Homily
by The Rev. Marcia McRae
St.
John’s Episcopal Church, Bainbridge, GA
7
Feb. 2016,
Last Sunday of Epiphany Year C:
Exodus
34:29-35; 2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2; Luke 9:28-36, [37-43a]; Psalm 99
We've
been on whirlwind travels through Jesus' life since Christmas. Today
the whirlwind continues & God says:
"This
is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!"
On
this last Sunday after Epiphany before we change our worship pace in
Lent, notice the whirlwind journey we're having with Jesus: his
birth, his family fleeing to Egypt, his staying in the Jerusalem
temple as a 12-year-old & worrying the daylights out of his
parents. We've seen him as an adult emerge from the water of baptism
&, while he prays, the Holy Spirit descends on him like a dove.
We
witnessed his 1st
miracle, heard him wow his hometown folk in the synagogue & saw
their admiration suddenly change into a whirlwind of murderous rage.
We
heard Peter declare Jesus as the Messiah when
Jesus prayed alone with the disciples. In today's Gospel, Jesus takes
Peter, John & James up the mountain to pray. Notice: prayer is
important.
After
Jesus sends the disciples to cast out demons, to heal & proclaim
the good news, after they return from this mission & see Jesus
feed the 5,000, after Jesus tells of his pending death &
resurrection, suddenly
today they see Jesus in a new light.
Notice
what our Gospel says about Jesus' companions on the mountain: they
are weighed down with sleep. What
weighs us down?
How do we manage to stay awake like the disciples so that we see
Jesus' glory?
If
we are tired & surprised like Peter, we don't know what to say &
may blurt out: “Let's take on a building project!”
Notice
what they hear God say when the cloud overshadows them: "This is
my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!"
How deep does the silence
feel when they are
alone together?
How deep does the silence feel
when you are
alone together with friends in God's presence?
God
says: listen to Jesus. Interestingly the disciples remain silent.
Impulsive Peter stays silent. The disciples say nothing to anyone
about the experience. After this whirlwind experience, they come down
& immediately face down-to-earth challenges.
From
the great crowd, a dad shouts “heal my son” since the disciples
not on the mountain can't cast out the demon. How frustrated Jesus
sounds: “You faithless & perverse generation, how much longer
must I be with you & bear with you?”
However
long it takes, Jesus puts up with us. Jesus waits for us to listen to
him. Our work of listening enhances our work as Jesus' disciples. As
one preacher says of today's Gospel:
In
all the world's joys & heartbreaks, all the delight &
despair, all we know & can never know, God gently calls us to
listen.1
Prayer
is central to our relationship with God. Prayer is central to our
work as Jesus' loving hands reaching out to our brothers &
sisters in the human family. Listening in prayer is central to our
relationship with God & our work with God. Listening prepares us
for our work in the whirlwind of life's demands. It's hard to hear in
a whirlwind. Like practicing any skill, prayer trains us how to
listen in the whirlwind.
In
his book Bread
for the Journey,
which
the
preacher quotes,
priest,
writer & professor
Henri
J.M.
Nouwen says:
“To
listen is
very hard...it asks of us so much interior stability that we no
longer need to prove ourselves by speeches, arguments, statements, or
declarations. True listeners no longer have an inner need to make
their presence known. [True listeners] are free to receive, to
welcome, to accept…[Nouwen says:] The beauty of listening is that,
those who are listened to start feeling accepted, start taking their
words more seriously & discovering their own true selves.
He
says: "Listening is a form of spiritual hospitality by which you
invite strangers to become friends, to get to know their inner selves
more fully, & even to dare to be silent with you."2
"Listening
is a form of spiritual hospitality by which you invite strangers to
become friends, to get to know their inner selves more fully, &
even to dare to be silent with you."
Bibliography
Harper’s
Bible Commentary.
General Ed.: James. L. Mays. San Francisco: Harper & Row
Publishers, 1988.
Holy
Bible with the Apocrypha.
New Revised Standard Version. New York: Oxford University Press.
1989.
Jewish
Study Bible: Jewish Publication Society TANAKH Translation.
New York: Oxford University Press. 2004.
Jolly,
The Rev. Marshall A. “Listening for God, Last Epiphany (C) –
2016”. Accessed:
4 Feb. 2016.
http://episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/stw/2016/01/20/listening-for-god-last-epiphany-2016/
“Mountaintop
Experience”.
http://www.sermons4kids.com/mountaintop-experiences.html
Accessed: 4 Feb. 2016.
The
New American Bible for Catholics.
South Bend: Greenlawn Press. 1986.
1
Jolly, The
Rev. Marshall A. “Listening for God, Last Epiphany (C) – 2016”.
Accessed:
4 Feb. 2016.
http://episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/stw/2016/01/20/listening-for-god-last-epiphany-2016/
2
Henri
J.M. Nouwen, Bread
for the Journey: A Daybook of Wisdom and Faith.
HarperOne,
1997. Quoted by
The Rev. Marshall A. Jolly.
http://episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/stw/2016/01/20/listening-for-god-last-epiphany-2016/
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