Lectionary Ruminations 2.5 for Transfiguration of the Lord (Year C)

Lectionary Ruminations 2.5 is a further revision and refinement of my Lectionary Ruminations and Lectionary Ruminations 2.0.  Focusing on The Revised Common Lectionary Readings for the upcoming Sunday from New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) of the Bible, Lectionary Ruminations 2.5 draws on over thirty years of pastoral experience.  Believing that the questions we ask are often more important than any answers we find, without over reliance on commentaries, I intend with sometimes pointed and sometimes snarky comments and Socratic like questions, to encourage reflection and rumination for readers preparing to lead a Bible study, draft liturgy, preach, or hear the Word. Reader comments are invited and encouraged.

EXODUS 34:29-35 1:20-33

34:29-35 This reading was probably paired with the Gospel Reading because they both mention mountains, shining faces, and narrate a theophany.  What is the difference between reading the Luke passage through the lens of Exodus and reading the Exodus passage through the lens of Luke? To help you reflect of theophanies on mountains and in deserts, especially on mountains in the desert, I recommend Belden C. Lane’s The Solace of Fierce Landscapes

Exploring Desert and Mountain Spirituality.

34:29 If you had looked at the face of Moses, what would you have seen?  When was the last time anyone left a worship service with a shining face?  Do you know anyone whose seems to beam, not because they use make-up or cleansing cream, but because they seem to radiate a spiritual energy from within? Is anybody else thinking about auras?

34:30 What about the shining face of Moses scared Aaron and the people?

34:31 Why would Moses calling to the people help them overcome their fear?

34:32 What is the meaning of “in commandment?”

34:33 Why did Moses put a veil on his face?  Is there any value in drawing a possible metaphorical connection between the veil over Moses’ face and the curtain in the Temple?  Those familiar with Celtic Christianity might wonder if the veil over Moses face was made of gossamer.

34:34 Why would Moses take off the veil when speaking with God?

34:35 Could the Israelites see the shining face of Moses through the veil that he wore?

PSALM 99

99:1-9 How does this Psalm help interpret and shed light (pun intended) on both the First Reading and the Gospel Reading?

99:1 Why would people tremble just because the LORD is king?  Why would the earth quake just because the LORD sits enthroned upon the cherubim?  When was the last time you trembled in the presence of the LORD? What are cherubim and where might we find them?  Should we call Indiana Jones for help with this one?

99:2 Is the use of great and exalted and example of Hebrew poetic parallelism?

99:3 What is great and awesome about the LORD’s name?  Other than the LORD’s name, can you think of anything great and awesome? How can anyone praise the LORD’s great and awesome name when the LORD’s name is not to be pronounced?

99:4 What sort of justice does this Mighty King love? What is meant by equity?

99:5 What and where is the LORD’s footstool? “Holy is He!” is beginning to sound like a refrain.

99:6 What does it mean to cry to the Lord?

99:7 What did the LORD’s voice sound like?  Is there a difference between decrees and statutes or is this more poetic parallelism?

99:8 Why the past tense?  Note that verses 1-7 and 9 speak of the LORD in the third person while this verse addresses the Lord in the second person.  Why the change?  Is it significant? How can the LORD be both a forgiving God and an avenging God?

99:9 Where is the LORD’s mountain and does the mention of a mountain justify the lectionary assigning this Psalm for use on The Transfiguration of the Lord?  Is the psalmist suggesting that the LORD can be worshiped only at God’s holy mountain and nowhere else?

2 CORINTHIANS 3:12-4:2

3:12 What such hope? Does the church ever act anymore with boldness?

3:13 Moses did not act with boldness? Glory was being set aside?  Is Paul criticizing Moses? Does Paul’s use of Moses’s veil as a metaphor justify assigning this passage to The Transfiguration of the Lord?

3:14 Whose minds were hardened?  Are our minds ever hardened, and if so, how?

3:14-15 Be careful of possible anti-Semitic interpretation of these verses.  Christians as well as Jews often have hardened minds and can read the Hebrew Scriptures through a metaphorical veil which hides and distorts.

3:16 How does turning to the Lord remove the veil?

3:17 How do we interpret this verse considering the Doctrine of the Trinity? In this context, what is the meaning of freedom?

3:18 Even though our veil has been removed, we still do not look at the LORD directly, but through a mirror?  I might prefer to look at God directly, even if through a veil, than without a veil but at a reflection.  To what does “the same image” refer?  Is it the image of God in which humans were created? Is it the image of Christ?  Is it the image of Moses reflecting the image of God?

4:1 Who are “we?” What ministry?

4:2 What shameful things do we hide that we should renounce? Do Christians ever practice cunning to grow churches and ministries?

LUKE 9:28-36 (37-43)

9:28-36 You may want to check the parallels in Matthew 17:1-8 and Mark 9:2-8. Why is there no Transfiguration in John? Why does the Lectionary assign a Gospel account of the Transfiguration the Sunday before the beginning of Lent every year in the three year cycle?

9:28 About eight days after what sayings? Does “about” suggest poor memories or an estimate? Is there any significance to the number eight? What mountain?  Why go up a mountain to pray? You too may want to read Belden C. Lane’s The Solace of Fierce Landscapes: Exploring Desert and Mountain Spirituality    Can Jesus not pray anywhere?  Note that once again Jesus takes with him the elite three – Peter, James, and John – a counter balance to the REALLY big three – Jesus, Moses and Elijah.

9:29 Is this perhaps a midrash on Exodus 34:29-35? Why didn’t Moses’ clothes become dazzling white? Does your appearance ever change when you pray?
9:30 What is significant about Moses and Elijah?  Why these two men? Whom else might we have expected to be talking with Jesus?

9:31 What does appearing in glory look like. Have you ever seen anyone appear in glory? What departure? Could Peter, James and John hear the conversation?

9:32 Is this a veiled reference (pun intended) to someone’s future falling asleep in the Garden while Jesus prayed? Note that Peter is again mentioned but that James and John are relegated or demoted to Peter’s companions.

9:33 Who were leaving? What is the meaning of “not knowing what he said?”  How often do we, like Peter, stick our foot in our mouth, not knowing what we have said?

9:34 Did they enter the cloud or did the cloud overtake them? Why would entering a cloud (or being overtaken by a cloud) induce feelings of terror?

9:35 Whose voice?  Where and when have we heard this, or something like this, before?

9:36 Why did they keep silent?  When were “those days?”

(9:37-43) How do these verses add to, or detract from, the Reading’s focus on The Transfiguration?  If we choose to include these optional verses (I will probably not include them) then we might want to point out that while Peter wants to stay on the mountain to build a museum, Jesus descends back into the trenches and gets back to the business of exorcizing demons and healing the sick. In that regard, who are the faithless and perverse generation?

(9:37) How long had they been on the mountain? How great of a crowd?

(9:38) Does this verse echo 9:35?

(9:39) What does this sound like?

(9:40) Were the disciples that powerless?

(9:41) What is the meaning of this?

(9:42) Have you ever rebuked an unclean spirit? Are there such things as clean spirits?

(9:43) What does it mean to be astounded?  Why were they astounded at the greatness of God rather than the greatness of Jesus? When was the last time you were astounded by God?

                                                                  

ADDENDUM

I am a Minister Member of Upper Ohio Valley Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and am serving as the Interim Pastor of the Richmond United Presbyterian Church, Richmond, Ohio. Sunday Worship at Richmond begins at 11:00 AM. Some of my other blog posts have appeared on PRESBYTERIAN BLOGGERS and The Trek.

Lectionary Ruminations 2.5 for the Transfiguration of the Lord (Year B)

Lectionary Ruminations 2.5 is a further revision and refinement of my Lectionary Ruminations and Lectionary Ruminations 2.0.  Focusing on The Revised Common Lectionary Readings for the upcoming Sunday from New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) of the Bible, Lectionary Ruminations 2.5 draws on over thirty years of pastoral experience.  Believing that the questions we ask are often more important than any answers we find, without over reliance on commentaries, I intend with sometimes pointed and sometimes snarky comments and Socratic like questions, to encourage reflection and rumination for readers preparing to lead a Bible study, draft liturgy, preach, or hear the Word. Reader comments are invited and encouraged.

2 Kings 2:1-12

2:1-12 How much does this reading influence our understanding of the Transfiguration and inform our interpretation of  Mark 9:2-9?  Can we read Mark 9:29, in part, as Midrash on this reading?

2:1 What is a whirlwind? Is there any significance to the fact that Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal? What was the relationship between Elijah and Elisha and are people in the pews aware of their relationship? Does their prior relationship influence or inform of interpretation of this text?

2:2 What is the significance of Bethel? Why might Elijah have wanted Elisha not to follow him? Why was Elisha insistent of accompanying Elijah?

2:3 Who are the company of prophets (see 2:5 as well)?  Why did Elisha bid them to keep silent?

2:4 Note the repetition of “stay here” and “as you yourself live” as in 2:2. Is there any significance to Jericho?

2:5 What do you know about Jericho? Note again the pattern of repetition, as in 2:3. Did every town, like Bethel and Jericho, have a company of prophets?

2:6 What do you know about the Jordan? Why this travel narrative? Why this continuous pattern of repetition and parallel structure, 2:2-3/2:4-5/2:6-7?

2:7 Is there anything significant or symbolic about the number fifty?

2:8 What is a mantel?  Is this a Midrash on Moses’ parting of the Red Sea?

2:9 What is a double measure of spirit?  Can prophetic spirit be willed or inherited? I would settle for half of Elijah’s spirit.

2:10 Does Elijah have the power to grant this request or does this power rest with God? Why the emphasis on seeing? How does this “seeing” inform our understanding of the Transfiguration?

2:11 Why does a chariot of fire and horses of fire appear?  What is their relationship to the whirlwind? Note the appearance of fire in Psalm 50:3.

2:12 What are “the chariots of Israel and its horseman?” Why did Elisha tear his clothes in two? Did Elisha inherit a double portion of Elijah’s spirit or not?

Psalm 50:1-6

50:1 Does God not summon from the setting of the sun to its rising? How does the LORD, the mighty one, speak and summons today?

50:2 What is perfect beauty? How does God “shine?” Would you have connected this verse with the Transfiguration if it had not been for the lectionary?

50:3 Does this verse alone, with its “fire” and “mighty tempest,”  justify this Psalm being paired with the First Reading? See 2 Kings 2:11 and 2:1

50:4 Who are God’s people?

50:5 Are we to assume from the First Reading that, at the time, only Elijah was faithful? Who initiated the covenant, God or the people?

50:6 How do the heaven’s declare God’s righteousness? Are images from the Hubble Space Telescope in any way Icons? I always ask the following question when “Selah” appears: how do you deal with it? Do you read it. Do you skip over it? Do you in any way interpret it?

2 Corinthians 4:3-6

4:3 Is our gospel veiled?  What sort of veil is Paul talking about? Who are perishing?

4:4 Who, or what, is  “the god of this world?” How does this verse illuminate our understanding of the Transfiguration and inform our interpretation of the Gospel Reading? How might “Illuminated Manuscripts” like The Book of Kells and the St. John’s Bible illuminate our understanding of this verse?

4:5 Why does Paul even have to write “For we do not proclaim ourselves?” Was someone accusing his of self promotion?

4:6 Where in Scripture did God say “Let light shine out of darkness?” Consider Genesis 1:3.

Mark 9:2-9

9:2 Six days after what? What else once happened after six days?  Why does Jesus always seem to take with him Peter, James and John?  What is the meaning of the word “transfigured?” Why am I thinking of Franz Kafka?

9:3 Was this in the days before Clorox and/or OxiClean? Have you ever seen anybody dressed in dazzling white?

9:4 Why Elisha and Moses?  What do they represent and/or symbolize?  If you had to pick two people from the Jewish Scriptures to appear with you, whom would you pick? What do you think they were talking about with Jesus?

9:5 Why might Peter have wanted to build three dwellings?

9:6 Note that Peter (singular) did not know what to say, for they (plural) were terrified. Have you ever been terrified? Is it human nature to sometimes make small talk, or even stick one’s footin one’s mouth, when terrified? Might Rudolph Otto help us interpret this verse?

9:7 What does the cloud represent? Where and when have we heard something like this before?

9:8 What just happened?

9:9 Why would Jesus order Peter, James and John not to tell anyone about what they had just seen?  What do you know about Mark’s “messianic secret?” Why is “Son of Man” used here but not earlier in this account?  Why do Peter, James and John have to wait until after the resurrection to tell people about what they experienced?

ADDENDUM

I am a Minister Member of Upper Ohio Valley Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and am serving as the Pastor of the Bethlehem United Presbyterian Church, Wheeling, WV. Sunday Worship at Bethlehem begins at 10:45 AM. Here is Bethlehem United's Facebook address: https://www.facebook.com/Bethlehem-United-Presbyterian-Church-102482088303980

Lectionary Ruminations 2.5 for The Transfiguration of the Lord (Year A)

Lectionary Ruminations 2.5 is a further revision and refinement of my Lectionary Ruminations and Lectionary Ruminations 2.0.  Focusing on The Revised Common Lectionary Readings for the upcoming Sunday from New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) of the Bible, Lectionary Ruminations 2.5 draws on over thirty years of pastoral experience.  Believing that the questions we ask are often more important than any answers we find, without over reliance on commentaries, I intend with sometimes pointed and sometimes snarky comments and Socratic like questions, to encourage reflection and rumination for readers preparing to lead a Bible study, draft liturgy, preach, or hear the Word. Reader comments are invited and encouraged.

EXODUS 24:12-18

24:12-18 Why must Moses go up to God rather than God coming down? In Christ, God came down to us. What mountain is this? If it were not for this verse, would we still make a distinction between the two tablets of the law? I can understand why “law” is singular, but why is “commandment” also singular?

24:13 Note that that Moses does not go up to God on the mountain alone. Moses takes with him his assistant (and heir apparent), Joshua. Why does the NRSV say Moses went up “into” the mountain?

24:14 Who is Aaron?  Who is Hur?

24:15 What shall we make of the cloud?

24:16 Shall we equate “the glory of the Lord” with the cloud?  From personal experience, I know there is something “numinous” about being on a mountaintop, above tree line, when clouds enshroud the summit.   What does the explicit linguistic connection to the creation account, i.e. “six days and the seventh day”, suggest about any theological connection between this account and the first creation account? Is the giving of the law anything like a new creation?

24:17 What does a devouring fire on top of a mountain look like?  Does this suggest lightening or a volcano or something else altogether? If this is what the people of Israel saw, what did Moses and Joshua see?

24:18 How much is the forty days and forty nights a prefiguration of the forty years in the wilderness and how much is this a post Exodus influence on an earlier tradition?  Or is the mention of forty days and forty nights an allusion to the story of the flood? How might this passage inform our understanding of The Season of Lent?

24:12-18 While this reading stands on its own merits, I find it difficult to read it without looking for connections to the Gospel Reading and wonder how much we should read the Gospel account of the Transfiguration as a Midrash on this text.  There are many similarities between the two texts, perhaps the least being the setting; that of a mountain.

PSALM 2

2:1 Is this a rhetorical question?

2:2 Is this a reference to secularization? Who is the LORD’s “anointed”?

2:3 What is the meaning of this?  What are bonds?  What are cords?

2:4 I like this image of a laughing God although we might debate the nature of the laughter.

2:5 From laughter to wrath and fury.

2:6  Zion, the holy hill, rather than the holy mountain Moses and Joshua ascended or upon which Jesus is transfigured.  Is this “king” to be equated with the “anointed” of 2:2?

2:7 What decree?  Is this the King speaking? Why does this verse sound familiar?

2:8 Forget the Promised land, have all the earth!

2:9 Was iron the hardest known metal at the time?

2:8-9 I this a prophecy or promise never, or not yet, fulfilled? 

2:10 This sounds like good advice in the world’s contemporary political and social climate.

2:11 What is fear? When was the last time you served the LORD with trembling?

2:12 What does it mean to (euphemistically?) kiss God’s feet? 

PSALM 99

99:1 The earth quakes but the people tremble (see Psalm 2:11).  What are cherubim and where are they? If The LORD is king, who is not the king?

99:2 Is The LORD great only in Zion?  What is the meaning of “peoples”?

99:3 What is God’s awesome name?  How can one praise God’s name if it is not pronounced?

99:4 This is great imagery for God appropriate for addressing God in prayer. What is the meaning of “equity”?

99:5 This sounds like a call to worship.  Where and what is God’s footstool?  Not that this verse addresses the people while the previous verse addresses The LORD.

99:6 How does Samuel come to be included with Moses and Aaron?  Who do you know who has cried to the LORD and God answered them?

99:7 This is undoubtedly a reference to the Exodus. Note that “decrees” and “statutes” are both plural.  Whom did God speak to in the pillar of cloud? What does a pillar of cloud look like?

99:8 An interesting juxtaposition: The forgiving LORD and the avenging LORD. Can The LORD have it both ways? Can we?

99:9 This sounds like another call to worship?  Must we worship only at God’s holy mountain?  What and where is God’s holy mountain?

2 PETER 1:16-21

1:16 What is a cleverly devised myth?  I wonder what Rudolph Bultmann or Joseph Campbell might have to say about this? Were some claiming that the gospel was a cleverly devised myth? How shall we read this verse as it relates to the mythopoeic nature of Scripture?

1:17 Did Jesus not have honor and glory before the event being recounted? What does the voice seem to echo?  What event is being referred or alluded to?

1:18 When Scripture relates the personal experience of the first followers of Jesus, what does that say about our own personal experience of the risen Christ? 

1:19 What is the prophetic message?  How has it been confirmed?  How can we do anything else than be attentive to a lamp shining in a dark place?  Where might this dark place be? What is the morning star and how does it rise in our hearts? Might this be a reference or allusion to Mercury and/or Venus? Why do we see Mercury and Venus only in before sunset or just after sunrise? Will there be any need for a lamp once the morning star rises and the day dawns?

1:20 This is why Christians interpret Scripture in community and why I invite, solicit, and encourage your comments responding to Lectionary Ruminations 2.5 (hint, hint; plead, plead).  What do we do when someone offers a new or different interpretation that is at odds with the historic or current community?

1:21 Prophecy, like poetry and art, comes from somewhere other than the prophet, poet, or artist, but who gets to make that claim?  What does it mean that Scripture (and thus prophecy) is self-authenticating?

MATTHEW 17:1-9

17:1 Six days later, after what? See Exodus 24:16. As Moses took Joshua, Jesus takes Peter, James and John.

17:2 What does it mean to be transfigured?  Why am I thinking of Franz Kafka? Has anyone else’s face ever shone like the sun?  Has anyone else’s clothes ever become dazzling white?

17:3 What is the meaning of “Suddenly”?  Why Moses and Elijah?  What might Moses and Elijah represent?  Why would Moses and Elijah want to talk with Jesus, or Jesus want to talk with them? Is there any significance to the fact that the three greats (Moses, Jesus, Elijah) are balanced by the three mere disciples (Peter, James and John)?  It seems we have a dyad of trinities.

17:4 Way to go Peter, interrupt a spiritual experience with mundane concerns! I wonder if at that moment Jesus really thought it was “good” Peter was there. Why three dwellings rather than just one for all three? What is the meaning of “dwelling”?

17:5 The text suggests a chronology of Jesus being transfigured before the bright cloud appeared.  Note the reappearance of the word “suddenly.”  Why does this voice and what it says sound familiar? What does the Gospel add or include that the Reading from 2 Peter did not?  You may want to take another look at Exodus 24:16.

17:6 Were the disciples overcome by fear by hearing the voice or by hearing what the voice said?  What does it mean to “fall to the ground”?  Might falling to the ground refer to posture?  What might have been the nature of the fear that came over the disciples?

17:7 Was this a reassuring touch?  Would there be any difference in interpretation if Jesus had said “Do not be afraid and get up.”?

17:8 Where did Moses and Elijah go?  Why did they leave?

17:9 Why would Jesus “order” these three disciples to tell no one about the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead”? Who is the Son of Man?  Could this, indeed, be a misplaced resurrection appearance read back into the Gospel at an earlier point?  How might this Reading prefigure the resurrection? Why does Jesus refer to this as a “vision”?  What is a “vision”? Have you ever experienced such a “vision”?

ADDENDUM

I am a Minister Member of Upper Ohio Valley Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and am serving as the Interim Pastor of the Richmond United Presbyterian Church, Richmond, Ohio. Sunday Worship at Richmond begins at 11:00 AM. Some of my other blog posts have appeared on PRESBYTERIAN BLOGGERS and The Trek.

Lectionary Ruminations 2.0 for Sunday, February 7, 2016, the Transfiguration of the Lord (Year C)

Lectionary Ruminations 2.0 is a revised continuation of Lectionary Ruminations.  Focusing on The Revised Common Lectionary Readings for the upcoming Sunday from New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) of the Bible, Lectionary Ruminations 2.0 draws on nearly thirty years of pastoral experience.  Believing that the questions we ask are often more important than any answers we find, without overreliance on commentaries I intend with comments and questions to encourage reflection and rumination for readers preparing to teach, preach, or hear the Word. Reader comments are invited and encouraged.  All lectionary links are to the via the PC(USA) Devotions and Readings website.

First Reading - Exodus 34:29-35

34:29-35 This reading was probably paired with the Gospel Reading because they both mention mountains, shining faces, and narrate a theophany.  What is the difference between reading the Luke passage through the lens of Exodus and reading the Exodus passage through the lens of Luke? In the past couple of months I read Belden C. Lane’s The Solace of Fierce Landscapes

Exploring Desert and Mountain Spirituality, which might influence how I interpret and preach this passage this time around. How does your reading influence how you interpret Scripture and how you preach?

34:29 If you had looked at the face of Moses, what would you have seen?  When was the last time anyone left a worship service with a shining face?  Do you know anyone whose seems to beam, not because they use make-up or cleansing cream, but because they seem to radiate a spiritual energy from within? Is anybody else thinking about auras?

34:30 What about the shining face of Moses scared Aaron and the people?

34:31 Why would Moses calling to the people help them overcome their fear?

34:32 What is the meaning of “in commandment”?

34:33 Why did Moses put a veil on his face?  Is there any value in drawing a possible metaphorical connection between the veil over Moses’ face and the veil in the Temple?  Those familiar with Celtic Christianity might wonder if the veil over Moses face was made of gossamer.

34:34 Why would Moses take off the veil when speaking with God?

34:35 Could the Israelites see the shining face of Moses through the veil that he wore?

Psalm - Psalm 99

99:1-9 How does this Psalm help interpret and shed light (pun intended) on both the First Reading and the Gospel Reading?

99:1 Why would people tremble just because the LORD is king?  Why would the earth quake just because the LORD sits enthroned upon the cherubim?  When was the last time you trembled in the presence of the LORD? What are cherubim and where might we find them?  Should we call Indiana Jones for help with this one?

99:2 Is the use of great and exalted and example of Hebrew poetic parallelism?

99:3 What is great and awesome about the LORD’s name?  Other than the LORD’s name, can you think of anything awesome? How can anyone praise the LORD’s great and awesome name when the name is not to be pronounced?

99:4 What sort of justice does this Mighty King love? What is meant by equity?

99:5 Where is the LORD’s footstool?

99:6 What does it mean to cry to the Lord?

99:7 What did the LORD’s voice sound like?  Is there a difference between decrees and statutes or is this more poetic parallelism?

99:8 Why the past tense?  Note that verses 1-7 and 9 speak of the LORD in the third person while this verse addresses the Lord in the second person.  Why the change?  Is it significant? How can the LORD be both a forgiving God and an avenging God?

99:9 Where is the LORD’s mountain and does the mention of a mountain justify the lectionary assigning this Psalm for use on The Transfiguration of the Lord?  Is the psalmist suggesting that the LORD can be worshiped only at God’s holy mountain and nowhere else?

Second Reading - 2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2

3:12 What hope?

3:13 Moses did not act with boldness? Glory was being set aside?  Does Paul’s use of Moses’s veil as a metaphor justify assigning this passage to The Transfiguration of the Lord?

3:14 Whose minds were hardened?  Are our minds ever hardened, and if so, how?

3:14-15 Be careful of possible anti-Semitic interpretation of these verses.  Christians as well as Jews often have hardened minds and can read the Hebrew Scriptures through a metaphorical veil which hides and distorts.

3:16 How does turning to the Lord remove the veil?

3:17 How do we interpret this verse in light of the Doctrine of the Trinity? In this context, what is the meaning of freedom?

3:18 Even though our veil has been removed, we still do not look at the LORD directly, but through a mirror?  I might prefer to look at God directly, even if through a veil, than without a veil but at a reflection.  To what does “the same image” refer?  Is it the image of God in which humans were created? Is it the image of Christ?  Is it the image of Moses reflecting the image of God?

4:1 Who are “we”? What ministry?

4:2 What shameful things do we hide that we should renounce? Do Christians ever practice cunning in an attempt to grow churches and ministries?

Gospel - Luke 9:28-36 (37-43)

9:28-36 You may want to check the parallels in Matthew 17:1-8 and Mark 9:2-8. Why is there no Transfiguration in John?

9:28 Eight days after what sayings?  Is there any significance to the number eight? What mountain?  Why go up a mountain to pray? You too may want to read Belden C. Lane’s The Solace of Fierce Landscapes: Exploring Desert and Mountain Spirituality    Can Jesus not pray anywhere?  Note that once again Jesus takes with him the elite three— Peter, James, and John—a counter balance to the REALLY big three—Jesus, Moses and Elijah.

9:29 Is this perhaps a midrash on Exodus 34:29-35? Why didn’t Moses’ clothes become dazzling white?
9:30 What is significant about Moses and Elijah?  Why these two men?

9:31 What departure?

9:32 Is this a veiled reference (pun intended) to someone’s future falling asleep in the Garden while Jesus prayed?

9:33 Who were leaving? What is the meaning of “not knowing what he said”?  How often do we, like Peter, stick our foot in our mouth, not knowing what we have said?

9:34 Why would entering a cloud induce feelings of terror?

9:35 Whose voice?  Where and when have we heard this, or something like this, before?

9:36 Why did they keep silent?  When were “those days”?

(9:37-43) How do these verses add to, or detract from, the Reading’s focus on The Transfiguration?  If we choose to include these optional verses (I will probably not include them) then we might want to point out that while Peter wants to stay on the mountain to build a museum, Jesus descends back into the trenches and gets back to the business of exorcizing demons and healing the sick. In that regard, who are the faithless and perverse generation?

(9:37) How great?

(9:38) Does this verse echo 9:35?

(9:39) What does this sound like?

(9:40) Were the disciples that powerless?

(9:41) What is the meaning of this?

(9:42) Have you ever rebuked an unclean spirit? Are there such things as clean spirits?

(9:43) What does it mean to be astounded?  Why were they astounded at the greatness of God rather than the greatness of Jesus? When was the last time you were astounded by God?

ADDENDUM

I am currently serving at the Interim Pastor of The Presbyterian Church of Cadiz, Ohio but will be available to supply preach or serve in a part-time of full-time position beginning late February or early March, 2016.

Lectionary Ruminations 2.0 for Sunday, February 15, 2015, the Transfiguration of the Lord (Year B)

Lectionary Ruminations 2.0 is a revised continuation of Lectionary Ruminations.  Focusing on The Revised Common Lectionary Readings for the upcoming Sunday from New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) of the Bible, Lectionary Ruminations 2.0 draws on nearly thirty years of pastoral experience.  Believing that the questions we ask are often more important than any answers we find, without overreliance on commentaries I intend with comments and questions to encourage reflection and rumination for readers preparing to teach, preach, or hear the Word. Reader comments are invited and encouraged.  All lectionary links are to the via the PC(USA) Devotions and Readings website.

FOR AN UPDATED AND REVISED VERSION, GO TO THIS LINK

First Reading - 2 Kings 2:1-12

2:1-12 How much does this reading influence our understanding of the Transfiguration and inform our interpretation of  Mark 9:2-9?  Can we read Mark 9:29, in part, as Midrash on this reading?

2:1 What is a whirlwind? Is there any significance to the fact that they were on their way from Gilgal?

2:2 What is the significance of Bethel?

2:3 Who are the company of prophets (see 2:5 as well)?  Why did Elisha bid them to keep silent?

2:4 Note the repetition of “stay here” and “as you yourself live” as in 2:2.

2:5 What do you know about Jericho? Note again the pattern of repetition, as in 2:3.

2:6 What do you know about the Jordan? Why this travel narrative? Why this continuous pattern of repetition and parallel structure, 2:2-3/2:4-5/2:6-7?

2:7 Is there anything significant or symbolic about the number fifty?

2:8 What is a mantel?  Is this a Midrash on Moses’ parting of the Red Sea?

2:9 What is a double measure of spirit?  Can prophetic spirit be willed or inherited? I would settle for half of Elijah’s spirit.

2:10 Does Elijah have the power to grant this request or does this power rest with God?

2:11 Why does a chariot of fire and horses of fire appear?  What is their relationship to the whirlwind? Note the appearance of fire in Psalm 50:3.

2:12 What are “the chariots of Israel and its horseman”? Why did Elisha tear his clothes in two?

Psalm - Psalm 50:1-6

50:1 Does God not summon from the setting of the sun to its rising?

50:2 What is perfect beauty? How does God “shine”?

50:3 Does this verse alone, with its “fire” and “mighty tempest,”  justify this Psalm being paired with the First Reading?

50:4 Who are God’s people?

50:5 Are we to assume from the First Reading that, at the time, only Elijah was faithful? Who initiated the covenant, God or the people?

50:6 How do the heaven’s declare God’s righteousness? I always ask the question when it appears: how do you deal with the “Selah”?

Second Reading - 2 Corinthians 4:3-6

4:3 Is our gospel veiled?  What sort of veil is Paul talking about? Who are perishing?

4:4 Who, or what, is” the god of this world”? How does this verse illuminate our understanding of the Transfiguration and inform our interpretation of the Gospel Reading?

4:5 Why does Paul even have to write “For we do not proclaim ourselves”?

4:6 Where in Scripture did God say “Let light shine out of darkness”?

Gospel - Mark 9:2-9

9:2 Six days later, after what?  Why does Jesus always seem to take with him Peter, James and John?  What is the meaning of the word “transfigured”?

9:3 Was this in the days before Clorox and/or Oxi-Clean? Have you ever seen anybody dressed in dazzling white?

9:4 Why Elisha and Moses?  What do they represent and/or symbolize?  If you had to pick two people from the Jewish Scriptures to appear with you, whom would you pick? What do you think they were talking about with Jesus?

9:5 Why might Peter have wanted to build three dwellings?

9:6 Note that Peter (singular) did not know what to say, for they (plural) were terrified. Have you ever been terrified?

9:7 What does the cloud represent? Where and when have we heard something like this before?

9:8 What just happened?

9:9 Why would Jesus order Peter, James and John not to tell anyone about what they had just seen?  Why is “Son of Man” used here but not earlier in this account?  Why do Peter, James and John have to wait until after the resurrection to tell people about what they experienced?

ADDENDUM

I am currently serving at the Interim Pastor of The Presbyterian Church of Cadiz, worshiping at 154 West Market Street, Cadiz, Ohio, every Sunday at 11:00 AM. Please like The Presbyterian Church of Cadiz on facebook.