Commentary

Scriptures: Exodus 34:29-35 and Luke 9:28-36

I love a good mountaintop experience, and in the Scripture passages appointed for last Sunday, we heard about two of them. Mountaintop experiences are moments when everything changes. You gain a sudden insight into something that up until then, was hidden. You see things for what they really are. And you’re never quite the same again.

But “mountaintop experiences” don’t only happen on mountaintops…

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We say the following prayer from page 365 almost every week:

“Eternal God, heavenly Father, you have graciously accepted us as living members of your Son our Savior Jesus Christ, and you have fed us with spiritual food in the Sacrament of his Body and Blood. Send us now into the world in peace, and grant us strength and courage to love and serve you with gladness and singleness of heart; through Christ our Lord. Amen.”

Where does the Post Communion Prayer come from? After Constantine’s conversion to Christianity in the 4th century, the large numbers of people joining the Church led to a need to develop a post communion thanksgiving prayer. . The 1549 Book provides one fixed post communion prayer which is equal in length to several of the Sarum post communion prayers (from the middle ages) joined together The following also may have been a source – “You have fed me with the Precious Body and Blood of Your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.” – Sir Thomas Aquinas

Massey H. Shepherd, Jr., has written of post-communion text “[It is] one of the most remarkable summaries of doctrine to be found in all the formularies of the Prayer Book. It gathers up all the varied meanings of the Holy Communion; thanksgiving, mystery, grace, incorporation into Christ, fellowship in the Church, anticipation of the Kingdom of God. “

The prayer on Page 365 Rite II was written the Rev. Dr. Leo Malania for the 1979 Book of Common Prayer. The emphasis of this prayer is not on the benefits of communion but on the work God calls us to do as we go out into the world. In Rite I we ask God to “assist us with thy grace, that we may continue in that holy fellowship, and do all such good works as thou hast prepared for us to walk in; “ and in Rite II “strength and courage to love and serve you with gladness and singleness of heart.” Malania served as coordinator for Prayer Book revision and Captain Howard Galley as assistant. Galley wrote the BCP Prayer C, the “Star Wars” prayer).

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Excerpt from "Forward Movement" 

"It is cliche to speak of something that is "out of the box." Perhaps we should replace the metaphor with "out of the boat." That’s what Peter did. He got out of the boat and walked across the water toward Jesus. 

"We long for out-of-the-boat thinking—to step out, to be freed of conventional expectations, and to take a risk, like Peter. We forget that doing so is inevitably met by a strong wind resisting us. Like Peter, we are not too far out of the boat before the wind frightens us and we begin to sink. It is as if the forces of nature conspire to keep us in the boat, but there is just no way to Jesus but to get out and take a chance. 

"The story about walking on the water is about faith taming the forces of nature. Faith is what compels Peter to get out of the boat in the first place. Faith is also what Peter relies on when he encounters nature’s resistance. Faith is how Jesus stills the storm. The choice we face is almost always between fear and faith. 

"One is a matter of survival. One is a matter of life. Jesus calls us to come to life.  "

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Walking on Water in our Time – The Truman Show 

When we confront our fears in real life they are no longer fears inside our head and we destroy them. However, that is easier said than done! It is usually a lengthy process with fits and starts.  

One of the best examples of this is the 1998 movie, The Truman Show.

The amazing thing is that for much of the movie he is along in dealing with his fears. He doesn’t have an advantage of a counselor in the process.

 

Truman, played by Jim Carrey is caught inside a 24 hour-a-day comedy-melodrama in which he is the star. The idyllic island town where he grew up and lives is an immersive stage set enclosed in a giant dome (shown in part at the top of the page) with a ceiling that creates the illusion of a sky. Wind, rain, night, the moon, the stars, even the sun is a high-tech special effect. With some 5000 cameras placed around the city, Truman’s life is followed 24 hours a day, seven days a week — a nonstop telethon of reality programming for a public hungry for pathos and vicarious emotion. All of humanity watches as he goes through the stages of life and finds himself in realistic situations that are actually scripted and improvised, to give the show some of the dramatic density that separates entertainment from mundane life.

There is a god-like director that controls Truman’s televised world. His name is Christof. His name is also significant. He’s more like anti-Christ however, making it impossible for Truman to know the truth and have a normal life.

Truman falls in love in a library (symbol of the knowledge of good and evil). They kiss on the beach with the pounding surf in the background (foreshadowing what lies ahead). She is a bit player on the show and is quickly written out. She is banished from the show. Truman is told she moved away across the sea. Truman is now determined to leave Seahaven -the illusionary human-made Paradise. What is Paradise without Eve? Without love?

Read more about this movie…

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I.Theme –   Confronting our Fears

 "Jesus Walks on Water" – Ivan Aivazovsky (1888)

The lectionary readings are here  or individually:

Old Testament – 1 Kings 19:9-18
Psalm – Psalm 85:8-13 Page 708, BCP
Epistle –Romans 10:5-15
Gospel – Matthew 14:22-33

This Sunday’s readings deal with our need for help. This comes in various forms. It may be out of fear; it may be due to bodily danger; it may be a psychological condition.  

Our faith may be tested in extreme. Each of the readings has a different form and setting where this occurs.

In all of this we have to remember Jesus call to us. Then it is that we feel his hand reach out to ours. Then it is that we know that the power to take one step more—and perhaps only one step more—is ours for the asking when we call on Jesus. How do we keep our eyes on Jesus when our failures and trials obscure our sight? How often do we feel as if we cannot take the next step? We feel ourselves sinking, sinking in our self-doubt and despair. It is difficult to remember this when our situation close to us cloud our vision.

In the Old Testament, the prophet Elijah was active in the northern kingdom of Israel in the middle of the ninth century BC. He was an opponent of King Ahab and his wife Jezebel, who supported the worship of Baal and other Canaanite fertility gods. Today’s passage follows Elijah’s demonstration that Yahweh is in control of the forces of nature (17:1) and is mightier than Baal (18:20-39). Elijah then flees the vengeance of Jezebel (19:1-3). An angel strengthens him on his journey to Horeb (an alternate name for Sinai).

God’s revelation to Elijah echoes God’s revelation to Moses (Exodus 33:17-23). Like Moses, Elijah receives a revelation and a commission from the Lord. Like Moses, Elijah has gone through conflict with royalty and is fleeing for his life. Like Moses he feels inadequate to the task but is sent back into the fray.

God speaks to the prophet Elijah not in earthquake, wind and fire but in a mysterious silence. This may be an internal communication with him. Elijah thinks that he is already at the limit of his experience and energy, but a “sheer silence” draws him in deeper to the requirements that God has for him.

In the Psalm, this national lament seems to have been composed originally for a particular historical situation of affliction and then to have passed into general use. The original context may have been crop failure before the exile; or more probably, it may have been the difficulties faced by those returning from exile in Babylon. Thanks are given for the return (vv. 1-3), and the lord’s continued help is requested (vv. 4-7). The lord’s answer comes (vv. 8-13), perhaps as an oracle uttered by a temple prophet or priest. Verse 11 reassures the people of God’s gracious care. These four qualities—steadfast love, faithfulness, righteousness, and peace—spring from God and unite to work for the good of God’s people.

The Gospel lesson is the story of Jesus walking on the water. In many of these Gospel stories we know them by the title but there is another secondary story. This is the case with Peter.

The three miracles in this story are: Jesus walking on water, Peter doing the same (and failing ultimately), and the wind ceasing abruptly. Jesus brings comfort from the outside against the elements and faith inside, questioning the disciples own faith and demonstrating by example a deeper faith.

Jesus demonstrates his mastery over wind and sea (which, in the Old Testament, symbolized the powers of chaos and death) and is near to rescue the disciples when they desperately need help. He identifies himself by using the words, “It is I,” which echo God’s own self-description that became the proper name for God in the Old Testament (Exodus 3:14; Isaiah 43:10-13).

This story has many similarities to the narratives of the resurrection appearances; the disciples are afraid, they don’t recognize Jesus, they take him for a ghost, and finally they are reassured by him. Matthew adds the story of Peter’s attempt to imitate Jesus, illustrating the themes of discipleship and faith.

The cause of the fear for the disciples this time is not the storm, but the man walking. There is something expected about waves surrounding a boat. The fact that a man is on the water is not even the source of the fear. The fear comes the unidentified nature of the one walking.  

The fear and repulsion are here expressed by the perception of Jesus as a ghost, but they are balanced by his comforting words: “Take heart; it is I; do not be afraid.” The disciples by now know Jesus and trust him, even if their faith remains incomplete. Thus, for him to say “It is I” is to bring the fearful awesomeness of the scene under control by relating it to what is familiar. 

Unlike Elijah, Peter wants to think that he is capable of more. Peter asks for and receives a share of Jesus’ power, but when his attention is distracted he begins to give way In the context of fear and apprehension as the disciples see the figure of Christ coming to them on the water, Peter’s brash attempt seems heroic until he realizes that he is caught in the same trap of fear. He suddenly needs a “rescuer” ( Psalm 85) to pick him up and save him for future adventures of faith. Especially in Matthew’s time, the “boat” of the Church, “beaten by the waves” of hostility and persecution, needed reassurance that the Lord was always nearby.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German theologian, writes the following about Peter. “Peter had to leave the ship and risk his life on the sea, in order to learn both his own weakness and the almighty power of his Lord. If Peter had not taken the risk, he would never have learned the meaning of faith… The road to faith passes through obedience to the call of Jesus. Unless a definitive step is demanded, the call vanishes in thin air, and if [people] imagine that they can follow Jesus without taking this step, they are deluding themselves like fanatics.”

In some respects, Matthew’s account is the opposite of the Elijah story. What convinces Elijah does not convince the disciples and Peter, and visa versa. The wind and wave are heady proofs of the danger and their vision of Jesus over coming them seem to be the seed bed of their faith

The Romans reading is less about fear but of faith. You may say that Paul is experiencing a psychological fear. Paul confronted the separation already growing between his beloved Jewish people and his chosen Christian community. Paul wrote this before the expulsion of the Christians from the synagogue—long before the bitter persecution of Jews by Christians began.

In this passage, Paul compares the right relationship to God (“righteousness”) that comes through a strict adherence to the Mosaic law to that which comes by faith. In contrast to a slavish adherence to this law, which is ultimately futile, the righteousness that comes by faith is entirely attainable. It requires no superhuman effort such as ascending into heaven or descending into the abyss. Such feats have already been accomplished by God in Jesus’ incarnation and resurrection.

People need to accept the “word of faith” proclaimed by the apostle. This acceptance is manifested both through inner conviction and outer profession. These signs of faith are rooted in the work of God, affirming that Jesus is God incarnate and that Jesus now lives.

The first of these professions of faith, “Jesus is lord,” was particularly central for the early Church in areas where the people believed in “many gods and many lords” (1 Corinthians 8:5-6). It is the earliest and simplest creed of the Church.

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Note: Due to the Sunday scheduling of the Transfiguration in 2023, Pentecost 10 which would have had the “Feeding of the 5,000” was not heard. Here is a commentary on the lectionary for that week

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I.Theme –   God cares for his creation

 "Christ Feeding the 5000" – Eric Feather

The lectionary readings are here  or individually: 

Old Testament – Isaiah 55:1-5
Psalm – Psalm 145: 8-9, 15-22 Page 801, BCP
Epistle –Romans 9:1-5
Gospel – Matthew 14:13-21 

Our readings this week continue to show how much God cares for His creation. We read about lives changed forever. We hear about the innocent people suffering but also that God understands. God even shows His love for those who disobey Him and turn away from Him. We see that God wants to bless His people and we see that come about with miracles taking place and people being blessed.

We are an open church – we welcome everyone to share in our community:

– even the Babylonians and Persians in Isaiah

– Jews who question the falling away of the Christ movement in Paul

– Those who wanted to cast away the people in the Gospel for a lack of food

The Psalm demonstrates the actions of the Lord – the Lord “raises,” “gives,” “fulfills,” “hears,” and “watches.”  

This week has the only parable contained in all four Gospels – the feeding of the 5,000. Ironically the emphasis of the event is not so much upon the miraculous nature of the feeding, for the usual reference to the astonishment of the disciples and crowd (12:23, 14:33) is absent, as it is upon the implied revelation of who Jesus is.  

At the beginning of the passage, Jesus had retreated on news of John the Baptist death

"This passage shows so beautifully the humanity and divinity of Jesus." writes Rick Morley

"He could have sent them away. He could have told them all what had happened to John. He could have just cried and yelled and screamed. He could have gotten into the boat, conjured up a good storm and been done with them all. 

But, he was moved with compassion. He always is. He was able to see beyond his own pain, and feel the pain they were bringing."

For the early Church, the eucharistic significance of the feeding of the 5,000 made it a central experience in the narratives of Jesus’ ministry

The key acts are all there :

1. Jesus takes the food which is an offering – we give what we have.  

2. Jesus blesses the food by giving thanks. Our liturgy thanks God on behalf of creation, humanity, and the Church. In our lives we struggle to relearn the natural prayer of our childhood, when we woke each morning with wonder and gratitude in our heart. 

3. Jesus breaks the bread. In church, the breaking of the eucharistic bread may help us recall Christ’s sacrifice and death. In our lives, it is our very selves we are challenged to break—our limits of prejudices, fears, and old attitudes. God calls us to break through to a new awareness of the power of God’s love and of the needs of our brothers and sisters. 

4. He shares with all as we extend his ministry to the world.

This is the truth in which Paul exults when he proclaims that nothing, not our fears, not our sins, not the crushing powers of this world or any other can keep us apart from the love of God shown us in Jesus our lord. Our lives are broken, but we are loved forever. 

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I. Theme – How we can be empowered by our relationship with God?

“ The Transfiguration ” – Fra Angelico (1440-1442)

“About eight days after Peter had acknowledged Jesus as the Christ of God, Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white.” –Luke 9:28:29

The lectionary readings are here  or individually: 

Old Testament – Exodus 34:29-35
Psalm – Psalm 99
Epistle – 2 Peter 1:13-21
Gospel – Luke 9:28-36

Today’s readings help us see how we can be empowered by our relationship to God. The Gospels speak about experiences with God and Jesus. In Exodus, we witness the physical transformation of Moses after spending time in God’s presence. In the gospel, Jesus is transformed, his glory revealed and his mission affirmed by a voice from heaven. Ultimately the disciples will need transformation also.

The season after the Epiphany concludes with one of the most powerful epiphanies of all – the Transfiguration. This story comes at the center of Luke’s story, between Jesus’ baptism and his resurrection.

Luke’s account of the transfiguration points back to Old Testament parallels and forward to Jesus’ death, resurrection and ascension. As is such it brings in a new dimension of Jesus and a new relationship that the disciples would have with him. Their experience so far has been of Jesus the teacher, the healer, the miracle-worker. Now they are seeing a new vision of Jesus, a new understanding of him as the Christ – as one who would venture to Jerusalem , be killed but then resurrected .

They are still not on board. Peter, however, still wants to avoid the difficulty of the journey to Jerusalem and its ultimate consequences. The mission of Jesus is not about worshipping at shrines or even the practice of religion. The mission of Jesus is about death and resurrection.

The disciples found the journey in the beginning was easier—they left everything to follow him, and to follow meant to learn his teachings and to live his ways. But now the journey will become much harder

Even faithful Christians wonder if God is absent at times, or busy somewhere else. Massive evil, brutal violence and rampant greed seem to smother any slight glimmers of spirituality. Luke’s audience may have had similar concerns, so he stresses for them the necessity of Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem and eventual passion there. The transfiguration offers the disciples an experience of hope and confidence that will sustain them while they wait for Jesus to return.

As Christ laid down his life for us, so we are called to give of our life to him, to give up being first, to give up our wants and desires to serve others. And like Christ, we will be called to give all for the sake of God’s love of the world. How do we live this transfiguration in our lives? How do we share what our faith means to us? It is more than a conversation that can be controversial. This is our very lives. Do we let it shine, or do we hold it back? Do we still misunderstand? How will you live out your faith differently this Lenten season?

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