Last Sunday After Epiphany, March 2, 2003
1 Kings 19:9-18; Psalm 27 or 27:5-11; 2 Pet. 1:16-19 (20-21); Mark 9:2-9
Today’s lessons feature Elijah fleeing for his life, the psalmist assailed by his enemies, Jesus’ Transfiguration, and the apostle Peter’s account of that stupendous event. In every lesson, God speaks. The context of 1 Kings is Elijah’s battle with the false prophets of Baal. What distinguishes God from Baal is not just his power over nature, but that he is the God who speaks in a “still small voice.” The Hebrew word means a voice which is audible in words. God’s voice is underscored in the reading from 2 Peter. Central to Peter’s account of his experience at Jesus’ Transfiguration is the voice of God saying, “This is my beloved Son.” Peter then adds that his readers should pay attention to this prophetic word. God is not simply a silent nature god who acts on mere whims. He is a God who speaks and acts on behalf of the people he has made.
Peter says his prophecy is not something people have made up. Prophecy is not simply one person’s experience of the divine. Rather, prophecy was produced not by the “will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”
While it is utterly futile for us to attempt a reproduction of the experience of Peter, James and John on the mountain, we can listen to the words they heard. Of Jesus, they heard, “This is my beloved Son; listen to him.”
Perhaps the most burning issue in the church at the present time concerns the ways in which God speaks to humankind. Is it true to say that the Bible is God speaking to us? Or is the Bible a record of God’s word to those who heard it, and only in a secondary way a means of our hearing him speak? It is clear that the experience of Elijah, the psalmist and the apostles were unique and unrepeatable. But what about their words, and the words they heard God speak? Peter tells us that God’s word is a “lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns …” As we, the church, struggle to serve the Lord in difficult times, perhaps what we first need to do is to listen to the Lord, and the way we do that is to turn to the scriptures to read, mark, learn and inwardly digest all that God has said.
“He who has ears, let him listen.”
Look It Up
Note the context of Mark’s account of the Transfiguration. What events immediately precede and follow it? Why do you think the apostles failed in their ministry of exorcism so soon after the Transfiguration?
Think About It
“No prophecy was every produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” What are implications of this verse for the authority of the Bible?
Next Sunday
First Sunday in Lent, March 9, 2003
Gen. 9:8-17; Psalm 25 or 25:3-9; 1 Pet. 3:18-22; Mark 1:9-13
