It can be hard to listen
Epiphany Last C | Luke 9:28-36, [37-43a]
When Jesus takes these three disciples up a mountain with him, what do you think they’re thinking about? They don’t know the Transfiguration is going to happen, of course. This is all so new. Everything, in fact, is new. Do you suppose they think they’re special? Probably, right? Singled out for time with Jesus the rest don’t get?
We might wonder what they’ve done to deserve this. And that’s how we’d phrase it, too. Because we think there is a question of merit here. And reward. The most deserving will get served by the system. That tends to be how we like to think of things in the U.S., regardless of whether it is true or not.
As Christians, though, such ideas should give us pause, shouldn’t they? Merit really isn’t a thing, nor is reward for that matter, since the first will be last and the last will be first. The most deserving in the Kin-dom are the ones least likely to get it in our world. So, in a sense, this might be special attention because Peter, James, and John need the attention. That’s far closer to how Jesus operates, anyway.
And if we step back for a moment and consider how the concept of merit opens the door to assumptions we shouldn’t make — then perhaps we might consider assumptions that the disciples make — that Jesus isn’t actually saying. They are assuming. …
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