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