Today’s Scripture Readings

Gospel Reading

NRSV

Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. Then Peter said to Jesus, ‘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.’ While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud a voice said, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!’ When the disciples heard this, they fell to the ground and were overcome by fear. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, ‘Get up and do not be afraid.’ And when they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus himself alone. As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus ordered them, ‘Tell no one about the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.’

In the act of creation, God brought order out of chaos, and that story is told in Genesis 1-2. But then in Genesis 3-11 the story of sin and its consequences is told, showing how sin does the exact opposite of God: it turns God’s order back into chaos. At first sin is personal as Eve and Adam individually eat the forbidden fruit.
Then it becomes a family affair as Cain kills his brother Abel. By the time we get to Genesis 11, sin has become universal with the total chaos of the Tower of Babel story. At the end of chapter 11 we have a vivid metaphor of the world sin produces: the sterile womb of Sarah. The womb, which is supposed to teem with life, becomes a lifeless place.

But that’s precisely where God starts to resume his creative plan. He appears to Abraham out of nowhere and without introduction, promising something which seems impossible: Abraham will be the father of a great nation, even though Sarah is barren. The promise is made not because Abraham and Sarah are especially
worthy. As St Paul says, it’s all about “the power of God, who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace” (2 Timothy 1:8-9). Abraham has to listen to the voice of God and put his trust in what he hears.

The same is true of Peter, James and John on the holy mountain. Peter wants to build a monument, but they’re told to listen to Jesus. Then they have to put their trust in what they hear, even if it will lead them into the dark mountain of Calvary. But beyond, there will be the light of Easter as Jesus is born from the tomb in a way even more astonishing than Isaac’s birth from his mother’s barren womb.