Sunday Stretch: Vol. 68

Start off your week with a grounded take on Bible, prayer, the world, and your life ...

Hi Readers,

Happy Transfiguration and Super Bowl Sunday! Whew, what a joint holiday to celebrate. I wrote last year on Super Bowl Sunday about my own experience covering the Super Bowl as a sportswriter in 2009. Today, 15 years later and 38 years old instead of 23 years old, I guess I’ve experienced by own sort of transfiguration (haha).

Truthfully, I have always loved this Sunday of the church year and the way that it leads us into the Lenten season (for those of you keeping track, this is the church year where church holidays and secular ones seem to intersect; Ash Wednesday this week falls on Valentine’s Day!) One of my favorite sermons I’ve ever gotten to preach took place on Transfiguration Sunday, at Community Lutheran Church in Las Vegas, during my pastoral internship. I remember I had this theme of Moments of Perfection in a lifetime of imperfection. It was this idea of holding onto the moments where the Holy Spirit intercedes so powerfully into our lives, that for just a moment, we glimpse the full power and purpose of God.

Of course, to live is to know that those moments - like the Transfiguration on the hillside itself - are fleeting. If you don’t dwell fully in them, you’ll miss them. And then the dryer buzzer will go off or your cell phone notification will ding, and you can’t quite recapture that moment.

So every year, on Transfiguration Sunday, I remind myself that while I can’t expect my whole life to look like the glory and beauty of the transfiguration, I can count on the fact that the Holy Spirit will reveal herself fully every so often. I sure don’t want to miss that. Which maybe is also why each Super Bowl Sunday I take a few moments to remember just how cool it was to watch Bruce Springsteen during halftime in Tampa, and how time seemed to stop for a moment, even as the game went on to an exciting finish.

And hey - again - for my KC husband and family - Go Chiefs! (And Taylor, haha)

Let’s get to the texts …

Bible Stories

2 Kings 2:1-12

2Kings 2:6   Then Elijah said to him, “Stay here; for the LORD has sent me to the Jordan.” But he said, “As the LORD lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So the two of them went on. ⁷ Fifty men of the company of prophets^a also went, and stood at some distance from them, as they both were standing by the Jordan. ⁸ Then Elijah took his mantle and rolled it up, and struck the water; the water was parted to the one side and to the other, until the two of them crossed on dry ground.

2Kings 2:9   When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, “Tell me what I may do for you, before I am taken from you.” Elisha said, “Please let me inherit a double share of your spirit.” ¹⁰ He responded, “You have asked a hard thing; yet, if you see me as I am being taken from you, it will be granted you; if not, it will not.” ¹¹ As they continued walking and talking, a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them, and Elijah ascended in a whirlwind into heaven. ¹² Elisha kept watching and crying out, “Father, father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!” But when he could no longer see him, he grasped his own clothes and tore them in two pieces.

One of the sometimes-curious parts of the Transfiguration Story is the almost-embarrassing earnestness of Peter, as he says to the Transfigured Jesus that they should build dwellings on the mountaintop, including one for Elijah. Many a sermon has been preached about how we can’t stay on the mountaintop but have to get back to the work! Sound familiar? I’m sure I’ve preached a version of that one, too …

What I appreciate then about this reading is that it helps give context to Peter’s inclusion of Elijah on the top of the mountain. This story from 2 Kings recounts the ascension of Elijah into heaven. The prophets Elijah and Elisha are powerful and sometimes even scary figures in the Hebrew Bible. They do miracles but also prophesy at a time of war and hardship and violence for the people of Israel. I often envision Elijah as burly and harsh, even violent. But this story from 2 Kings instead also shows us their gentleness, and the depth of their relationship as friends, co-workers, and teacher/student.

Elijah knew that Elisha asking for this double portion of his spirit was not like asking for a double portion of inheritance. Part of Elijah’s Spirit was one that forced him to bring difficult messages to a struggling and sinful people. Still, he remained faithful to the mission that God had sent him on, and he also entrusted Elisha to continue his work. Finally, at the end of the passage, we see the unashamed expression of grief and male sadness and emotion on the part of Elisha.

Questions to Ponder

Why do you think Elisha insisted on going with Elijah? Did that differ from God’s original plan?

Why do you think God allowed Elisha to end up going along? What does this say about the interplay of human agency and God’s direction?

Do you think Elijah’s ascension seems scary? Why did God have him ascend in this way, do you think?

2 Corinthians 4:3-6

2Cor. 4:3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. ⁴ In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. ⁵ For we do not proclaim ourselves; we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus’ sake. ⁶ For it is the God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Transfiguration Sunday is also the final Sunday of the Epiphany season, which is also known as the season of light in the church. This time of year in the Northern Hemisphere, we are seeing increasing daylight and sunlight as the days continue to lengthen toward the summer solstice. I have noticed myself each day lately that I am energized in the mid-morning hours, when there tends to be blue skies and sunshine. Then, as day drifts toward sundown, it seems to get cloudy, and I find myself yawning. I realize how much I appreciate the rhythms of light and darkness, and how they remind me of a place and purpose much bigger than my individual self. I love how the Apostle Paul writes throughout his letters to the Corinthians about the hidden and revealed works of God, and the way he uses imagery of a veil. Transfiguration Sunday for me represents those few moments when the veil is lifted from our eyes, if one for an instant.

What does it mean to be “perishing,” as Paul writes in verse 3?

Many modern-day interpreters of Paul’s theology often miss the way so much of his work centers on his own humility. In verse 5 he writes, we do not proclaim ourselves. What does it mean for church leaders to view themselves in this way, as slaves (or servants) to the world for Jesus’ sake?

How does this idea of servant leadership coexist with the need for self-care and boundaries for effective church leaders?

Mark 9:2-9

Mark 9:2   Six days later, 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, ³ and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one^a on earth could bleach them. ⁴ And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus. ⁵ Then Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings,^a one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” ⁶ He did not know what to say, for they were terrified. ⁷ Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, “This is my Son, the Beloved;^a listen to him!” ⁸ Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one with them any more, but only Jesus.

The Coming of Elijah

Mark 9:9   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.

There has been much discussion in recent years about the unexamined role of white garments worn by leaders in the church, and the symbolism of white to represent goodness or purity in Christian settings. Pastor Stephanie Jaeger shares a helpful reflection here that I think is worth considering on this Transfiguration Sunday, and I also thank

rev/awo lenny duncan

for initially bringing this issue to my attention. The meanings of white garments in predominately white American denominations carries with them layered meaning that goes far beyond the original intention here explained in the account of the Transfiguration. But I do think it’s a helpful time to examine our traditions and the unintended meanings they can carry.

As a mom of two boys and also someone who is admittedly more than a little bit fastidious about the laundry in my household, I was actually interested in the detail at the end of verse 3, that suggested people in Jesus’ day were actively bleaching clothes. So I did a little research into the Greek word used here (λευκᾶναι), which means to