5th February Trinity 2007, Do Not be Afraid

4^th or 5^th February Trinity

Transfiguration, Lewis Bowman

(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.

5^th February Trinity

March 4, 2007

Matthew 17: 1-13

In Southern California at this time of year, the pruned rosebushes are woody and full of thorns. They are just beginning to leaf out. But we could not claim to know this plant by only seeing what we see now. We will only know it fully when we have seen the blossoms and the fruit. The glory of the blossom and the concentration of the fruit, unfolding in a process over time, reveals the rosebush in its full nature.

In today’s Gospel reading we see Christ Jesus’s transfiguration. He becomes like a great radiant human blossom, shining in the light and love of his Father. He is blossoming as a human form suffused with heavenly light. This suffusion of the human with heavenly light is the completion of one of the goals of our true human nature. He shines before us as our future. The intensity of this is terrifying to those who see Him.

We are all in awe and terror of our future. Yet just as it flashes up in our awareness, overpowering us, Christ touches us and says: do not be afraid; for I am with you always.

Because He himself has already gone through them, he can walk us through our most terrifying changes. He shines before us as the light on our way, the illumination of our process. He assures us that He holds the full truth of our being for us. He assures us that even in apparent death, He is leading us into His Father’s cycles of life. For His eternal life in us keeps our lives eternally. 

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