Each of us has someone in our past, or perhaps our present, whom we respect immensely. That person is a role model, or even a hero, to us, someone who exemplifies the highest ideals of life. We would like to model our lives after that person, but we often don't feel that we can live up to the challenge. Elisha felt that way about the great prophet Elijah. Many scholars believe that Elijah almost singlehandedly brought about a revival of the prophetic office in Israel in his day. He was respected by kings and by other prophets, including his disciple Elisha. Elisha was devoted to his teacher, and he desperately wanted to be like him, but there seemed little chance of that. How could he fill such big shoes? Still, he stayed with Elijah to the end, even though he knew that God was planning to take him soon. Some of the other prophets stayed in their cities, content in their own lives. Other prophets traveled with Elijah to the edge of the River Jordan, but they stayed safely on the bank when Elijah entered the river. Only Elisha traveled all the way with the great prophet, and because he did, he was blessed tremendously, receiving a double portion of Elijah's spirit. It's easy to stay in our comfortable homes and be only cursorally aware that God is acting around us. We might even be willing to take the time to look about us to see what God is up to. But only those who are willing to commit themselves totally, regardless of the cost, to following God will be able to see God at work firsthand and participate in his ministry in the world. It's not enough to stay at home and be aware that God is doing something, nor is it sufficient to stand on the bank see it happening. Committed followers of God are those who are willing to take risks, to discern what God is doing and get involved with the work. Our spiritual blessings from God increase as we increase our level of involvement in God's work in the world.
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What is it like to stand in a courtroom, accused of a crime that you know you've committed? How about if you're innocent of the charges against you? No criminal justice system is perfect: sometimes the guilty go free, and sometimes the innocent pay the penalty for someone else's crime. Franz Kafka's The Trial tells the story of Joseph K., a man accused and ultimately convicted of crimes of which he is totally unaware. The greatest horror in the court system is the execution of an innocent person who has been wrongly convicted of a capital crime. Despite the best efforts of many, the world is an unjust place. The rich and powerful commit crimes and often get away with them, while the poor and powerless are often unable to defend themselves against their accusers. This inequity goes back to time immemorial, and the psalmist, aware of this injustice, says that God alone is the perfect judge. Whereas human laws judge acts, God is aware of motives. God rejects perfunctory sacrifices, because he demands much more of his followers, namely, lives that reflect the justice of God. The God who is portrayed as a consuming fire and a roaring thunderstorm has the power to enforce his judgments. Those who do wrong, even though they play at following God, will not escape his wrath, but those who obey God and live lives of justice will have their lives accepted as a sacrifice, and God will bless them.
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In the movie American Beauty, Ricky, the boy next door with a video camera, is able to see beauty in the wind blowing a paper bag, where most others would just see litter. The gospel is beautiful, because it offers good news that God loves people and cares about them, but too many are unable to see it. Those who have never experienced God's love find it hard to believe that it exists. Even those who have had an encounter with God are all too often unaware of the depth of that love, believing that God could only love people just like them. After meeting with God, Moses used to wear a veil so that his face wouldn't shine and terrify the people. When Paul says that Moses would even wear the veil when the glory was fading, he is not criticizing Moses for pretending that the glow was still there. Rather, he is commenting on the fact that, even when the shine on Moses' face was fading, it still reflected too much of God's glory for people to look on without awe. The glory of God represents both his power and his beauty, and the gospel lets people know about both. When God is present, drab colors become vibrant, despair turns to hope, and lives are transformed. Some people are so consumed with their own lives that they don't even notice God at work. Others are interested in what God is doing, but because they have preconceived notions of how and where God will work (on Sunday, in church, through Christians of a particular theological persuasion), they fail to see God at work all around them. If we can learn to see the beauty of God all around us, particularly in the faces of other people, then we'll have a better understanding of what's so good about the good news, and we'll be in a position to share it with others.
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Prior to the nineteenth century, people around the world were aware of strange bones buried in the ground that were different than any living species of animal, and they could also see that some animals were very similar to one another, while others were quite different. When Charles Darwin journeyed on the Beagle, he saw the same fossils and animals that people had been aware of for years. As he began recording his observations, however, he suddenly had an insight that had escaped anyone before him, the principle of natural selection as the driving forces behind the variety of the life around us. He saw what others saw, but he understood it differently. As in the other readings for today, the story of the Transfiguration deals with the issues of perception and interpretation. There is nothing subtle about the glory of God reflected on the face of Jesus, and the fact that he was conversing with Elijah and Moses (how did the disciples know who they were--did they have name tags?) was a clear indication that he was a great person. But what was their response to this new revelation? Peter, ever the spokesperson for the group, offered to build shrines for each of the three. God's answer? "This is my Son, listen to him!" Followers of God need to learn not just to observe the world around them but to exegete it, in other words, to interpret it properly. The disciples properly understood what was happening on the mountain, but their proposed reaction was wrong. It's not that building monuments was a bad thing, it was just not the best thing they could do. God's message to them was, "Don't stay here and keep this vision to yourselves. Share your understanding of it with those around you." As we reflect on this passage of scripture, or as we observe the world we live in, there are two questions we must continually ask ourselves: (1) What is God doing?; (2) How should I respond?
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