So What?
If we’re preaching the Revised
Common Lectionary, we have a choice to make before we even begin. Will we
focus on the Transfiguration? Or on the disciples’ failure to heal the
boy? Or will we try to combine them?
If we preach the Transfiguration, and
if we’re faithful to Luke (we think it’s important to preach on
the Gospel for this year, not a compilation of the double- or triple-tradition)
then we have to preach on a Transfiguration whose focal idea is Jesus’
“departure.” On this Sunday, just a few days before Ash Wednesday,
it isn’t difficult to include Jesus’ crucifixion, his “departure”
in our preaching. “Listen to him!” We listen in awe as Jesus stands
between Moses and Elijah, and then in distress as he discusses his departure.
Somehow, our sermons for this day must include both the awe and the distress.
If we preach the return down the mountain,
the disciples’ abject failure, we’re challenged to find Gospel.
It would be too simple for us to fall into the trap of treating the disciples
as scapegoats, “others.” Even if we manage to avoid that pitfall,
how do we find gospel here?
“You faithless and perverse generation!
How long must I bear with you?” Jesus cries out at the faithlessness
of those who surround him, and promptly heals the child. As we enter into
the season of Lent, how unwilling we are to face the depth of our denial of
God’s place in our lives. How conveniently we overlook the fear that
imprisons us in a way of living that starves so many people every day.
We overlook it because we don’t
really believe in forgiveness. We won’t face our faithlessness because
we think that if we do, we’ll see as much of God’s back as God
sees of ours.
But no.
Jesus bemoans the suffering that results
from our faithlessness. He cries out because the child suffered needlessly,
but he does not walk away. He hears the cries of the faithless and delivers
the victim.
Here is a Gospel that dares us to get
real, to invite God into our fear-filled lives and convert us with healing
love.
Anthropological reading
What should be occurring when the church
brings Jesus into conversation with the law and the prophets? What should
be the focus of this discussion? Read these two questions again and then think
about this for a moment before moving on.
Our reading for today contains something
precious, something essential if we are to understand the gospel. It is so
easy to miss this. In a very real sense it is the Lukan hermeneutic spelled
out in exactly the same way as expressed by both Paul and the Fourth Gospel.
Only in Luke are we given the contents
of the conversation between Jesus, Moses and Elijah. Luke says that they were
discussing Jesus’ ‘departure’ or ‘death.’ Jesus
the scapegoat. Moses and Elijah will play strategic hermeneutic roles for
Luke throughout his gospel. In Luke 4, it is the Elijah/Elisha cycle that
is rehearsed; in Luke 7 where several Isaianic texts are strung together,
it is the Elijah/Elisha cycle that also plays a role. We believe that David
Moessner has given the most compelling evidence for a reading of the Travel
Narrative of Luke as a recasting of the rejected prophet like Moses.
Elijah and Moses, the Torah and the prophets
speaking with the gospel, and what is spoken about is the imminent fate of
Jesus. But the church, like Peter, would rather not go in that direction.
That is not fun, better just to build shelters in the glorious moment. What
does the glory of this moment have to do with death? This dazzling light,
these great figures of Israel’s history standing here, on this mountain,
was plenty. It was a moment of sheer incomprehension, and as much as any Marcan
text, shows the inability of the Galilean followers of Jesus to get what he
was about. They did not want to acknowledge that there was an inevitability
to Jesus’ cross. They could not fathom how Jesus’ dying could
be a benefit.
But Luke clues us into this benefit of
the cross of Jesus when he characterizes the conversation between Jesus, Moses
and Elijah as a discussion about Jesus’ exodus. That is, what is about
to happen is going to be above all else a redemptive event with history shaping
implications. Think of what the Exodus under Moses meant to Israel in the
subsequent millennia. Strange choice of a word, unless you wanted to evoke
a sense that something bigger was going on here than that which meets the
eye. The glory of God is revealed in the one who will bring to completion
and fulfillment the work of the law and the prophets to break Judaism free
from the victimizing elements of the pagan religions. Jesus accomplishes this
in his death/departure/exodus. The complete and total revelation of the human
condition and the complete and total revelation of the character of God.
The glory of God, maker of heaven and
earth, revealed in the cross of Christ. This is almost a Johannine moment
when one recalls (Year B) the Fourth Gospel’s use of the verbs upsao
(to lift up) and doxazo (to glorify). It is also very Pauline. In what way
is the glory of God revealed in the Cross of Christ? Simple, unlike all the
other gods, Jesus does not go down swinging. He dies as he lived, as a man
of peace. He died forgiving. Most of all he died innocent and thus forever
disclosed the true nature of the human species poisoned by negative mimesis.
The glory of God in the cross of Christ means that God is not like the gods
of myth, even or especially the Christian myth. God is revealed as love, a
thesis statement of the New Testament if there ever was one. And in the glory
of the resurrection, God, the giver of Life, vindicates this one, this life,
and astonishingly does not retaliate. Retaliation and retribution are not
what God is about. Love and forgiveness are what God is about. To say otherwise
is not Gospel but myth.
Historical/Cultural
Comments from two sections of “Luke’s
Use of Matthew.”
9:28-36 (pp. 139-40)
Luke followed the order of Matthew to
obtain this account. However, unlike Matthew, Luke has been carefully building
toward this crowning revelation of Jesus’ divine status since earlier
in his narrative. A number of key figures, beginning with John the Baptist,
asked the question repeatedly, “Who are you? Are you he who is to come?”
Simeon the Pharisee’s guests asked:
“Who is this who even forgives sins?” The disciples asked each
other: “Who is this who can command the wind and the sea and they obey
him?” Herod Antipas said, “John the Baptist I beheaded, but who
is this who does all these things?” Finally, Jesus himself asks his
disciples who they think he is. Peter answers: “You are the Christ of
God.” The true answer at last. But then, eight days later, Peter and
James and John are taken up on “the mountain” where they witness
a divine verification of the answer: Jesus is changed into pure light before
their very eyes. They hear God’s Voice proclaim: “THIS IS MY SON!
LISTEN TO HIM!” On this high note, Luke concludes his rich and nuanced
history of Jesus’ Galilee ministry.
This vignette also sets the stage for
the next part of the narrative: the lengthy account of Jesus’ journey
to Jerusalem, during which-with “listen to him!” still echoing
in the background-Jesus teaches the Twelve and the crowds many things about
the Christian life.
9:37-43a (pp. 145-46)
Luke continued to follow Mt’s order
for this story. However, he made some minor alterations to heighten the dramatic
impact. The most important difference is found at the end, where Luke has
omitted Mt’s conclusion (Mt 17:19-20) and substituted his own (Lk 9:43a)……
Lk 9:43 is Luke’s replacement of Mt’s report of the downcast disciples
coming to Jesus to ask why they could not heal the boy. Not that Luke suppressed
all mention of the disciples’ desire to learn from their failure, leaving
them instead in the harsh glare of abject failure.
Either
this page has not yet been completed, or we have not found any significant textual
issues in the lectionary texts for this Sunday.
Introductory Articles
We will add articles as we are able,
or as users of the site request them, so if you have suggestions for additional
pieces, please write to us!
"Introduction
to Mimetic Theory"
"Mimesis"
"The
Scapegoat"
"The
Pillars of Culture"
"Jesus"
"The
Four Gospels"
A Brief Introduction
to Luke
What's New:
What's New? on Preaching Peace. (Hover your mouse over to pause cycling) |
Last Sunday After Epiphany, Year C
Ex 34:29-35
Ps 99
2 Cor 3:12-4:2
Lk 9:28-36,(37-43)
(Exodus 34:29-35)
Moses came down from Mount Sinai. As he came down from the mountain with the
two tablets of the covenant in his hand, Moses did not know that the skin
of his face shone because he had been talking with God. When Aaron and all
the Israelites saw Moses, the skin of his face was shining, and they were
afraid to come near him. But Moses called to them; and Aaron and all the leaders
of the congregation returned to him, and Moses spoke with them. Afterward
all the Israelites came near, and he gave them in commandment all that the
LORD had spoken with him on Mount Sinai. When Moses had finished speaking
with them, he put a veil on his face; but whenever Moses went in before the
LORD to speak with him, he would take the veil off, until he came out; and
when he came out, and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, the
Israelites would see the face of Moses, that the skin of his face was shining;
and Moses would put the veil on his face again, until he went in to speak
with him.
(2 Corinthians 3:12-18)
Since, then, we have such a hope, we act with great boldness, not like Moses,
who put a veil over his face to keep the people of Israel from gazing at the
end of the glory that was being set aside. But their minds were hardened.
Indeed, to this very day, when they hear the reading of the old covenant,
that same veil is still there, since only in Christ is it set aside. Indeed,
to this very day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their minds; but
when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit,
and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And all of us, with
unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror,
are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another;
for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.
(2 Corinthians 4:1-2)
Therefore, since it is by God's mercy that we are engaged in this ministry,
we do not lose heart. We have renounced the shameful things that one hides;
we refuse to practice cunning or to falsify God's word; but by the open statement
of the truth we commend ourselves to the conscience of everyone in the sight
of God.
(Luke 9:28-36)
Now about eight days after these sayings Jesus took with him Peter and John
and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. And while he was praying,
the appearance of his face hanged, and his clothes became dazzling white.
Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. They appeared
in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish
at Jerusalem. Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep; but
since they had stayed awake, they saw his glory and the two men who stood
with him. Just as they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, "Master,
it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one
for Moses, and one for Elijah"--not knowing what he said. While he was
saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were terrified as
they entered the cloud. Then from the cloud came a voice that said, "This
is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!" When the voice had spoken, Jesus
was found alone. And they kept silent and in those days told no one any of
the things they had seen.
(Luke 9:37-43)
On the next day, when they had come down from the mountain, a great crowd
met him. Just then a man from the crowd shouted, "Teacher, I beg you
to look at my son; he is my only child. Suddenly a spirit seizes him, and
all at once he shrieks. It convulses him until he foams at the mouth; it mauls
him and will scarcely leave him. I begged your disciples to cast it out, but
they could not." Jesus answered, "You faithless and perverse generation,
how much longer must I be with you and bear with you? Bring your son here."
While he was coming, the demon dashed him to the ground in convulsions. But
Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, healed the boy, and gave him back to his
father. And all were astounded at the greatness of God.
Occasional Articles
As with the Introductory Articles, we
will add other articles as time permits or as our readers request. If you
have a suggestion for anything, please let us know.
Michael Hardin
Is the Apocalypse Inevitable?: Native American Prophecy and the Mimetic Theory presented to the Colloquium on Violence and Religion 2008
Michael's Essay for a Celebration Volume honoring Rene Girard
Michael's Response to Willard Swartley's Covenent of Peace at the November Colloquium and Violence Meeting
Does
Peace Make A Difference? - Michael's essay in response to Rick
Warren's P.E.A.C.E. plan (which somehow never mentions peace).
An Analysis of Rick Warren - Michael's response to "The Purpose Driven Life."
"The
God of Pat Robertson" - a response to Pat Robertson's words
to the people of Dover, PA.
"A
response to Charles Stanley's "A Nation at War"
"Must
God be violent? A Diagnosis and Prescription for Modern Christianity"
The
Scapegoat: Christologies in Conflict - A Study in Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Biblical
Testaments as a Marriage of Convenience: Rene Girard and Biblical Interpretation
Finding
Our Way Home: A Brief Note On The Authority and Interpretation of Scripture
"Does
The Passion of the Christ Preach the Gospel?"
A
sermon for the holiday devoted to Dr. Martin Luther King. (requires
Adobe Acrobat Reader.)
GRASPING
GOD: Philippians 2: 1-11 in the Light of Mimetic Theory
Essay on Brethren Life & Thought to Rene Girard and the Recovery of Early Christian Perspectives (Brethren Life and Thought)
Essay on Mimesis and Dominion to The Dynamics of Violence and the Imitation of Christ in maximus Confessor (St. Vladimir's Theological Quarterly)
"EcoSpirituality"
Or What Happens When You Sit Down With A French Literary Critic
Jeff Krantz
Mighty
One or Crucified Messiah? Competing Christologies and the Chiastic
Structure of Mark's Gospel
There's
No Such Thing as the Rapture - A sermon preached at the Church
of the Advent, Westbury (requires Acrobat Reader)
Holy
Scripture and the Consecration of Gene Robinson - a response
to the request of the Windsor Report for a Scriptural rationale. (requires
Adobe's Acrobat Reader)
Worship - The Redemption of Desire by Jeff Krantz
Myth
and Film - a piece written for the City of Angels Film Festival
The Stations of the Cross - Rewritten by Jeff Krantz
A Dramatic Presentation of the Stations of the Cross for Youth by Barb Fabijan-Waddell
Escaping
the Power of "My" - A NonViolent Approach to Stewardship
Preaching
Peace in Hollywood: The Theologies of Terminator, Lord of the Rings, and the
Matrix
V
for Vendetta - The Name Says It All A review of the movie.
Essays, Sermons and Liturgical Pieces by Friends of Preaching Peace
"Jesus and the Gibeonites: Reading the Bible from the Perspective of the Hidden Victim" by James Warren.
Mark Heim's "No More of This" - A hymn on Nonviolent Atonement
Kate Layzer's "No More of This" - A hymn on Nonviolent Atonement (and inspiration for Mark Heim's hymn!)
Alan Cork, "Transformation" in L'Arche: A Mimetic Account presented to the Colloquium on Violence and Religion 2008
"The Wisdom of God's Peace" a sermon by Jim Amstutz, co-pastor of Michael's church.
Girard's Christology - Per Bjornar Grande
Violence, Anarchy and Scripture: Jacques Ellul and Rene Girard - Matthew Patillo
Comparing
Plato's Understanding of Mimesis to Girard's - Per Bjorner Grande
C. Frank Terhune, an Easter Sermon: "God's Big But" (no kidding!)
Gerald Biesecker-Mast's paper from Theologia Pacis on Pacifist Gospel Epstimology.
An essay by the Rev. John Hill on Mimetic Theory and Catechesis
