Gospel text for Sunday 6 August 2017

Luke 9.28-36        Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep; but since they had stayed awake, they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. Just as they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah” —not knowing what he said. While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were terrified as they entered the cloud. Then from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!” When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and in those days told no one any of the things they had seen.

Reflection      For many years  I read  Luke’s gospel text with my eyes glued to Jesus and his glowing religious experience. The image of Jesus’ changed face and dazzling clothes blinded me to Peter, James and John’s phenomenal mountain top experience. I was swept away by Jesus’ special status, the chosen one with access to the wisdom of the prophets and divine favor.  Like Peter, I wanted to build a church around Jesus, proclaim a glow in the dark theology and make Jesus separate, sovereign and detached. I struggled to capture him with words and creeds, doctrine and denominational politics. But the cloud of unknowing finally descended and opened my eyes to recognize Peter, James and John’s indubitable religious experience and finally to hear the voice from the cloud… “Listen to him.”

Listening to Jesus is not easy. So rather than listening to him, many of us find it far less challenging to argue about him. “How did his face actually change? If there was a video camera on top of the mountain would we see Jesus talking with Moses and Elijah? Does this glowing moment mean Jesus is more than merely human? What is the true nature of Jesus anyway? What is his relationship with God? Is he of the same substance of God, or us, or something else? How shall we preserve and ritualize this moment? What type of organization shall we establish to insure that everyone says and believes the correct things about Jesus? Who  determines what the correct things are? Talking and arguing about Jesus and institutionalizing rituals, creeds and ideas to insure conformity is the stuff of theology and ecclesiology. And, I believe it may have little to do with listening to him.

I wonder if Peter, James and John fall silent because they did listen to Jesus when he preached to them and what he said was very hard to hear? “I say to you that listen, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you…do to others as you would have them do to you.” (Matt 6.13, 27-28, 31) That is what Jesus says to the disciples and us in his sermon on the plain. Are we listening?

Or do we prefer to postulate that Peter, James and John must have eaten some poison mushrooms before climbing that mountain with Jesus? Or maybe we could spend years deciphering ancient manuscripts looking for clues that whoever is telling the story of the transfiguration has some kind of neurological or psychological condition that accounts for the religious experience?  Are we listening?

Or are we more concerned with the institutional aspects of religion and preserving our buildings? Are we listening?

Or are we so caught up systematizing our thoughts about religious experience that we fail to recognize the unseen order revealed in religious experiences? Are we listening?

Or are we determined to defend denominational walls at the expense of trusting religious experience and adjusting our lives to live harmoniously for the common good?

Out of the cloud of unknowing that descends upon the mountain comes a kind of deep and irrefutable knowing that is not made of the stuff of this world. And the disciples hear, “This is my Son, the chosen. Listen to him.” Are we listening?

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Gospel text for Sunday 22 December 2013

Matthew 1:18-25        Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins." All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet

"Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,

and they shall name him Emmanuel,"

which means, "God is with us." When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named him Jesus.

Reflection             Joseph had two pair of glasses. When he looked at the world  and his situation through one pair of glasses he confronted the complex structure of social custom and law. Through this lens Joseph saw Mary, the woman to whom he was betrothed and with whom he had not had sexual relations as pregnant, in breach of their personal and social contract. Whether she had been raped or had consented to sex with another man, Joseph was not the father of Mary’s child and Joseph was justified by law and custom to divorce Mary which would incite shame and shuning for Mary and her family.  Let’s call these the glasses of justification. Joseph was wearing this pair of glasses when he decided to quietly dismiss Mary, then turned in for the night and went to sleep.

Joseph must have changed his glasses as he fell asleep that night because he had a dream in which he recognized that there was another lens through which to look at his situation. It was the spiritual lens, the lens that enabled him to recognize God present in his dream, and “know” in a deep, personal and unequivocal way “God is with us, (with me)” Emmanuel. Through his second pair of glasses Joseph saw beyond the personal, social and legal perspectives of his situation to the spiritual. The ill-bred child in Mary’s womb was not a blasphemy or degradation. The child in Mary’s womb was a gift of Divine Presence; it was godly, to be honored and praised.

Then Joseph “awoke from sleep,” which is bible-speak for becoming conscious of the divine perspective and acting on it.  Joseph took Mary to be his wife and followed the instructions he received in his dream.You see, recognizing “God is with us” without changing our behavior to receive Divine Presence and allow it to come to life within us is like dying of thrist while looking at a spring of cool fresh water but refusing to kneel, cup our hands and be refreshed. 

Often I am tempted to action while wearing the glasses of justification; tempted to dismiss a person or situation that has complicated my life and quietly move on. But true life in the Spirit comes  for me when I put on the glasses of the spiritual perspective and allow myself to "see" and be changed by the nuances of Divine Presence, even and perhaps especially in the messy moments of ordinary life.

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