Lent
February 23, 2018
Scripture Reading: Mark 9:2-9
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. Then Peter said to Jesus, ‘Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.’ He did not know what to say, for they were terrified. Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!’ Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one with them anymore, but only Jesus.
As they were coming down the mountain, he ordered them to tell no one about what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead.
I spent a lot of years as a technical writer producing fact-based policy that required an exactitude I did not always accomplish. I remember well a discourse with a federal regulator over the meaning of the word “or.” I interpreted a federal regulation I was translating into state policy to say the state could do this or that thus we implemented both practices. The federal regulator assured me it meant that the state could do either this or that but not both. They won of course, but I was pleased to see that they clarified the regulation by adding the word either. Technical writing does not leave room for deeper meaning, and its influence impacts how I read everything.
When I read Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one with them anymore, but only Jesus. I surmise that the vision of Elijah and Moses had vanished. Is there a deeper meaning that I miss when I read it technically? Is Mark telling us that Jesus supersedes what Elijah and Moses brought to us about God or perhaps incorporates their message? Or, is it perhaps saying that we are to filter everything in our lives through the Word that was Jesus even how we might perceive the teachings and examples of Elijah and Moses? Hindsight is a great source of wisdom. Looking back through Jesus to Elijah and Moses gives us insight into the ways of God bringing us along as we grow and develop and our societies grow and develop.
During this Lenten season, join me in working to center our lives through Jesus as we see what he saw in his earthly journey to the cross.
Prayer: Holy One, create in me a clean heart and fill me with a new vision as I seek to see only Jesus while dealing with life’s challenges. Amen.