Epiphany 6, Year B February 11, 2018
Last Sunday after the Epiphany
O God, who before the passion of your only-begotten Son revealed his glory upon the holy mountain: Grant to us that we, beholding by faith the light of his countenance, may be strengthened to bear our cross, and be changed into his likeness from glory to glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Mark 9:2-9
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 any more, 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.
Faith from the Margins to the Web co-authors: Steven and Mary Ann
After he finished reading the Gospel lesson, Steven noticed something: “The last part here, it really took me by surprise: As they were coming down the mountain he ordered them to tell no one. To me, that’s pretty heavy.”
Mary Ann was surprised, too. “After they had seen something like this, you would think they would want to talk about it, to tell everyone, not to stay quiet about it!”
Steven was putting himself in the perspective of those disciples, searching for answers: “I know, I know…what is the time period? Jesus hadn’t even died yet. Did they even know about the resurrection? How long did they think were they supposed to be quiet?!”
Mary Ann and Steven walked through the timeline of the Gospel story together and realized this event, the Transfiguration, was all happening at a time when his disciples really weren’t even “getting it” that Jesus was going to die, let along being raised to life again.
“I guess he was saying to them wait, to wait until he had been risen.” said Mary Ann.
“But you know, it is interesting because he specifically took these three disciples with him: Peter, James, and John. I guess that is because he really trusted them, and he didn’t want to do this alone. He wanted his friends to be with him.”
Steven narrated, “So, then they went by themselves, no one else. And then they saw him transfigured.”
“You know, when you were reading…” said Mary Ann “….when you read that part that they were white like no one on earth could bleach them, I immediately thought of my mother. She was a firm believer in Clorox! She would bleach things to an inch of their lives, but I guess this was even whiter than that. So then, after all those dazzling clothes, Moses and Elijah appear…long dead, and yet there they are.”
This seemed to put the story into a new perspective for Steven: “Yes, and that’s when Peter said to Jesus, ‘It is good for us to be here…’ because Peter wanted to make three dwellings. Wait, did those dwellings ever get made?”
Mary Ann answered, “I don’t think so…I think maybe Peter wanted them made, like he wanted a house or something, some place to stay.”
Steven nodded, relating to that feeling, and continued: “they didn’t know what to say, for they were terrified.” Yeah, I’d be terrified, too!”
The story began to come together as it may have felt for us in our everyday lives. Mary Ann pondered a bit: “I’ve never seen a vision, so this is so interesting to me, imagining what it must have really been like for them, which I think is what Mark is trying to convey. Have you ever seen a vision?”
Steven responded a bit shyly, “Um…Yes. My mother. She appeared to me one morning, and then she disappeared.”
“Wow! Were you terrified?!” asked Mary Ann.
Steven continued, “Yes, well, honestly Yes, I was! I was in the kitchen, I put on a pot of coffee. And she was there, right there, and then she disappeared.”
“Was this not long after she had passed?” Mary Ann wondered. “I bet you might have wanted to build a dwelling so she would stay too.”
Steven nodded, remembering, “Yeah, that’s right. It was about 8 or 9 months after she had passed. I was shocked that whole day. I told my sister about it right away. I didn’t have time to say anything, and I didn’t really know what to even say, but I had to tell someone, you know. So, that all makes me think…that’s why I think that even though Jesus ordered them, how is it that they could have not told anyone?”
Mary Ann was thinking about this, too. “Sometimes, there have been times that I felt the presence of people my mom, my dad, my sister…but I didn’t see them.”
“It tells me, it reminds me that our spirits live on.” said Steven.
A light bulb went off for Mary Ann. “You know, that makes me wonder: what if Mark was trying to convey that it was that the spirits of Moses and Elijah who were there, living with Jesus? I guess part of the message here may be that their spirits…the spirits of these two great prophets lived with Jesus, and Jesus lived with their spirits.” she paused. “Huh. That’s really interesting. I mean, I never really thought of that.”
Steven went back to read the prayer again:
Grant to us that we, beholding by faith the light of his countenance, may be strengthened to bear our cross…
Mary Ann was having another epiphany. “I’m reading that again all new now. That’s a powerful message. We all have crosses to bear, don’t we. For me, one of my crosses is loneliness.”
Steven appreciated this, and it resonated with him. “Yeah, that can be painful. Loneliness can be very painful. It can feel like you don’t have no friends. Loneliness, depression: these are our crosses.”
“I go back to that prayer, too.” said Mary Ann: that we may be changed into his likeness from glory to glory. So, like Jesus was transformed, we can be strengthened and changed too.”
“That word,” said Steven: “His countenance.”
“And countenance usually refers to face” added Mary Ann, “so reading it that way: we, beholding the light of his face, can be strengthened to bear our cross. It’s as if looking at the light of Jesus, seeing His face, makes us strong enough to bear our own crosses.
“Right!” Steven responded. “Loneliness, depression, fear, uncertainty…these are the things we have to look to him for, to pray about.”
Mary Ann added, “what I’ve noticed is that I have faith that my prayers reach God, but what I’ve noticed is that my prayers change me. When I pray about my fears, it helps me. Maybe that is God working, making me feel stronger. What do you pray for?”
Steven answered thoughtfully, “I pray for my family, my friends, my brother and sister. I pray for the homeless, because I was homeless once. I don’t pray to be rich, but I do ask God to give me enough, to provide what I need. I pray to get through month to month but I don’t pray for all those riches. I have enough. Yeah, I pray for the homeless all the time. I was homeless for almost a year and half. When I moved here, I was on a waiting list for housing but it took like a year and a half. It was so, so hard. It takes so, so long.”
Mary Ann responded with empathy, “I can’t know what that’s like but it seems like we could do better. I’ve heard from a lot of people that they did everything that was asked of them, but it still takes forever.”
Steven felt affirmed, “Yes, it does. I was just about ready to give up. I thought, if nothing changes soon I’m going back to Roanoke to live with my brother and sister. Then, I saw my case worker again one day when I was just ready to give up and she said, ‘Guess what? An apartment came through!’ and I was moved in later that week.”
“Well, good for you for sticking with it!” said Mary Ann. She was still floored by imagining spending that much time homeless. “What did you do? Did you stay in a shelter?”
“Well, I did sometimes.” answered Stephen, “But I did a whole lot of sleeping on the street.”
“Wow. That’s got to be scary.” said Mary Ann.
“It is, ” Steven reflected. But then he told a hard truth, “but some of the shelters, they are so overrun and so overcrowded. People don’t bathe, people want to fight, and I am a quiet and gentle person so that was hard for me.”
The picture was becoming clearer for Mary Ann, “Wow, so the street seemed safer…”
Steven confirmed it, “the street WAS safer for me than the shelters.”
Mary Ann asked, “Did you have a community? You know, that would look after each other?”
“Yeah, I developed friends.” said Steven. “We’d get together and find a place. It’s safer sticking together than sleeping alone on the street. They are still my friends. A lot of homeless people go it alone, though.”
“I really admire you.” acknowledged Mary Ann. “I mean, I just don’t know if I could do it, if I could survive…”
“It’s a rough life” admitted Steven, “It’s a very rough life. But, this Gospel reminds me that God was always with me. God is always with us. Peter and those up on that mountain, they knew that. I bet they wanted to try to tell people what that was like.” He was thoughtful for a moment, then added, “But even if it’s hard, like when Jesus ordered them not to say anything, we have to try to follow his word.”
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This week, after listening to Steven and Mary Ann reflect on this Gospel, I am reminded that the light of Christ, the face of Christ that we see in the eyes of our heart, is present with us whether we are at the height of the mountaintop or the roughness of the street. It’s why I’ve come to know through these conversations and interviews that the prophets of the street corner have so much to teach us, so much to convey about the ways in which God is present even in the places where it is hard for us to imagine God being. But, there is no height or depth, no dark corner or noisy shelter that is hidden from the Light of Christ.
Faith from the Margins to the Web 