For Sunday
Epiphany LastA
Collect
O God, who before the passion of your only begotten Son revealed his glory upon the holy mountain: Grant to us that we, beholding by faith the light of his countenance, may be strengthened to bear our cross, and be changed into his likeness from glory to glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
Reading
Reflection
There is much that draws our attention in this passage we call the Transfiguration. The dazzling light, the appearance of other people, Peter’s response, the voice of God! And yet, it is hard not to center our own response on the words of God! When God speaks, we must listen!
The words we receive match the words at the baptism: God calls Jesus “beloved” and speaks to being pleased. But the final statement is new: “listen to him.” And it these words which, I think, draw out a deeper question within us than we care to consider. Does this statement not imply that, either up till this point or at this very moment, they aren’t? Or, perhaps, that we, in our own lives, reading this gospel today — and not just in the sense of centuries later, but in the literal sense, today — are not listening or are in danger of missing something?
When I hear “listen to him” I get literal and figurative and metaphorical. I try to hear it all! And so I listen for the words that Jesus will say in the next moments and in the coming days. Like a disciple, watching and ascribing meaning to everything I see, thinking, yes, but what does he mean by this? and so on. And Jesus’s immediate words are “Get up and do not be afraid,” which are fantastic. Because they are on the ground and he is telling them to quite literally get off of the ground and subdue that fear impulse. And also — we are there, too, being told the same thing. To get up. And not be afraid. And I think most of us need to translate that a bit, but can come up with a pretty solid response that is better than “do I have to?” Yep. God says listen.
But the listening shouldn’t end there. A lot of stuff is happening around them in the story and the disciples are getting distracted and thinking they know better than Jesus and are getting awfully full of themselves, declaring other people heretics. And this message to listen — listen to him! — keeps being the message that the disciples struggle to hear. Do we?