and points to its source. For heaven’s sake do not imagine that when Paul refers to the god of this world blinding people that he was talking about ‘Satan’ unless you understand who ‘Satan’ is Biblically speaking. Here is no force outside of you over which you have no control. He is referring to all the temptations to avoid real issues, in life as much as in faith. No one ‘tempts’ a person except themself unless perhaps such a person is exceptionally weak indeed.

GOSPEL
The real point of transfiguration (metamorphosis if you like) is not to assure Jesus that He was heading in the right direction! It was in fact something Jesus needed to do to get that silly trio off their mental backsides, and to understand what was happening around them. Here was a real kick in the duds for them, so to speak. A short time before this, Jesus asked the disciples what they had heard people saying about Him. That was no ego-trip on the part of the Lord, but a gentler kick to get the Twelve to face harsh reality.
Transfiguration is the dawning awareness of what was right in front of you which you missed seeing because you were not thinking about what was going on. It is a flash of light, a blast of sound, a sudden shock that brings you back to earth. Read on and see that this was what happened – precisely – to the disciples. No ivory tower existence was available for followers of Jesus!

NOTES FOR A SERMON

The more I encounter the debate about the truth or otherwise of the Christian Faith, the more I wonder about the need for transfiguration amongst those who turn their backs on the Biblical Faith – or any other, come to that. Part of my unease lies in the level of debate carried out by such folk, mostly setting up a caricature of the Faith and then demolishing their own folly; the other part of unease lies in the apparent inability or unwillingness to see what the Faith is really about.
Recently (New Year, 2011) I have been re-reading Manning Clark’s A Shorter History of Australia which was written in 1963 and revised several times in the next 20 years. The author shows his clear background as the son of an Anglican clergyman in his constant quotes from the Book of Common Prayer, whilst despising the very faith in which he was brought up. One is left suspecting that his critique of what he calls ‘Protestantism’ comes somewhat under the same category of partial understanding opposed by larger discarding of the Faith. Now any person is free to accept or reject the Faith, but surely it needs to be on solid bases. What is rather more interesting to me is to learn that, in the period before his death, Manning Clark embraced the very Faith he had long despised. And one can be certain that this change stemmed not from any fear of ‘eternal punishment,’ but rather of from the recognition that rather more truth was involved than he had perceived before.
Lest you consider me to be wandering from the Gospel reading, may I ask you to see that what the story of the Transfiguration underlines in the progress and process of faith development on the part of Peter, James and John. I am rude enough to draw people’s attention to the increasing impatience on the part of our Lord at the very slow progress exhibitted by the Twelve. They seemed quite content to go along for the ride as Jesus exercised His ministry, content too, to bask in the reflected warmth of being associated with this great yet humble man. Those disciples – certainly! – were products of their own day and time, with all the sense and all the misunderstandings of their time. Expecting a Messiah to solve all their problems, as was the case with most of Israel of the time, no doubt the Twelve operated under the delusion that all they had to do was to sit and watch and wait for what denouement was going to arise. The Messianic hope stemmed from the time of King David, 1000 years before, with the expectation of some sort of military-style victory, overcoming enemies and establishing Israel as – well I guess some sort of Super Power.
This is an expectation of God remarkably constant throughout history: it was reflected in the sad and terribly destructive business of the First World War. So many people lost faith in the God they expected, if He existed at all, to step in and stop the destruction. When the Almighty did not, the only response considered by most was that either God was not Almighty, or that He was not God at all and that we are all alone.

Please step back to the time of the Gospel for today: a week before Jesus had begun the process of urging the Twelve to see past their noses; ‘who do people say that I am?’ Here was no egotistical exercise on the part of Jesus, but an attempt to get that rabble of Twelve to stop and think. What is really going on? Who is this Jesus and what is He really on about? While Peter began to see just a little of the answer, he was left with a very long way to go. What was needed, as it is for most of us, is something that set the grey cells pondering, in order to see past the familiar to something rather more profound. Peter’s confession that he saw Jesus as ‘Son of God’ may have been a first step – but what does that mean? Sadly, much of what we Christians say and think tends to be done in some sort of vacuum, of spirituality perhaps, that bears little or no connection with anything real in life. Transfiguration needs to happen here, too.
An illustration if I may dare: many moons ago now, in the parish where we then lived, we ran a Bible Study group on Wednesdays on one of the local farms. We happened to be studying John’s Revelation at the time, and that invoked the interest of several local Lutheran folk, two men and a lady. Revelation is not the easiest book to understand, but stunning when the real issues are uncovered. Nothing ‘end of the world’ is there, in spite of most people’s expectations, but very much a more immediate life issue. As we read, discussed and talked about the passages, I would ask people what they understood the passage to be expressing. Eager responses from the Lutheran folk were rather limited to what I rudely call ‘holy talk’ or some sort of retranslation into Christian jargon that really meant very little indeed even to those who used the argot. ‘What does that mean?’ I would ask them again and again, only to be offered a sort of replacement ‘holy comment.’ Even when I asked those folk how they would express it if they were in the front bar of the local pub, they could tender no variation. My point was that if the Faith cannot stand up to ordinary local people, it can stand up for no one. That was somewhat of a shock to the Study Group, although it was not long before they got the clear and present point.
What does ‘Son of God’ mean? The Transfiguration was a steep learning curve for the selected three of the Twelve. It is not possible to describe the actual, literal situation they confronted: what the whole point was that this Jesus of theirs was far more than met the eye. It must have been somewhat of a huge shock to be confronted with this Person, their mentor, as not just equal to but superior to the Sacred Law and Prophets of the Old Testament Faith. That explosion must have resonated for a very long time in the minds of Peter, James and John. Also it must have taken quite some time to resolve, for it must have stretched their perceptions of the Faith, let alone Jesus, mightily far beyond where they had reached heretofore.
Transfiguration, you see, was not something to reassure Jesus! It was very much a matter of something blowing up in the minds of the disciples. It – as usual with such experiences – espying something remarkable, explosive, expansive in what had appeared to be quite normal natural and expected. And whilst Peter, at least, had decided that such an elevated experience was something to hang on to, our Lord made it perfectly and powerfully clear, that such exalted experience was of no use to anyone unless it could be employed in the real world for the betterment of ordinary people in ordinary life. It is no mistake that the episode of the Transfiguration was followed by the dealing with a faith and medical tragedy at the foot of the mountain.
One of the greatest follies of the Faith over the centuries, seems to me, has been the demand to accept and adhere to doctrines, tenets and isms that have been regarded as sacrosanct; the reality has been that such an approach has done nothing other than remove people from any possibility of growth, exploration and discovery. It has held the Christian Church in such a thrall that it took 18 centuries before slavery was perceived to be evil, and another 150 years to embrace the equality of the sexes. There should never be any constraint against questioning, exploration and discovery in any aspect of life, and the Faith must be included in that freedom.