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I saw a commercial on TV the other day that promised me  “everything I’d ever need” if I would invest my poor savings with them.  Then they listed all these things I don’t really need:  new car,  McMansion with inground pool, sunny vacations, first class air travel, beautiful women and handsome guys crowding around me at the tables of Las Vegas…. Sorta like James Bond.  Readings for this last Sunday of Epiphany/Transfiguration Sunday  address our wish-lists and hopefully remind us that being with God through Jesus is the real core of what we need.

Exodus 24:12-18 tells of Moses going up Mt. Sinai to receive the laws that would unite the Desert Wanderers into a practicing community under YHWH’s direction.  Up there he looked at the glory of God, to the point that his own face glowed when he finally came down after 40 days, a reminder of the Noah story.  The chosen people are now ready to embark to a place unknown, following a God that they’re just beginning to appreciate.  Although Moses was the direct recipient of glory, this experience was meant for the whole people of God:  holy-history would remember and honor this place between heaven and earth.

The Epistle, II Peter 1:16-21, can be a challenge because of its busy-ness.  VV. 14-17 do affirm the centrality of Jesus in the mountain-top experience, as the voice came out of the cloud, “This is my Son, my Beloved, with whom I am well pleased”.  Christopher Grundy writes, “The witness of Jesus’ luminous life is an essential way that God continues to reframe our present-day activities in light of God’s priorities–like ‘a lamp shining in a dark place'”.  (FEASTING on the WORD, A 1:447)

Which brings us to Matthew’s version of the Transfiguration, as found in 17:1-9.  The author is eager to insert figures of Moses & Elijah–the Law & the Prophets–to convince his Jewish audience that Jesus is the valid continuation of that which God had already begun.  The disciples’ leadership team  thought they knew Jesus pretty well, by now–and here they see him in an entirely different light!  It was important to the community of the growing church for them to see this, for them to be overwhelmed by Glory, and to hear a loving Voice affirming the holiness of Jesus yet again.  “For all (Jesus’) obvious humanity, something radiated from him  that spoke of ineffable and eternal truth.”  (Douglas John Hall, ibid., p 454)  And to all those paralyzed by the moment, Jesus says, “Get up, and do not be afraid.”

The early Hebrews needed Moses’ shining presence as they prepared to enter the Promised Land, full of giants and ungodly cultures.  As the Christian Church prepares to enter Lent, we also cower before the ungodliness and problems seemingly too big to handle.  We plunge into these 40 days, fearful of meeting death and destruction, yet glad for the transfiguration of our Leader, who tells us, “Get up, and do not be afraid.”

God Bless Us, Every One                                  Horace Brown King

My encounters with scripture lessons assigned to the upcoming weekend can be joined every Tuesday at this spot on Facebook; or at horacebrownking.com

I’m not good at fasting, although many folks find it a useful spiritual means of grace.  When I miss a meal, or skimp a bit, my body complains loudly and occasionally drops me into a need for medical care.  But there are many ways of fasting:  not so much as a denial of self as an appreciation of God’s presence beyond our material ownership.  My overstuffed self isn’t good at foregoing comfort; readings for the upcoming weekend challenge me to share God’s gifts of life with those who need.

Isaiah 58:1-12 is LONG, but worth it.  I’m sorry that I’m not preaching this week, because I’d use this as my sermon notes!  Theprophetic reader is encouraged to point out to the People their hypocrisy:  They expect to be included in holy ways, “AS IF they were a nation that practiced righteousness and did not forsake the ordinance of their God.”  We serve our own interests, we quarrel and oppress our workers even as we look the part by dressing in sackcloths and ashes.  “Will you call this a fast?”  The real fast that God expects is to break away from injustice, to loose the prisoners, to share our food & clothes & living space with the poor, and to make a solid relationship with our families.  “THEN your light shall break forth as the dawn…”   If you do these things, then the Lord will guide you continually, and you shall be known as blessed, a conduit of living water and a restorer of living space.

For the life of me, I can find very little to preach in I Corinthians 2:1-12, ‘cept maybe the idea that we’re called to appreciate God’s gifts.  Paul says that it’s “us & them” when it comes to holy understanding:  “Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the gifts bestowed upon us by God.”  Careful, here: don’t get involved in the Innies vs. the Outies game; I see very little godliness in that.

The Gospel is that ascribed to Matthew, chapter 5:13-20.  The salt & light analogies are good; is the bit about covering over the lamp about fasting?  Perhaps the strong emphasis is on v.17, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets;  I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.”  And a few sentences later, “unless your righteousness (godliness, justice, mercy) exceeds that of the scribes and the Pharisees (those who claimed to adhere to the letter of the Law), you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”   Evidently we can be too heavenly minded without being much earthly good.

These readings remind us that there’s often a gap between what we say and what we do–and that God’s quite aware of it.  “True fasting,” says Carol J. Dempsey, “involves dealing with those conditions, situations, and people that are ethically corrupting and corrupted, for the sake of the oppressed individual and for the common good….Fasting (is) a means of freeing one’s self to receive the gifts of God.”  (FEASTING on the WORD, A 1:318)

God Bless Us, Every One                                Horace Brown King

My thoughts about scriptural passages assigned to the upcoming weekend can be found every Tuesday at this spot on Facebook; or at horacebrownking.com