2 Peter 1:16-21
"Transfiguration" - Year A
We know what we know. Our eyewitness is the key to the whole murder mystery. It is no mythery, we heard the conversation about belovedness as though we were in the same room.
Surely one of the great detectives would ask, "Sounds like you were earwitnesses."
Whatever. One of the great motives is love spurned. When God sang out "And you are my Beloved" all those other suitors heard themselves being rejected. The passion came from that of being a rejected lover.
Our eye/earwitness was not an interpretation. What we saw and heard was what there was to see and hear. Our experience led to our belief and our belief now leads our experience. Presuming the premise sure makes belief easier. In fact we no longer have any use for doubt -- what is spoken by God is understood by us, so listen up as we tell you what God says -- doubt not.
In your experience of today's church, how are we doing with the issue of interpretation? Does an interpretation by a majority make it more true than an interpretation by a small group? What is our "eyewitness" experience that affirms a multiplication of belovedness, not a scarcity of same? A part of our witness may be the injury caused by Peter's very assurance of his rightness and his preemptive use of God-Truth that denies an alternative experience. Peter's transfigurational experience is not the basis of my "morning star" experience.
Luther was ready to do without James. The New Interpreter's Study Bible intro says 2 Peter is "among the least read of the biblical canon." I'm prepared follow in Luther's steps: claim 2 Peter to be a house of rigidity we can do without.
http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2005/february2005.html
In these days we hear much about lack of self-esteem. This comes about in many, many ways -- as many ways as there are temptations. The result is division within one's self and between folks.
This text claims that honor any glory (the opposite of lack of self-esteem without going over to narcissism) come when words such as "beloved" and "pleased" are professed and claimed.
Not everyone who holds a prophetic or progressive stance comes out of a healthy sense of self, creation, G*D. Those who do find themselves strengthened in their firm but gentle interaction with life. Those who don't are never satisfied and never give other ways of living a chance.
If you are up to it, pretend you are a voice from heaven whose purpose is to say "you are my beloved" and "I am well pleased with you" so many times that the world in general and those encountered will not again forget and that when folks think about how to describe you they will talk about you as the "beloved" person or the "pleased" person. These qualities belong to us together --they are to describe others as well as ourself. Eventually this sort of activity will both make a difference and lead to some form of crucifixion (there's the surprise non-ending).
Beloved is as beloved does. Pleased is as pleased does. So, be beloved and pleased. See and evoke such in others.
http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2005/february2005.html
2 Peter 1:16-21
Exodus 24:12-18
Psalm 2 or Psalm 99
Matthew 17:1-9
These passage can be played against what, in another year, would have been the Seventh Sunday after Epiphany:
Leviticus 19:1-2, 9-18
Psalm 119:33-40
1 Corinthians 3:10-11, 16-23
Matthew 5:38-48
A focus on Moses' appearance in Exodus is brought back to the content of Moses' encounter (Leviticus) on the mountain - Here's how to be holy, rather than here's what holy looks like.
Psalms 2 and 99 are again outwardly focused on causing trembling, if not blindness, in others. Psalm 119 here brings the issue to one's internal decision to act on one's understanding, rather than on naming another's source of vain plotting.
Peter has a leg up on prophetic messages. His experience trumps any other experience. Paul builds on a firm foundation in his fashion and others are encouraged to build according to their gifts. Is the faith hierarchical or communal? What is the place of the one with a spiritual gift of questioning or a baby in the faith or one in the midst of transition in their faith - subservient or welcomed?
The conversation Jesus has with Moses and Elijah (Mt 17) might be overheard with Jesus' comments about, "You have said, but I say" (Mt 5). This moment of shift is transformative in a person's life as they move to a next stage - transfiguring, even. When the new perspective comes, it becomes difficult to return to the prior picture with equanimity. A culture shift has occurred and this is a time of danger for the new vision. Fortunately transformative moments are ultimately irradicable and are confirmed in later resurrections into a new community.
- - -
buildings can break new ground
built on a new vision
they rise in new shapes
reflecting a new daybuildings can trap new ground
repeating an old vision
ticky-tacky on a hillside
restraining a new dayirrepressible Peter
reflecting restraining
needing yet a clear voice
assuring belovednessfrom fearful restraint
comes a word to get up
to move beyond reflection
to practical healingpractice loving enemies
here lies new community
resist eye gouging
there lies old feuds
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2007_02_01_archive.html
Parallelism is alive and well.
Verse 16: "Cleverly devised myths" are caused by and result in verse 20: "One's own interpretation."
Verse 17: "Beloved" becomes visible and is brought forth in the presence of verse 21: "Men and women moved by the Holy Spirit."
These are the direct lines that end up enhancing or multiplying either the harmful or beneficial aspects of life.
When we cross these parallels we get one-way lines that reduce the harmful. For instance, cleverly devised myths can be countered by either end of the other parallel, folks who know they are beloved or a community moved by a Holy Spirit. Likewise, folks stuck on their own interpretation find their limit in belovedness and community that always moves folks into situations where they can no longer get away with their little world-view.
In both cases, however, Beloved individuals/communities where the Holy Spirit is present must give evidence of themselves. Without such standing firm and persistent, the clever-myth purveyors and idiosyncratic interpreters will lead the world in circles.
What have you seen of the inclusive and expansive presence of Beloved Jesus that would lead you to consider yourself and others as beloved? Your eyewitness report is of the utmost importance. Without your witness, the clever-mythologizers of this world will pull more wool over more eyes. Have we learned nothing over the last generation from those who stay on message to the point of causing great harm by hanging on to their myth and interpretation in the face of contrary facts?
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2008_01_01_archive.html
Prophecy is not just dreamed up to bolster a particular position of power. Those who do so are called false prophets. Prophecy is not expediency, it seems to always take the more difficult, less travelled road as it is the easier route that ends up in trouble needing a prophet. It is not proof as it can only be confirmed afterward and, hopefully, learned from, remembered a next time around.
Prophecy comes from being moved by Holy Spirit. It connects with the deep desires of G*D. It connects widely with neighborly compassion. That which subverts these two are called out by prophets, women and men clear-eyed about the ways in which personal preference and power exempt themselves from accountability to G*D and Neighbor.
This day you have the opportunity to prophesy. It will, of course, put you in harms way. The little you have will be in danger of being completely taken away by those to whom you prophesy. But what else is one to do when a morning star has arisen in your heart?
Prophets in Egypt and Wisconsin, continue to reveal hypocrisy, through the light of belovedness assured.
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2011/03/2-peter-116-21.html
Ahh, yes, my Majestic Glory trumps your minuscule myth. You will do well to attend to my Shining Light so you will eventually understand your interpretation is so puny and partial.
Wonderful way to make friends and influence people: might makes right.
Where did this start? Transfiguration?
For folks who were raised to not fear and hold a vision until is is ripe, we easily turn into know-it-all bullies claiming G*D is only on our side (a most interesting dismissal of a Holy Spirit sent to challenge our convictions).
Would that Peter’s mind was a bit more cloudy.