Reflection for Transfiguration Sunday

“Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them. And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus.”

This Sunday we mark the feast of the Transfiguration. It’s the last Sunday before Lent, and the Sunday on which we hear about Jesus being transformed before three of his disciples. We hear this story every year, and each year it marks the change from the season of Epiphany to the season of Lent.

Transfiguration stands between. Aside from marking Jesus’ transformational experience on the mountaintop, by standing between Epiphany and Lent, this Sunday reminds us of all the transformational, in-between moments of our lives.

We often stand between one event and the next. Sometimes these moments are brief, and sometimes they are long and drawn out. It’s the moment between calling 911, and the ambulance arriving. The moment between tests and diagnosis, between announcing a pregnancy, and giving birth.

These moments are familiar to us, and yet we often do not like them. We don’t like to wait. We want to arrive, to be at the next moment, to already be transformed.

And yet, Transfiguration Sunday reminds us that Christ is found in those very in-between moments. God shows up in the most unlikely of places, the moments when we are not yet prepared because we are still preparing. God meets us in those moments, and works alongside us.

On the mountaintop, Peter and James and John saw Jesus talking with Moses and Elijah. In a sense, these three were in their between moment as well, though they didn’t realize it. Their whole journey with Christ was the transformation between their lives before meeting him, and their lives after the crucifixion and resurrection. It was a long transformation, and certainly some parts were more painful than others.

What transformation is being worked in your life in these days? What work is God doing through you and in you? After all, God is the one who transformed. Peter and James and John didn’t transform Jesus, nor did they have the power to transform themselves. They were changed by simply knowing Jesus, through Christ’s work in their lives, without having to do anything themselves.

God works wonders in our lives.

Thanks be to God.

Amen.

Reflection for the Fifth Sunday after Epiphany

“Now Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once. He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.”

I love this particular telling of this particular miracle that Jesus does. It is early in his ministry yet, while the word about him is still spreading, though he is doing his best to keep it quiet. After leaving the synagogue that we heard about last week, Jesus goes to the family house of a few of his disciples. And the first thing that happens is that he is told about this woman’s fever.

Of course Jesus heals her, what else would he do? That’s not what makes me love this story. What I find most fascinating is the woman’s response. She begins to serve them. In some translations, she begins to cook for them, as soon as she is well.

Now, I do not at all see this is a lesson about how women should get up off their sickbeds and tend to the “men folk.” That’s not what this is about for me, and I certainly do not think that it is what it is about for the gospel writer. Instead, what thrills me is the fact that her healing is not just a physical one, but a return to community.

Each time Jesus heals, he brings people back into community that they had lost. Part of this is due to the fact that many ritual cleanliness laws at the time were related to sickness: lepers were seen as unclean, bleeding was unclean, and so on. Simon’s mother-in-law only had a fever, but she was in bed, unable to take her place amongst those gathered. When Jesus heals her, he not only causes her body to be restored, but brings her back to the place where she can serve others.

What would this look like in our lives? What would change if we saw God’s wondrous work in our lives as not only for serving our own needs, but for the purpose of bringing us into such health that we can turn and serve others? What would it look like if faith and spiritual practice were not solely focused on our own desires, our own personal relationships, but were about how we can be used in the world for serving the needs of others?

Christ’s work was not individual, it was not for one or two or twelve, so that they alone could experience wholeness and health. Healing Simon’s mother-in-law was not only about her fever, but about her relationship to the wider community.

Christ’s work in our lives is the same: for the sake of all, for the sake of each.

Thanks be to God.

Amen.

Reflection for the Fourth Sunday after Epiphany

They went to Capernaum; and when the Sabbath came, he entered the synagogue and taught. They were astounded at his teaching for he taught as one having authority.

“They were astounded.” When was the last time you were astounded by the words of another? Perhaps it was when a child spoke deep truth to you, without even knowing, or a time that someone you had been teaching gave you something deep to think about.

Astounded is such a strong word, and not one that we throw around lightly these days. There are certainly words that have lost their meanings for us, words that have become so commonplace that their impact is never felt. But astounded is not one of these words.

They were astounded by Christ’s authority. This is also a bit strange. It implies that they recognized that he had authority, instead of merely being astounded by his confidence or arrogance.

Who has authority in your life? Whose voice do you listen to, trust, and obey?

There are a lot of voices that we give authority to in different parts of our lives: our parents, teachers, bosses, valued friends, and so on. And there are voices that we give authority to, but don’t even know: politicians, media personalities, and news anchors. The power that we give these people when we assign them authority makes it all the more difficult when we have to admit that they are human, fallible, and sometimes quite manipulative of the power they have.

What authority do we give then to the Word of God in our lives? Do we hold back, worried that this word, like all the human words, may be only out to deceive us, or are we able to give our whole trust to this one who teaches with astounding authority?

What does it mean to trust Christ’s teaching? What does it mean to trust the Word of God?

It may mean different things for different people, but at the heart is God’s promise that, as children of God, we are loved, we are held as valuable members of the kingdom and that we will never be abandoned.

Thanks be to God.

Amen.