Something pretty spectacular happened, but only Peter, James
and John experienced it—and they kept silent about it—at least they did for
awhile. In a document scholars call
Peter's testament, we hear the only witness to speak about his experience. Most likely writing to the church in Rome,
Peter 's experience became an essential part of his argument for the Christian
hope of Christ's return, judgment, and a renewal of the world as a just and
righteousness society.
Here's what Peter
had to say: (2 Peter 1)
“ For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when
we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had
been eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received honor and glory from God
the Father when that voice was conveyed to him by the Majestic Glory, saying,
‘This is my Son, my Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.’ We
ourselves heard this voice come from heaven, while we were with him on the holy
mountain.
“So we have the prophetic message more
fully confirmed. You will do well to be attentive to this as to a lamp shining
in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your
hearts. First of all you must understand this, that no prophecy of
scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, because no prophecy
ever came by human will, but men and women moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from
God.”
Something pretty spectacular
happened. This passage and the gospel
accounts of the Transfiguration (in Matthew, Mark and Luke) according to
scholars were all written several decades after Jesus' resurrection and
ascension.
Today we use the phrase “mountain-top”
experience to describe something spectacular that has a continuing influence on
our lives. We have learned, though, that
the intensity of a “mountain-top” dissipates as life goes on.
Let's look more closely at this
mountain-top experience, as Luke tells it, to see what it say about our
“religious” experiences. First there is
withdrawal to a place away from daily life in order to pray. No words of prayer were reported, but
suddenly there was a vision of God's glory and figures from the Jewish
religious tradition. There appeared to
be some purpose for the figures of Jesus, Moses and Elijah to be together. Just
when it seemed over and Peter wanted to memorialize it, something else
happened. The vision changed into the
terrifying darkness of a cloud which enveloped them and a voice spoke. Peter heard it as the voice of God claiming
Jesus as God's son. The gospel writers
included an additional statement by the voice of God telling Peter, James and
John to listen to Jesus. It ends as
suddenly as it began, and the very next day the needy world intrudes.
So what have we learned? Prayer, probably silent contemplative prayer,
can be used by God for revelation of God's self. Light and darkness, perhaps real, perhaps
spiritual, are both means through which God reveals God's self. God initiates this act of revelation. We cannot control revelation through some
sort of “perfect” prayer life convincing God to reveal God's self. But we have to say yes to being open to the
experience of God. Peter, James and John
agreed to go up the mountain with Jesus and chose to stay awake. And when it
was all over, they entered again into the active ministry to which Jesus had
called them.
We are about to enter the season of
Lent when we are encouraged by church tradition to take on three disciplines:
prayer, fasting and almsgiving. Most of
us do some of these things some of the time.
Even when we promise ourselves and God to be more intentional about our
prayer—even when we try for a season to give up something important to us—even
when look for new ways to help those less fortunate than ourselves—we may find
ourselves not so much on the mountain top, but more on a treadmill, struggling
with the daily-ness of our work and our obligations. Would we have to respond,
“So sorry, Jesus,” if he said to us what he said in exasperation to his
disciples, “You faithless and perverse generation, how much longer must I be
with you and bear with you?” So, sorry,
Jesus, I really was trying to focus on what's important . . . please forgive
me.
As Jesus agreed to heal the boy
suffering from convulsions, so he will agree to heal us of our infirmity of
forgetting what is most important: to
love God with all your heart, mind and strength, and to love others as we love ourselves. So let us pray the Prayer of Confession today
with all our heart.
Then as Lent begins on Wednesday, we
need to find some time to each day to direct our thoughts to God, and then in
silence wait for God. Teresa of Avila, a
Christian mystic of the 16th century, said that God may come to us
in the silence or God may not, but we always should make time for God in Jesus,
who is our friend.
What is it that distracts you most from
your prayer? It may not be chocolate.
Have you seen the cartoon of the girl in front of the mirror saying, “I think I
will be closer to God if I give up M&M's.
Were it that easy to draw close to God—to allow the space for God to
draw close to us! What is it that
distracts us most from prayer? During this
Lent let us try going without that distraction.
And finally let us ask God for new eyes
to see those who need our compassion and our help. We may find a new way to give to those in
need. For some of us who cannot get out
and about the way we used to, it may be praying in intercession for those whose
needs we have begun to notice.
Yes, to keep a Holy Lent let us pray,
fast and give alms, not to earn salvation—because we can never live that
perfectly—but let us pray, fast and give alms in order to clear a space in our
lives for God to appear. Perhaps God
will come as a bright moment or as a dark shadow or as neither, but God in
Jesus will see us as a friend waiting for God and loving God. And that will be enough!
No comments:
Post a Comment