SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2024 | EPIPHANY - TRANSFIGURATION SUNDAY 2024

Texts

Revised Common Lectionary 2-11-2024: Transfiguration Sunday

Old Testament 2 Kings 2:1–12

Psalm Psalm 50:1–6

New Testament 2 Corinthians 4:3–6

Gospel Mark 9:2–9

Good morning,

Here we are…yet another Transfiguration Sunday, which means the end of Epiphany and then Ash Wednesday is just a few days away! It’s going to be a roller coaster - we will go from a high place to a low one very, very quickly!

According to the text, It looks like it has been quite the hike! Just the four of them, going up the mountain. And then, bam, transfiguration happens, Jesus’ clothes became dazzling white, whiter than Oxi Clean could ever make it and like that is not enough, there is with him the prophet Elijah and Moses, the forefathers of faith! And then of course a voice from the cloud exclaims “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!”

I don’t know about you, but I have surely not experienced such an exciting hike with friends! In just one scene, we are reminded of the continuation of our faith (we are still continuing the legacy laid down by the likes of Moses and Elijah) AND exhorted, as the modern disciples, to listen to Him for He is the beloved Son of God. It’s packed tight like my backpack for 11 days in Prague last Fall!

It is then no wonder that this text and day is commemorated among various church denominations - Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Anglican/Episcopal, Presbyterians, Methodists and even non-liturgical churches such as the Baptists or Pentecostal. It is clearly important.

Jesus is truly who he claims to be and not just some rando starting his own cult with totally new teachings disconnected from everything and everyone - it happens, but not this guy! He is bringing something new that is built on something very, very old - just like fairly early on the idea of jettisoning the Hebrew Bible from the emerging Christian canon was rejected in the early church. It would be like publishing part 2 of a book that often refers to the first part, but the part is not present, so confusion would ensue.

Y’know, I look at the news and I see a lot of violence, deception, and ugliness as the top headlines - Israeli airstrikes killed at least 44 Palestinians — including more than a dozen children — in the southern Gaza city of Rafah on Saturday, hours after Israel’s prime minister said he had asked the military to plan for the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people there ahead of a ground invasion (Politico); Trump attacks Haley for absence of her husband, who is deployed (CNN); Hungarian President Katalin Novak, a close ally of Prime Minister Viktor Orban, announced her resignation Saturday following outrage over a pardon granted to a man implicated in a child sexual abuse case; INDONESIA, THE SCENE of two of the 20th century’s epic slaughters, may be on the verge of a return to army rule at the hands of its most notorious general. and so on and so forth. Horrific stuff - sometimes it appears like almost nobody’s who they claim to be and a commitment to a selfless service to others is becoming hard to find.

A stark contrast to Jesus, who we clearly know he is who he claims to be and showed us what a selfless service to others looks like, including self-care, such as spending some time alone and praying! In discipleship, we are called to follow his example and the guidance of those that follow him as well - as Christians, we are freed from needing to pledge allegiance to a political party, a “strong man” leader, or a anyone else but Jesus! Through God’s grace and the power of the Holy Spirit, we are invited into a freedom from ideological submission to earthly leadership and the freedom to proclaiming that Jesus is our Lord and we follow him, for he is who he claims to be and he cares about us as we are, right now and right here. And yes, there are various power structures and hierarchies we might need to go along with for a while as we live in a broken and suffering world, but we are called not to let us be influenced by them and become their followers.

We are freed to do that because we believe there is something more to the world than we experience and see - this is world was created by God and it was meant to be good and wholesome! If we could all believe and act like it, I think we would live in a much different world!

Transfiguration is so much more than the bedazzling white of Jesus’ robes - it is an opportunity to see who is to be followed and listened to. And then the rest of the gospels give us an idea, what this Jesus guy is about and that he is truly who he claims to be and means business…business of caring and loving us all. Amen.