Beloved and Chosen

There once was a boy who going out of Church one Sunday morning, said to his clergy at the door, “I am going to be a minister someday too!”  Beaming with pride, the clergy smiled and asked the young man, “What made you decide that? Was it the sermon this morning?” The prelate was disappointed to find out it was not the preaching. “So was it the worship and the music?” again the clergy was disappointed because the answer was still no. “What made you decide to become a minister then?” asked the stymied priest. “Oh, God spoke to me about it, “answered the boy.

Jesus is the beloved and the Chosen one – not just fickle emotion and not just any choice. Jesus came to us, to this earth to be the focus of a new exodus and a new community. He is not just some brilliant man who chooses to martyr himself for fame and a lost cause. Christ’s presence and ministry in this world are here to make a difference in the lives of the people God loves. In this lesson we learn that God is active in everything that Jesus is doing confirming his direction and choices affirming the path to the cross as Jesus have already told them.  From the little baby in the manger at Christmas through the early parts of his ministry we have learnt why he has come. We are reminded at this moment that his mission is not complete, especially being able to see the City of Jerusalem from afar and high up on a mountain. They are in the presence of God’s Son and what is about to happen to him is within God’s will for him and for us.   

Coming down the mountain, no one spoken of what had happened. Could it have been that Jesus commanded his three disciples not to speak, as Mark tells us? Perhaps. But I don’t believe that the rest of the 12 Apostles were kept in the dark. There is a moment just before Jesus turns and faces the journey to Jerusalem with determination. Why does he do that? After the experience of the mountain the disciples begin to argue amongst themselves as to who will be the greatest amongst them in the new kingdom. They too realize that the Son of God has chosen them to be with him as he makes this journey and shows the true nature of God to the world. But maybe the lesson from the mountain had not been learned

Why connect the mountain top with what happens down below? It is simple. The mission continues as it did before the experience of Peter boldly proclaiming Jesus as Messiah and Jesus through his transfiguration absolutely confirming his identity to his followers. So why the mountain top experience? It is a moment for others to gain clarity as to what will need to happen in the days after the crucifixion. We ought not lose sight of that very fact. Jesus is preparing his disciples for what happens after his is finished his work and theirs is to begin. It also should remind us that while we think that it is “business as usual” where the Church is concerned – in reality, we are with Christ and we need to be actively working at making his presence known and felt by the community around us. Truth and light need not only to be received, truth needs to be lived out and light needs to be lived in. This moment is to pull back the curtain giving us a glimpse of the light and to know the truth so that we can go and live it.   

We live in a time of the history of the world where we human beings do not know how to respond to the troubling and even catastrophic things around us. People have eyes to see evil and to understand that they are separated from God but not to see or to know God in this moment. There are many in the world that think there is no God or worse that God has abandon us and we are at the mercy of the powers of destruction, of death hell and the grave. The ministry of the Christ and that of his Church are to be about making people aware of how he is and why he has come, why he is here in the midst of us. Christ and his Church come to make manifest the presence and power, the mercy and the grace of God almighty that those who need it can find it.  And seeing people find these things they need ought to be encouragement to the Church to keep going with Christ as he makes the journey to the city. We are his beloved and we are called and chosen by him. We know where we are going, so let us go with Christ to that little hill outside the city and see what kind of Saviour we have and be ready outside the tomb for the light and the truth to come forth.