February 19, 2023

Last week I sent you a cartoon from a website called Inherit the Mirth, showing God as an old man doing laundry, with white things going in the washer, while darker clothes will go in a different load. It had musical notes to show us that God was whistling while he does this, and the caption is “And God separated the light from the dark.” Perhaps that’s part of why Jesus’ clothes became dazzling white in today’s gospel. As others have suggested, in terms of racial relations, laundry is probably the only place where it’s okay to separate light things from dark things. I hope no one found that cartoon to be offensive. Personally, I found it charming to see a depiction of God doing ordinary everyday things like you and I do – brings God closer to our human experience.

Today is Transfiguration Sunday, part one, and then it occurs again on August 6th. I’m not sure why there are two of them, but it seems that today’s celebration is meant to be partly focused on the Easter story of Jesus transfiguring into the resurrection. In chapter 16 of Matthew, just before today’s gospel, poor Peter ends up on a bit of an emotional rollercoaster after Jesus asks them who people say he is, and who do the disciples say that he is. That’s an interesting story in itself; and since it’s not coming up as a gospel in the next few months, let me just mention here that when the disciples tell Jesus that people think he’s John the Baptist, or Elijah, or Jeremiah, or another prophet … this shows that they must have believed in reincarnation! And Jesus does not dissuade them from this idea. Instead, he wants to know what they think. And when Simon Peter says ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God’ Jesus is thrilled and says: “Blessed are you, Simon [Peter] … For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven” (Mt 16:17). But Peter’s place on this pedestal only lasts for six more verses … until Peter protests against the suffering that Jesus says he must undergo. Then Jesus says to Peter: “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block for me” (v23). Oh dear, as we discussed in Bible study, Peter gives us all a lot of hope in the life of faith. He keeps messing up, but then seemingly dusts himself off and keeps going … until he trips over something else. We too, then, can make mistakes & keep going.

The story of the Transfiguration appears in all three synoptic gospels – Matthew, Mark & Luke. But it’s only in today’s Matthew version that when Peter offers to build three dwellings for Moses, Elijah and Jesus -- Peter also says to Jesus “if you wish” (v4). Whereas in both Mark and Luke, Peter seems to be planning to go ahead with this plan, without checking what Jesus thinks of the idea. In Mark’s gospel, this is followed by “He did not know what to say for they were terrified” (Mk 9:6). And similarly in Luke we read “not knowing what he [Peter] said” (Lk 9:33). Poor Peter … flubs things again, not knowing what he’s doing. Thankfully Matthew is kinder in his gospel, when he reports that Peter says: “if you wish, I will make three dwellings here …”.

But then what happens next is that a bright cloud overshadows them, and from that cloud a voice says: “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him!” And William Barclay explains that this bright cloud was the shekinah aspect of God. In recent decades, many biblical scholars have identified ‘shekinah’ as the feminine aspect of God – that shines forth in this bright and glorious way as the divine presence. You know how people sometimes say, especially in obituaries, how someone lit up the room with their entrance and smile? Well, that’s what Shekinah is like. Wikipedia also tells us that the Hebrew word means ‘dwelling’ or ‘settling’ and ‘denotes the presence of God, as it were, in a place’. No need for Peter to build other dwellings.

There’s much more that could be said about this interesting gospel, but let’s think about some other readings too, which are well-matched today. Although our first reading from Exodus is not about Moses’ face shining after seeing God – that comes ten chapters later – it is about Moses going up a mountain to meet God and get the commandments. A cloud covers this mountain, just like in the gospel we heard. Moses enters the cloud and stays on that mountain for forty days and forty nights. Next Sunday, we’ll hear about Jesus going into the wilderness to fast and pray for forty days and forty nights, so this is an important or sacred space of time. And Lent begins in 3 days, but Lent is only forty days by the calendar if you skip the Sundays. This means that many Christians took Sundays off from their Lenten disciplines – something I never heard of doing, growing up Catholic. Did you get to take Sundays off from whatever you were giving up for Lent in the past?

As to Lenten disciplines, it’s become more of a focus in recent years to adopt practices that will help alleviate suffering in the world, or make the world a better place, than to worry about giving up chocolate or sweets. As our psalm says, God is a lover of justice (v4), and so many of our Isaiah readings and others – say similar things. I’m sure there are still things we can give up that help bring more justice and equity to the world. For instance, I tend to do most of my grocery shopping at Superstore, since it’s not far from my home. I try to support smaller more local stores too … but they’re more pricey, with less to choose from and closer ‘expiry’ dates. But if I’m honest, part of what draws me to Superstore, is their Joe Fresh clothing line. Unfortunately, though, these clothes are made in Bangladesh – a mecca of cheap clothing, made by poorly paid workers in often awful conditions. Sigh … now there’s a shopping habit I should rethink.

And speaking of clothing, we can go back to that cartoon with God sorting the laundry. As we prepare to enter again the Lenten season, what do we need to separate in terms of darkness and light in our world? There’s still so much on the dark side, isn’t there – war, famine, greed, corruption, many kinds of violence, climate crisis, world health problems, and much more. May God’s Holy Spirit of Wisdom come to enlighten us in the brightness of Shekinah, so that we may learn better paths forward towards a world of greater wellbeing for all of God’s creatures and Creation, Amen.