As we come to the end of the season
of ordinary time after the Epiphany, the scripture stops us abruptly with
anything but the ordinary. Here is another epiphany, a manifestation or showing
forth of God in Christ. This is the most vivid such manifestation in the
gospels, prior to the resurrection, if you set aside the epiphany of the angels
of the incarnation. This manifestation can be seen as a foretaste, of the
resurrection appearances, and perhaps a sample of the vision of God that we
anticipate seeing, as St. Paul tells us, not “in a mirror, dimly,” but “face to
face.” . . . –– Sara Webb Phillips
Mark 9:2-9
Profound spiritual experiences are
a normal part of discipleship to Jesus, and may become more frequent in times
when we are intentional about letting him draw us nearer to himself, as we do
every Sunday when we gather around his table, and as we do every year during
Lent as we seek personally and corporately to reorient our lives even more to
his way. But those experiences are not the end we seek. Instead they are
powerful reminders, pointing us back to the power, wisdom and glory of Jesus.
As we are pointed back to Jesus,
the Father's voice continues to remind us to listen to him. Not to the power of
the experience, not to the prevailing wisdom of the day, not to hopes for glory
for ourselves or others—but to the words and teaching of Jesus.
We as the institutional church must
confess that we have not always followed this directive well. We have listened
to philosophers or kings or emperors or scholars or psychologists or
televangelists or church marketing experts or leadership gurus, perhaps
thinking and believing in all sincerity that we were listening to Jesus in and
through them. To be sure, sometimes we were.
But our first call, as church, and
especially as we all engage this Lenten journey which begins just three days
from today, is to listen to Jesus himself. We have his words, his teachings
recorded in the gospels. . . . During Lent itself it is to [the] Lord . .
. we ultimately turn—not only to hear his words, but to learn again, or perhaps
for the first time, how to do them.
. . . Today we are on a high
mountain with Jesus, looking out over the spiritual battleground that lies
ahead for each of us. –– Taylor Burton-Edwards
2 Kings 2:1-12
Elijah's ministry ends dramatically
as he is taken into heaven in a chariot of fire. The wonderful storytelling
draws out Elijah's final journey with repetition of narrative elements. The
listener's sense of expectation increases as Elisha will not be dissuaded from
following his master. At last “the mantle is passed” and the story turns its
attention to Elisha. –– Aaron J. Couch
2 Corinthians 4:3-6
Paul pictures the gospel message as
open and clear but acknowledges that for some, its truth is veiled. It is
Satan, the “god of this world,” who has blinded them so they fail to see the
glory of Christ. Those who believe “see” the glory of the Creator God revealed
in Jesus Christ. –– Aaron J. Couch
Taylor
Burton-Edwards is the Director of Worship resources for the United
Methodist Church.
Aaron J. Couch is
a co-pastor of First Immanuel Lutheran Church in Portland, Oregon.
Sara Webb Phillips
is a United Methodist minister serving North Springs UMC in Sandy Springs,
Georgia.
Homily Service 39, no. 3 (2006): 35-46.
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