Strange Stories:Judgement

The passage we heard this morning has often been taken to mean, do the right thing and see Jesus in each other, because you will be judged individually based on your behaviour.

I think it is a little more complex than that.

Maybe where this fits into Matthews gospel might give us some clues in thinking about this passage.

The entry of Jesus into Jerusalem that we will hear next Sunday, Palm Sunday, is in chapter 21 – there is a whole lot that Matthew includes as happening in the few days between the triumphant entry and the betrayal, arrest, trial and crucifixion.  

Matthew includes

• the cleansing of the temple,
• lament over Jerusalem
• prophecy of the destruction temple,
• persecution

• questions about
• paying taxes
• resurrection
• the greatest commandment

• parables of
• the wicked tenants,
• the wedding banquet,
• ten bridesmaids
• talents

After this story of judgement,

• plot to kill Jesus
• Jesus is anointed
• Passover
• Garden of Gethsemane
• etc.

Early in chapter 24, the disciples ask Jesus: “What will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the world?”  Matthew 24:3 CEV; Matthew then writes about persecution and suffering, the need to be ready, including the parables you heard last week, then this reading about judgement. After this passage, we hear of the plot to kill Jesus, the anointing of Jesus at Bethany, then the Passover.

We are at the pointy end of the gospel.  

Jesus could read the signs around him, he knew the religious and political authorities were not happy, he knew he could be arrested or killed at any time. During these few days, Jesus did a lot of teaching, responded to questions, and told some stories, including the parables we looked at in the past 2 weeks, and the story we heard this morning.  

One way of looking at this reading is to think of the connection with the arrest, trial and crucifixion of Jesus.[i]

• on the cross he is thirsty – who gives him something to drink? [27:34, 27:48] soldiers, bystanders
• his clothes are taken from him – who covers his nakedness [27:59] Joseph of Arimathea
• how was he treated in prison [27:27-37]
• was Jesus welcomed, or treated as a stranger [26:70] Peter denies knowing Jesus; the crowd [27: 21 – 23]

Shortly, Jesus is the one who will be thirsty and naked and imprisoned. Does this change how we read this story?

….

One thing to note with this passage is that neither those who fed and clothed and visited, nor those who did not feed and clothe and visit, knew that they were or were not serving Jesus.

The ones labelled sheep, did not care and visit and provide shelter because they knew this would earn them favour in God’s eyes. They did it because that was what they naturally did. They were caring and compassionate.

Same with those labelled goats, they were living in ways that were natural to them, looking after their own interests and not being concerned about others. [ii]

Neither saw the King in need, the goats would have helped if they had seen him hungry or lonely. The sheep helped even though they did not recognise the King in those they served. They simply saw people who needed to be fed or clothed or visited or respected.

Those who were sheep, saw people as people. [iii]  
People made in the image of God.
People worthy of respect.

People for whom Jesus died. ^[iv]

In a culture where the social code was that you only helped those who could later repay you, or where you would be rewarded in some way, helping those who cannot repay you is foolish, even shameful. The sheep ignored the social code.[v]

This isn’t about doing the right thing to be saved.

This is about transformation of our lives from the inside, from our hearts and minds, so that the care and compassion we show others is not only genuine but natural. It is not forced to earn brownie points from God.

….

As I said earlier this passage is often understood in terms of individual behaviour. In some of my reading this week, it was noted that the judgement is of the nations, it is not an individual judgement that is being spoken of here, but a judgement of nations, countries, empires.

What if we look at this with the eyes of a first century Palestinian, living in a country occupied by Rome. What if this parable is about judging the politics and economics of empires? In many regimes, life is cheap, toe the line or else life will be difficult.

If this is about judging nations, or empires, how would Australia be judged? A single person on Newstart allowance receives $ 555.70 per fortnight, the cheapest rent on the peninsula is $270 per week, or $540 per fortnight. With rent assistance that leaves $152.90 left to live on for 2 weeks.

From the beginning, “Creation has been structured by God to work best for everyone, “all the nations,” when the most vulnerable are attended to instead of the least vulnerable.”[vi]

….

I don’t know anyone who likes the idea of being judged, especially with criteria like these. We don’t want to let God down. ^[vii] It seems impossible.

But this is Good News, maybe not for us, but for those who are hungry and in prison. How might we hear this if we lived in North Korea? How might we have heard this if we had been imprisoned in Nazi Germany?  Might this be Good News, that God will not allow injustice and suffering to go unpunished. That ‘God cares passionately about the suffering of the least of these, and about whether we cause or ignore it -- so much so that Jesus bore this suffering in his own body in order to triumph over evil and death.’ ^[viii]

….

The two greatest commandments are loving God and loving neighbour. This parable speaks into the living out of those commandments.  

As individuals and in community, remembering that the compassion of the sheep was the not rehearsed or planned, it was the natural outworking of their relationship with God. They saw people as people,

·         they fed the hungry,

·         welcomed the stranger

·         clothed the naked

·         cared for the sick

·         visited the imprisoned

not because they deserved it or earned it,

not because they were friends or family.

The sheep acted with compassion because of the transformation of their lives.

---

[i] Working Preacher Podcast:  http://www.workingpreacher.org/narrative_podcast.aspx?podcast_id=602

[ii] https://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=3872

[iii] https://provokingthegospel.wordpress.com/2017/11/20/a-provocation-reign-of-christ-sunday-november-26-2017-matthew-2531-46/?fbclid=IwAR2gNLzO4hPi8CHZm2Yg_4u5pL-JoenZltXYVgsLO2FmzVnD7vbTTY_0K4s

[iv] http://girardianlectionary.net/reflections/year-a/xrstkinga/?fbclid=IwAR09pP4H2czZMWnCTSlZsmEWsaw26nw6zvEvzFY6iMQS-SqMHHX7TYWPddo

[v] http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=2403

[vi]http://girardianlectionary.net/reflections/year-a/xrstkinga/?fbclid=IwAR09pP4H2czZMWnCTSlZsmEWsaw26nw6zvEvzFY6iMQS-SqMHHX7TYWPddo

[vii] https://revgalblogpals.org/2019/04/02/narrative-lectionary-sheep-and-goats-matt-2531-46/?fbclid=IwAR1DAPzUIE0Ox7dTZVj5bYF8mB7xCteJEqZjqrou8ZlMlfQUsolAULoNxMk

[viii] https://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=3872

Strange Stories: some party

This story is ridiculous!

I mean who turns down an invitation to the wedding of a prince. An invitation that affirms that you are in the right social group.

And what king burns down a town in the time it takes to cook dinner?

Luke includes a similar story, but no murder or fire or dress code.

So, what to make of this over the top parable.

In reading this week I found there are a few ways that this can be interpreted.

We will explore the parable and see if anything else helps us to make sense of this parable.

Getting invited to a banquet or feast was a big deal. In this time in history, it was not unusual for food to be scarce, or at least not plentiful. This is a wedding, a time of joy and feasting. [i]

In a society based upon honour and shame, nothing could bestow more honour (to oneself and, by extension, to one's family) than attending a royal wedding, particularly the wedding of the king's own son. This is the kind of event for which you make room in your calendar. Circle the date. Don't forget. Be there at all costs. [ii]

Normally a feast like this one would be given by someone wealthy and those invited would be of parallel wealth. This was quite a strict social convention and it would therefore be quite a serious offence not to take up the invitation.[iii]

So why in the parable are the people who receive the invitations first time around either disinterested or murdering the messengers?

Then the king responds with more violence.

A further invitation to anyone and everyone.

I wonder, if we were walking along the beach and someone came up to us and said the Governor is holding a party here, come and join in the festivities – how would you feel? Would you go?  

This parable comes in the final week before the crucifixion in Matthews gospel. Jesus has come into Jerusalem on a donkey, cleared the temple of traders, healed people, then went away for night. The next day he is in the Temple again, and the Scribes and Pharisees question his authority.

Jesus responds with some parables:

The two sons, one who said he would go and work, but does not and the son who says he will not work but does. Jesus asks: Which one does the will of the father?

The second parable is known as the Parable of the Wicked Tenants. When the landowner sends slaves to get his share of the harvest, they are beaten up, the landowner sends his son, and he is killed.

Then this parable.

The traditional way to look at this reading is that God is the king, the messengers are the prophets, the people who are initially invited are Jews and the people who eventually come are the gentiles. The one thrown out for not wearing the correct robe, that refers to the need to always be clothed in righteous. It is an end-time understanding of the parable.

I can see how people read the parable this way, but I struggle with this explanation.

Some commentators read this as having some extreme elements, like murder and fire while dinner is being cooked, but overall it is about an invitation that is broad and wide but has an expectation of changed behaviour if you accept the invitation. Maybe this is the discipleship explanation, the invitation is there, accept it, but be willing to be transformed. [iv] The wedding garment is not a fashion statement as a   passion statement – where is your heart? [v]

Another way of reading the end of this parable is that reason the person who was thrown out, was because he was speechless when the king came to talk with him. Speechless.  Which means he wouldn't enter into a relationship with the king.[vi]

Some commentators speak of the parable as contrasting the violence of the Empire with the non-violence of Jesus. The reaction of the King shows his power, and his insecurity. Worried monarchs are dangerous monarchs: they are likely to erupt in rage.^[vii]

When we hear a parable, our first instinct, in general, is to assume the king in the parable represents God. But this King kills people and destroys a town, is that like the God you know? [viii]

What if the king in the parable is not God?

What if Jesus is the person thrown out of the banquet?

A king gives a banquet, and the people invited think they are too important to attend, so other people in the area are rounded up to attend the banquet. Would you turn down the invitation given what happened to the other people who did not accept the invitation?

Jesus is part of the ‘ordinary’ people who is rounded up to attend the feast but refuses to party at the king’s command. When questioned by the King in the parable, the person stays silent.

In Matthew’s gospel, Jesus is silent when questioned by chief priests and elders [Matthew 27: 11-14]

If Jesus is telling a parable about the way in which our earthly, violence-based authority is on display, then where do we see the kingdom of heaven? It looks like what this king does to the man who stands silently before him at the end of the parable. In short, it looks like what happened to Jesus when he stood silently in the face of his accusers and let them throw him out into the darkness of death. [ix]

Jesus tells this parable in response to questions from the religious leaders, they are asking who gives Jesus authority to teach and heal. Maybe this parable is a reminder that we cannot follow Caesar and God. For the early church the idea that following Jesus may get you killed was one they knew from experience.

This is another strange story, another parable that can sound bizarre to us. However, you understand the parable:

To be clothed in the righteousness of Christ.

To accept the invitation of Jesus and be transformed

Or to not get involved in the violence of Kings and rulers, but to live for God even at risk of your life

This is a powerful parable.

I pray you will hear God speaking to you,
that you will respond to the invitation and call of God
and live in the love and peace of Jesus.

---

[i] http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=3870&fbclid=IwAR3Odwl8qvhYbq1uucBQjRauGQ24OqV1_gnuRBXNI4_jvWpm0UQGvtz05Z0

[ii] https://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=172&fbclid=IwAR0UxlohxX3KmvD2UtalzAofga46iV3PMTHks2gGNIKJtvIfC0LBIiDjywc

[iii] Spill the beans

[iv] Hope Molozaiy on Facebook Narrative Lectionary Facebook Group responding to

Sarah Sanderson-Doughty 21 March 2019

[v] Spill the beans

[vi] Comment in https://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=997&fbclid=IwAR3R4ZPodXuL_gcGraOAL5FhEWB2eoQs0NHyPRgUeV5Yp5tVqJUiD9u991Q

[vii] https://provokingthegospel.wordpress.com/2017/10/09/a-provocation-nineteenth-sunday-after-pentecost-october-15-2017-matthew-221-14/?fbclid=IwAR3Zc2235go9YBsgVgs7iyWhqvfGcoZ4M6LpEnp4zyT07IVr2BNtQNW3Dtw

[viii] http://girardianlectionary.net/year_a/proper23a_2008_ser.htm

[ix] http://girardianlectionary.net/year_a/proper23a_2008_ser.htm

Fair or Just?

It’s not fair!

How often have you heard that phrase?

How often have you said that phrase?

The idea of fairness, of being treated fairly is one we seem to grasp early on in life.

If my brother or sister gets a treat, I should get one too.

It’s not fair!

I can imagine the workers who started at 6 am or 9 am saying this: it isn’t fair, we worked all day in the hot sun, we deserve more than these later comers.

Jesus introduces this parable, saying, the kingdom of heaven would be like:

a man who went to hire some workers

and hired more throughout the day

then paid the ones who started last

before the ones who started earliest.

so how can the Kingdom of heaven be like this, if it isn’t fair??

What is going in here?

As we think about this parable, I am aware of how we name parables, as shorthand for parables.

This parable is often called “The Laborers in the Vineyard,” but Amy-Jill Levine [a professor of New Testament and Jewish studies at Vanderbilt University’s Divinity School] has suggested that “The Parable of the Generous Landowner” or “The Parable of Full Employment Where Everybody Gets a Living Wage.”^[i]

This is a parable that tells us something of the Kingdom of Heaven.

It has been ‘explained’ in terms of salvation – those who confess Christ recently have the same salvation as those who confessed Christ many years ago. It has also been suggested that this could be about the people of Israel and Gentile converts.

But I wonder what the people Jesus was speaking to would hear in this parable?

What might it tell us about God?

To me it highlights the difference between what is fair and what is just or righteous. It is fair for people to be paid according to their work, but it is just that all have the opportunity to work and that everyone has what they need to live.

“We might have thought that the most important thing in life is to be fair, which means to be impartial. But perhaps the more important criterion is to be generous.”[ii]

In the time of Jesus, there were people who relied on getting casual work each day to be able to feed and support their families. They turned up at the town square each morning nice and early, in the hope of getting work for the day.

We hear from those who worked all day, they got the silver coin that was the payment for a casual worker for the day, and they complained when they saw what the others were getting.

But what of those who waited in the town square all day?  how might they have been feeling? think about it, you arrive early in the morning, and no one picks you; you may be a little older, or you may have an injury – and so you wait, wondering what will I feed my family today, and what if no one picks me again tomorrow, how will I look after my family?

then late in the day, close to the end of the work day, you and some others are still standing there, wondering how to feed your family, when someone offers you an hour’s work. you jump at the opportunity, it won’t pay much, but anything is better than nothing, and maybe he will hire me for longer tomorrow. 

And then you get paid what you need to feed your family – how would you feel?

Not only that you get paid before the ones who were hired first.

If we think of ourselves as one of the workers hired in the morning, we might think this is unfair; but if we are hired later in the day, we might think of the generosity of the farm manager.

We live in a culture that says we get what we deserve: study hard, work hard and you will get a good job, be able to buy a house and you will fine. But we know life does not always work that way.  Not everyone has the same capacity to study or to work, not everyone has the opportunity to study or work. And we live in a culture that values some types of work more than others, for example average salaries[iii] for the following:

aged care worker $41,000 per year;

Paramedic $60,000

finance manager $91,000 per year;

how did we decide that a finance manager is worth more than twice as much as an aged care worker?

A few years after my father died, my mother married again. One time they were visiting, I remember there was something on the news about social welfare. I can’t remember which group, but someone was getting an increase, and he was not getting one in his pension class – well he was so annoyed. How dare anyone else get social welfare.  No else was deserving as he was.

What is it that causes us to get angry and upset about single parents, indigenous people or people who are unemployed getting support from the community through the taxation system? Why do we see some groups as more deserving than others?

Those who started work earlier in the day thought they deserved more. They received what was agreed to, and what was enough. It was comparable to what a manager from the next farm would have paid them.

Is this really what God is like?

Not giving us what we deserve, but what we need?

Being generous rather then fair?

“Is this kind of maddening equality,
regardless of what one has contributed to God’s kingdom,
really a part of the new reality God is inaugurating in Jesus?
For Matthew’s Jesus, the answer is ‘yes.’[iv]

“God’s deep generosity toward others can actually trip us up if we think of the kingdom in terms of limited amounts of grace being distributed based on ‘deservedness’.” [Jeannine K. Brown, Matthew (Teach the Text New Testament Commentary; Grand Rapids: Baker, 2015) 230.][v]

If you wanted to see over a fence, some of you will need taller ladders than others – is that fair?

How often do we feel dissatisfied, not with what we have, but because it is less than what someone else has? How often do we compare our houses, cars, clothes, pay packets, church attendance, number of friends… ?

How often do we feel upset because we have been working for the church for many years, and then someone new comes in and gets the benefit?

The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner, who hires and pays people according to their need.

The Kingdom of heaven is a kingdom of justice, a kingdom of need being met, not because we deserve it, not because we earned it, but because God is generous, and gracious and knows our need.

Where do you need to accept God’s generosity?

Where is God challenging your generosity?

---

[i] https://chqdaily.wordpress.com/2011/08/21/levine-parable-of-landowner-and-laborers-teaches-importance-of-generosity/?fbclid=IwAR33BZPG6PZlOPGg6yvAlOARGUegZkpvnFZBHx0RaDzBaj1AD5ttBVRW5aY

[ii] https://chqdaily.wordpress.com/2011/08/21/levine-parable-of-landowner-and-laborers-teaches-importance-of-generosity/?fbclid=IwAR33BZPG6PZlOPGg6yvAlOARGUegZkpvnFZBHx0RaDzBaj1AD5ttBVRW5aY

[iii] https://www.payscale.com/index/AU/Job

[iv] https://chqdaily.wordpress.com/2011/08/21/levine-parable-of-landowner-and-laborers-teaches-importance-of-generosity/?fbclid=IwAR33BZPG6PZlOPGg6yvAlOARGUegZkpvnFZBHx0RaDzBaj1AD5ttBVRW5aY

[v] https://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=3869

Strange Stories - Forgiveness and Prison

This is the first of our parables for Lent.

When we read it, what do we find out about God or Jesus?

Jesus introduces the story: This story will show you what the kingdom of heaven is like:

Another Kingdom of Heaven parable,

A few weeks ago, we heard a series of parables on the kingdom of heaven is like, and I summarised the kingdom as:

·         Generous to the point of being extravagant or wasteful [sower/4 soils]

·         Inclusive, even of enemies [wheat and weeds]

·         growing/useful [mustard seed]

·         hidden/subversive [ yeast]

·         valuable [ treasure]

·         something to seek, and find[pearl]

·         non-judging [fish]

today’s parable:

the kingdom of heaven is like a king who forgives a debt,
a big debt,
a debt so big the servant could never have paid it back.

Various people have tried calculating how much the debt was, in the translation we heard this morning it is fifty million silver coins, other translations have ten thousand talents. it equates to about 150,000 years of wages for a labourer. I wonder how the person could get into that kind of debt. Even if he was paid five times as much as a labourer, it is 30,000 years of wages. It is a ridiculous amount.

the king was merciful.

and we think what a lovely story.

the first servant is forgiven a ridiculously big debt.

then he refuses to forgive a much smaller debt.

and he is thrown in prison.

in the Kingdom of Heaven, forgiveness is received and given.

If we read it as the king represents God,
the forgiveness of the debt of the first official is what I want to hear;
not only am I and my family not being thrown in prison for being in debt,
but I don’t have to pay back what I owe,
which given the amount is impossible.

But then when the one who was forgiven doesn’t forgive, the forgiveness is taken back.

That doesn’t seem like good news to me.

It does fit with the line in the Lord’s Prayer: forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.

The ending doesn’t fit well with me, it isn’t the way I want, or expect, God to treat me, or anyone.

What is forgiveness?

A quote:
“Forgiveness is not saying that what happened was OK,
it’s being able to say within your heart
that you accept what’s happened
and you won’t let it stop you living a life
or seeing humanity in the person who has hurt you.”[i]

In my experience, not forgiving someone eats away at me, and at times the other person has been totally oblivious to the turmoil within me. 

A story:

When I was at college, I struggled with one person on staff. She put students down, expected us to be able to stop our lives on little notice and do what she wanted. At times her comments were cruel and hurtful.

After I finished college, I decided all was well, as I would not ever have to relate to her again.

About five years later, I was on a Synod task group, and she was on it as well.

UGH!!!

I wondered how I could work with this person when I did not want anything to do with her.

 
I decided I had to forgive her. I had no idea if she was aware of how hurtful her behaviour had been, or even if she remembered some of the things she had said to students. She had not asked for forgiveness.

I chose to forgive her, so I could be involved in the work of the Synod task group without seething about her treatment of students.

I didn’t say anything to her about forgiving her, but once I had forgiven her, I was able to work with her without being distracted by resentment.

Is there someone you need to forgive?

If you are ready to forgive, you can write it on a piece of paper, screw it up and it will be burnt.

When I have offered this before, some people commented that they wished it was so easy.

often forgiveness is not easy,

but:

forgiveness does not ask you to forget what happened

forgiveness does not ask that you stay in an abusive situation

forgiveness does not ask you to pretend it never happened

forgiveness does mean the behaviour was acceptable.

forgiveness means not letting the hurt dominate your life

forgiveness means letting go of the desire for revenge

forgiveness means freedom for you to be yourself

when we hurt someone, we need to ask for forgiveness, and we also need to take responsibility for what we have done.

my experience is that some people don’t forgive – they hold onto hurts, they let the pain envelop their lives, and they become bitter.

the other pattern I have noticed is that some people struggle to accept forgiveness.

I wonder if that is part of what is happening in this parable.

While the Lord’s prayer says: Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.

Maybe we can only truly forgive, when we know ourselves forgiven.

Until we accept forgiveness, from God and ourselves and others

When we stop holding ourselves hostage to our mistakes

Maybe then, when we can accept the forgiveness of God, will we be able to accept forgiveness and forgive others.

Forgiveness isn’t like winning the lottery, though for the first person in this parable it must have seemed like it.

Forgiveness is part of our lives, and we live with the consequences of not forgiving.

What does this parable tell us about the Kingdom of Heaven?

this parable is a warning of what happens when we don’t forgive others.

when we hold onto hurts,

when we hold onto judgement,

when we hold onto the desire for revenge,

we are not free to live in the forgiveness God offers us

when we don’t forgive others, they can be hurt by that, but so are we.

The person who holds onto the anger and resentment, is not at peace,

God offers mercy and grace, but we are expected to do the same.

the Kingdom of heaven is a Kingdom of forgiveness.

This lent, who do you need to forgive?

What do you need to let go of?

---

[i] https://www.theforgivenessproject.com/tracey-ford

Jesus is ... mystery?

A little background

Picture 1 [Umina] –

Last week we heard about Peter, stepping out of the boat and then noticing how rough the water was. In today’s reading, Peter is the one who names Jesus as the Messiah. In response Jesus says to Peter ‘I will call you Peter, which means “a rock.” On this rock I will build my church’.

This picture shows the place where tradition says this conversation happened.

Picture 2 [Umina] –While the biblical text does not name the mountain, it is thought that Mount Tabor is the place where the transfiguration happened.

…

Image 1 [outline of reading]

Who do you say I am? – thank you to those who filled out the Why Jesus forms, some responses have been in the Newsletter

Why Jesus? [some responses from the Parish]

Jesus is my friend and saviour

Jesus is the one who supports me

Jesus is everything

Jesus is the light

Jesus is my hope and transformation

Jesus is my inspiration

Jesus gives insight into why we are here

Jesus is a teacher of stories

Jesus is comforter

Jesus is guidance

Jesus is peace

Jesus is always there for me

Jesus speaks about his coming death

Peter, who had just proclaimed that Jesus is the Messiah, now can’t handle the reality what that will mean.

We are all called to deny ourselves and take up our cross

And then, 6 days later – an awesome mystery

I look at this passage and it reminds me of the roller coaster of life – the disciples, or at least Peter, see Jesus as the Messiah, the one they have been waiting for, then Jesus challenges his view of what the Messiah will be like.

It is as if the disciples get that there is something special about Jesus, but he doesn’t fit their image of what the Messiah will be like.

Life isn’t simple or straightforward, and Peter is an example of that. He walks on water, knows Jesus is the Messiah, cannot accept that Jesus will die, is chastised by Jesus, then the next week they walk up a mountain, WOW!! then Peter wants to build a tent.

Here is a comic about the Transfiguration

Image 2 [Angus day cartoon]http://www.agnusday.org/comics/710/luke-09-28-43-2016

Each year we hear a reading about transfiguration, and I will not attempt to explain what happened, because, it is an event that we cannot explain.

It occurs on top of a mountain, that is like in a movie when the music gets dramatic, and you know something is about to happen.

There are other stories in the Bible that include mountains – Moses and the ten commandments, Elijah defeating the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel [1 Kings 18:13]; Elijah and the still small voice; Jesus and the woman at the well discuss which mountain to worship God on; the sermon on the mount and many more. Mountains mean something important is happening.

We still talk about a mountain top experience, meaning something wonderful or amazing has happened; something life changing; something remarkable and out of the ordinary.

That the transfiguration happened on a mountain is not surprising.

There is a lot in here we could explore.  Here are a few points to ponder:

·         What happened in the 6 days between the conversation and the trip up the mountain? Are the 6 days symbolically related to the 6 days of creation? Does it relate to the 6 days Moses waited for Gods instruction?

·         Jesus took 3 disciples – I wonder how he chose which ones to take. Often, we think they were the cream of the crop, but maybe they were the ones who needed to experience this to better know who Jesus was.

·         The voice from the cloud said: “this is my son, my beloved; with whom I am well pleased”; where have we heard this before? Baptism of Jesus by John [Matthew 3: 17]

·         The disciples were overcome with fear after the voice – not seeing Moses and Elijah, but after the voice – and Jesus touches them and told them not to be afraid. 

When we are full of fear, are we aware of God’s presence with us? do we trust God is present even when we can’t feel that presence?

For many people this is a Jesus they can relate to, a Jesus whose face shines, whose clothes are dazzling white. Jesus in his glory. Yet most of the time Jesus did not have dazzling clothes or a shining face; most of what we hear of Jesus is about travelling with disciples, healing people, including outcasts, teaching, feeding people. The other image people have of Jesus is on the cross or resurrected. Each of these aspects of the life of Jesus add something to our understanding of Jesus.

Like our own mountain top experiences, we don’t live there, they are fleeting; and we need to get on with the everyday tasks of living.  Jesus tells the disciples both here and after the resurrection, to get on with living.

This morning we will share in the bread and juice during communion; a time where we become aware of the glory of Jesus, but also the life and death and resurrection of Jesus; a life full of love and grace; a life that healed and nurtured, comforted and challenged.  In communion, we too are aware of the touch of Jesus in our lives.

“This is where Jesus meets us--touches us--calms our fears--strengthens us--and takes us off the mountain back to the world with all its messes and problems to be signs of hope.”[i]

Here is part of a poem.

Looking ahead to Sundays gospel - The Transfiguration
We don’t do well with the unexplainable.
We’d rather be able to cram everything into boxes,
labelled and categorised, neatly packaged.
We’re discombobulated by events that refuse to fit
into our systems and theories.
…….

And so the disciples
on the mountain top with Jesus
want everything pegged down:
tents for the prophets,
something to do,
anything,
to keep them from feeling
so out of their depth
at Jesus throwing them
yet another curve ball,
catching them off balance
with dazzling appearances
and voices from heaven,
too preoccupied with the desire
to “normalise” this event
that they tuned out the echoes of baptism
and didn’t catch the subtlety
of the beginning mirrored
in the beginning of the end.
A mountain top experience
that didn’t quite compute
when they were back on lower ground.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad  Liz Crumlish

http://liz-vicarofdibley.blogspot.com.au/2014/02/transfiguration-blues.html?spref=fb

Which image of Jesus do we hold onto, the dazzling bright Jesus in all his glory?

Or the Jesus who changes lives – healing, feeding and loving?

What is the image of Jesus that people see in your life?

We listen for what the Spirit is saying to us today.

---

[i] Working preacher podcast, comment by John Anderson.