Sunday, March 16, 2014

6th February Trinity 2014, Have No Fear


4th or 5th February Trinity
Transfiguration, Fra Angelico
(5th 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.”
Lewis Bowman
Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them about John the Baptist.

 6th February Trinity
March 16, 2014
Matthew 17: 1-13
Sunrise approaches in stages. First the lightening of the black sky; then the world resolves into color; and finally the sun itself appears over the horizon, shining white, calling to life all things in the world. Musicians have often tried to express the experience of the sunrise in sounds of rising tones.
In today’s reading, the three apostles behold a mighty stage in Christ’s penetration of the body of Jesus. They see His living body take on the characteristics of the sun—a white radiance of pure living forces. And then they hear--first of all the voice of the Father of All Being. He proclaims that Christ Jesus is His Son, the out-flowing of His own Being’s love. And the Father directs their hearing, their attentive listening, to Christ. And what does Christ say to them, to us? What do we hear from Him? He speaks in the voice of an angel: Rise, and fear not.
Photo Mike Fisk
Thus is implanted the beginnings of a new sunrise in the bodies of human beings: Rise and fear not.  In the words of the poet:
The red dawn now is rearranging the earth
 ….
Child stirring in the web of your mother
Do not be afraid
Old man turning to walk through the door






[1] Joy Harjo, “MORNING SONG”

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