Last Sunday after the Epiphany
“. .
. Six days later” our Gospel reading begins. With a lead like that it’s worth
taking a look at what happened six days prior. Here’s what Matthew’s gospel
tells us:
“Jesus
asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say that the Son of Man is?’ And they said,
‘Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one
of the prophets.’ He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Simon Peter
answered, ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.’ And Jesus answered
him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed
this to you, but my Father in heaven. . .
“From
that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem
and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and
scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him
aside and began to rebuke him, saying, ‘God forbid it, Lord! This must never
happen to you.’ But he turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind me, Satan!
You are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine
things but on human things.’
. . .
Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led
them up a high mountain, by themselves. ”[1]
This morning’s reading about
the transfiguration – a revelation of who this Jesus of Nazareth truly is –
this reading comes right on the heels of perhaps one of the biggest
misunderstandings of the disciples.
Peter has gotten it all wrong. Peter is still holding on to his ideas
of what the Messiah will be – one who comes with power and might to overthrow
the Roman Empire – and is completely unable, with this image of Messiah deeply
ingrained, to see or understand that Jesus is an entirely different kind of
Messiah – one who will triumph but will do so by following a self-giving path
that will ultimately bring all peoples of the world into God’s reign. And this
self-giving path will lead Jesus directly into the waiting hands of the
authorities. Hardly the military triumph Peter was expecting.
So
Jesus takes Peter, James and John with him for this mountaintop
revelation. Moses and Elijah appear and
begin speaking with Jesus. Seeing this, Peter interrupts and says, “Lord, it is
good for us to be here; if you wish I will make three dwellings here, one for
you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.’”[2]
“Who do people say that I am,” asked Jesus six days earlier. Well, it is clear now that he cannot be
Elijah (or Moses) because he is appearing alongside them. Peter recognizes the significance of this
event and what it represents – affirmation of that Jesus is the Son of the
living God – and he does what others before him have done when faced with
heavenly visitors. He offers radical hospitality in offering to build dwellings
for them. But the revelation hasn’t
ended and if Peter stops it now, he will miss the point God has in mind. So God interrupts. Before Peter can even
finish his thought, a voice from the bright cloud announces, “This is my Son,
the Beloved; with him I am well pleased.” Now wait! We’ve heard this before – it’s
the same voice and the same message that was proclaimed at the time of Jesus’
baptism, marking the beginning of Jesus’ earthly ministry.[3]
Ostensibly, Peter, James and John, though likely not present at Jesus’ baptism,
had heard tell of this heavenly proclamation. Perhaps Jesus himself shared it
with them and, if not, word like that gets around!
But
this time there is more. The voice
continues saying, “Listen to him!” [4] I
wonder is this God’s direct response to Peter’s continued lack of
understanding. The disciples have experienced Jesus’ healing, Jesus’ social
commentary, Jesus’ charismatic ways and yet they do not understand who Jesus
is. Six days ago Jesus tells the disciples the precise nature of his calling
and Peter says “No! Lord!” and God responds, “Listen to him!”
How
often do you and I let our preconceived notions of who someone is or why
someone has done the things they’ve done – get in our way of seeing them for
who they really are? It’s an impossible question to answer of course because in
the process of doing it, we are blinded to the reality. I was drawn to this question recently as I
was reading a parenting book called The Explosive Child by Ross Greene
(by the way, and in fairness to my children, I should add that in reading the
book, I’ve quickly realized that it ought to be called The Explosive Parent
not The Explosive Child).
Dr.
Greene talks about our assumptions about children’s misbehavior – we attribute their
behavior to their tendency to be “manipulative, attention-seeking, unmotivated,
stubborn, willful, intransigent, bratty, spoiled, controlling, resistant, out
of control, and defiant. . . [as]
pushing buttons, coercing adults into giving in, and getting their way” (you
may have your own list) – and, as result, we respond to our assumptions by
punishing with things like timeouts or
removal of privileges.[5]
The author contends that, in fact, most children want to do well. They want to
do the right thing; but they are actually lacking the skills needed to do
so. When a child is lacking math skills
or reading skills, we teach them to do math or to read. But when a child is
lacking the skills needed to make the right choice and, as a result, act out, we
adults assume we already know their nature, the cause of the trouble and we get
into conversations like this:
Adult: Go brush your teeth.
Kid: No
Adult:
Go brush your teeth.
Kid:
No, I’m not going to (slams door)
Adult: Fine. No more TV for a week!
Dr. Greene invites us to imagine
the conversation going something like this instead:
Adult: I’ve noticed that it’s been difficult for you
to brush your teeth. What’s up?
Kid:
I don’t like the taste of the
toothpaste.[6]
This, of course, is a
relatively easy problem to solve but, I have to admit, it would never in a
million years have occurred to me that the taste of the toothpaste was the
problem. Nope! My mind would have gone to willful, stubborn or pushing my
buttons first. But not taste. And now,
instead of a timeout, this child can go with their parent to the store to buy a
flavor of toothpaste they’ll actually like.
Now,
I don’t know if Dr. Greene’s strategy is the best parenting strategy – time
will tell; but, what I like about the model is that Dr. Greene says, listen to
your child – in much the same way God says, “Listen to Jesus!” Don’t assume you
already know. In fact, cling to the notion that we don’t know what we don’t know
and see what is revealed in listening.
Another
example: on Thursday morning this week, I met with Fuschia Win-Ro. She is the
founder of Anti-Racism Playdates and the organizer of this summer’s Anti-RacismArt Festival. She was at St. Mark’s to see if we might be a venue for some of
the Art Festival workshops. And one of
her questions to me was, “where is St. Mark’s on their anti-racism journey?” I
was able to talk about how individuals in our congregation have participated in
CROAR’s Dismantling Systemic Racism
workshop and SEED conversations. I
mentioned internal conversations we have had over the years – most recently
within the vestry as we continue journeying towards being an anti-racist
institution. I also was honest about St.
Mark’s inability to stay the course in these conversations; about how our
anti-racism conversations sometimes feel like blips on the radar of race
relations. And I was honest about my own “I don’t know what I don’t know”
moments where I have inadvertently stepped into racist stereotypes – through my
words or actions - not realizing that I had done so and how I’ve learned that
impact matters much more than intent. I
need to listen to the voices of black people and other people of color. I need
to assume that I don’t already know and see what is revealed in listening.
The
voice from heaven tells Peter, James and John, “Listen to him!” and they fall
to the ground in fear. “But Jesus came
and touched them, saying, ‘Get up and do not be afraid.’” And in those words
lie the promise, the Good News. Let go
of what you think you know. Be open to learning something new. Listen. . .
listen and be transfigured by what is revealed.
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