4th February Trinity 2013, Rising and Setting

4^th or 5^th February Trinity

(5^th Sunday before Easter)

Matthew 17: 1-13

After six days, Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John the brother of James and led them together up a high mountain apart from the others.

There his appearance was transformed before them. His face shone bright as the sun, and his garments became white, shining bright as the light. And behold, there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, conversing in the spirit with Jesus.

And Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be in this place. If you wish, I will build here three shelters, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.”

While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them and suddenly they heard a voice from the cloud that said, “This is my son, whom I love. In him, I am revealed. Hear him.”

When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces to the ground in awe and terror.

And Jesus approached them, and touching them said, “Rise, and do not fear.”

And raising their eyes, they saw no one except Jesus.

As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus instructed them: “Tell no one what you have seen until the Son of Man has risen from the dead.”

And the disciples asked him, “What is meant when the scribes say, ‘First Elijah must come again’?” He answered, “Elijah comes indeed, and prepares everything [restores all things]. But I say to you, Elijah has already come, and the people did not recognize him, but rather have done to him whatever they pleased. In the same way the Son of Man will suffer much at their hands.”

Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them about John the Baptist.

 4^th February Trinity

February 24, 2013

Matthew 17: 1-13

The rising and falling of the sun creates for us a sense of time, our day and night, season after season. At its highest it is too bright to look at. Only when it is near the horizon can our eyes bear to look at it directly.

Our lives too have their seasons, their rising and setting. In the midst of our lives it is often not possible to see what shines within them. But near their setting, it is easier to view.

Fra Angelico

Jesus bore the Christ-Sun within him. In today’s reading, the sun of Christ’s earthly human life is approaching its setting.

The three disciples with Him are granted a glimpse into the Sun-brightness of His being. He stands in conversation with Moses, the past giver of the Law, and Elijah, prophet of the future. He stands in the middle as the ever-present Now, for he has gathered into himself all of time. His earthly life is setting; and yet the Christ Sun will rise again. He is both Alpha and Omega, beginning and goal.

Our lives in Christ, the Christ-Sun in us, is the eternally present Now. He allows us to see the meaning of our lives in clarity, especially in its setting. Christ in us allows us to hope for another rising when this life reaches its close.

For as Angelus Silesius[1] said, we are to become radiant suns:

My spirit once in God will eternal bliss become

Just as the sun’s own ray is sun within the sun.

www.thechristiancommunity.org

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[1] Silesius, Cherubinic Wanderer