6th Trinity I, Seeds of New Life

February Trinity I

(5^th Sunday before Easter)

Karl Heinrich Bloch

Matthew 17:1-9 

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 as 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."

 6^th Trinity I

March 13, 2022

Matthew 17:1-13 

Dandelions rise in leaves and blossom in the warmth of the sun.
The blossoms form seed globes, a miniature cosmos. The wind disperses the seeds so that they fall to the earth in a different place; so that the cycle of their living growth and development on earth can continue and spread in a new season. 

In the scene of the Transfiguration, Christ blossoms before the eyes of His three disciples. They begin to understand the cosmic, divine nature of Jesus, the Christ. They perceive how He converses with the two great luminaries of the Hebrew cosmos, Moses, the giver of the law, and Elijah, the prophet who gives voice to the divine. 

Peter responds in the traditional way of his forefathers by offering to build external shrines for these spiritual beings. But the voice of the Father intervenes—‘This is my Son; listen to Him; take his words into your heart.’ (Matthew 17:5) And the three disciples fall to the ground. 

Christ came to establish a new relationship between the beings of the spiritual world and human beings on earth. It is to be a relationship of conscious understanding, of conversation, rather than an adherence to the law and traditional procedure. So Jesus helps them up and continues to enlighten their understanding. 

He says to them that the being of Elijah, whom they had just seen conversing with Him, had indeed already returned to earth to prepare for the coming of the Messiah. He had been John the Baptist, who by then had already been put to death. And Christ predicts that He Himself soon would be. With John the Baptist, the
process of seeding this new relationship between heaven and earth began; human beings dwelling in the cosmos return again to earth. 

Christ in us creates in us a cosmic blossom; out of our lives, seeds fall to the earth to live and grow and blossom again. Thus do our human spirits blossom in God’s warmth and light; seeds of a new life are carried by the spirit-wind, to return again to the earth in a new place and time, to live and grow further in the light of God.

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3rd February Trinity 2016, Coming to Light

February Trinity

(5th Sunday before Easter)

Matthew 17: 1-13

Transfiguration, by Theophanes the Greek, Wiki Commons

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.

February Trinity

(5th Sunday before Easter)

Matthew 17: 1-13

Here in the west one can look out over the ocean from the mountains. Later in the day one can gaze out upon a sea of light so white, so piercingly bright that one wonders how one can look at it at all. The living waters shine like the sun.

In our lives, too, there are events and moments that are piercing; they may be moments of happiness or of pain; but they remain in our memories forever. In Jesus’ life this is one of those moments. On the mountaintop, Christ, the great being of the Sun, descends so far into him that his living body becomes ‘shining bright as the light.’

With him are two witness in the spirit, Moses and Elijah. They are conversing with him about his coming death. And the three earthly witnesses, Peter, James and John, perceive this living, light-filled, light-emanating body in awe. And further the Light is deepened into the voice of Love; they hear the voice of the loving Father of All. He claims Christ Jesus as His son, the revelation of the Father’s own being. The Father’s Love reveals itself in the living light form of a divine human being. Christ, ‘the son born in eternity’, reveals the Father’s light and love on earth. The poet says:

Transfiguration, Lewis Bowman

…we hear the great seas traveling

underground,

giving themselves up

with tongue of water

that sing the earth open.

They have journeyed through the graveyards

of our loved ones,

turning in their grave

to carry the stories of life to air.

….

We have stories

as old as the great seas

breaking through the chest,

flying out the mouth,

…

all the oceans we contain

coming to light. *

* Linda Hogan, “To Light”, in Seeing Through the Sun

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4th February Trinity 2015, Dawn Coming

4^th or 5^th February Trinity

Tissot, Brooklyn Museum

(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

March 1, 2015

Matthew 17: 1-13

This gospel reading shows us the moment when the spirit of Christ, the glorious radiance of God’s love, fully penetrates the body and soul of Jesus. He shines like the sun. He has reached the stage of enlightenment.

Had he been a Buddha, this moment of fulfilled enlightenment would have meant that he no longer had any need to remain in the body. He could have ascended to heaven. Instead, he chooses the path of descent. He steps back onto the earth. He touches his disciples. He comes down from the mountain with them and consciously walks his way toward his coming torture, his sacrificial death, his descent into hell. He does so with confidence and trust. For the setting of his sun would be followed by another greater sunrise.

Christ Jesus is the archetype of our being fully human. We can pattern our responses after him. After every high point, we can consciously bring ourselves back to earth. We can accept our sufferings with willingness. We can face our own demise with confidence. For as the poet Tagore said, 

Death is not the extinguishing of the light, but the putting out of the lamp, because Dawn has come.

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