On November 15th, Tim Reardon spoke about 1 Kings 19:1-13 & Luke 9:28-36. In the first passage, Elijah, dealing with the persecution of the prophets, enters a dialogue with God, and is sent to await God’s presence. And once Elijah recognizes Him, God asks, “Why are you here?” In the second, Jesus, with Peter, John and James, ascend a mountain to pray. Jesus, transfigured and joined by Moses and Elijah, is witnessed by these three disciples.
What a journey 2020 has been, huh? It is a year that will stick in my memory for sure, and if you are like me, you might be waiting for it to end.
I wonder if now, after this election, amid this pandemic, we find ourselves pausing to decompress, to take stock, though we are all surely processing it differently. Pauses can be helpful and necessary, chances to heal and reflect, as long as we remain mindful that we cannot simply hold onto these moments as if we do not have a journey ahead of us. Perhaps that is why I picked the transfiguration this morning. It is a moment of reflection, of revelation, a moment of rest and perspective, but it is not a place where we are to dwell long because the journey ahead keeps going; we must keep marching on.
As I sat down to reflect on this passage in preparation for this sermon, I was struck this time around by the circumstances of Peter’s first words, how Peter seems to be grasping for something that appears to be getting away from him. Amid this incredible vision, Peter blurts something out, “as the men (that is Moses and Elijah) were about to leave.” Peter has seen something amazing and yells out anything to keep it from ending.
“It is good for us to be here,” Peter says. “Let’s build some huts and stay here. Let’s not go back there.” And perhaps there is good reason for Peter’s response. This mountaintop experience happens at a point of transition. Jesus and his disciples have been wandering around Galilee declaring the kingdom of God, a new order (social, economic, spiritual, embodied) where the first are last and the last first. They have just gathered in the wilderness for an incredible meal where thousands upon thousands of people ate of God’s abundance, a staging ground it seems for this new kin-dom taking shape in the wilderness. The world, Peter must have thought, is about to turn.
Hear more about these passages and their implications for us in this time period, as Tim asks the question: What if our journey is not to be judged by progress and our obsession with success, but by faithfulness, love, and solidarity? And, as God asks Elijah, and perhaps ourselves today, “Why are you here?”
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