Soaring Upward

There is more ascending and transfiguring and soaring upward in the readings of the last Sunday in Epiphany. It’s like things are transforming into the heavens, maybe as examples so we don’t lose hope and courage and can virtually see some miracles. But miracles don’t have to be so miraculous if we stick by Jesus Christ, trusting that we will follow that upward soar because we are the children of God. And He loves us and has patience with us, even when our efforts on earth seem to be falling apart, or negative productions, or selfish scandals or just rotten attempts that turn the right thing into the wrong thing. But we can learn how to do things right, and maybe get a glimpse of what might come to us in the doing of it.

First, having welcomed the Christ Child, who was recognized by  shepherds wandering in the fields with their sheep, and then the gentile, gift bearing , star reading Magi riding on those  camels  to the stable under the star; then Mary and Joseph had to flee across the hot desert to Egypt, friendly or not, but to save Jesus from Herod; and then, time flies so fast, we are at the wedding of Cana where the man Jesus preformed His first miracle, with His Mother Mary assisting to make sure the servers got the point. And now as we greet the sobering time of Lent, when Jesus begins the walk to his crucifixion and death, we need to stop and take a deep breath for in these winter days,  about five weeks of them, before spring bursts through the soil and dead leaves, we need to re-asses or maybe recycle our lives, our habits, the things we have become accustomed to that aren’t really splendid for our souls. Such things we forget to do, like thanking God for his glory and love for us and squeezing out of our hearts any negative thoughts about anyone and getting on our knees to ask for pardon and deliverance so that we can clean out our souls and start a fresh as we celebrate the one great hope we have, the death and resurrection of God’s only son, Jesus the Christ.

Epiphany closes with Jesus taking three of his top friends, Peter, James, John, to a high mountain where He was to be transfigured. Jesus seems to anticipate this, as if God had told him it would happen. Because it happened and immediately Jesus’s clothes became dazzling white “such as no one on earth could bleach them.” Then appeared Elijah with Moses, two of the most dramatic and important people in the history of God’s working out his purpose. The three companeros of Jesus didn’t really know what to think or how to take what they were seeing. So Peter, as usual, puts foot in mouth and, thinking positive, maybe generously, hay, we can build dwellings for the three of them. Peter was just trying to be helpful, reaching out to be useful to make them comfortable, meanwhile, hiding his fright. Seeing Jesus with two of the top guys in the history of God, Wow! This was a huge “Wow. And just to prove a point, Father God arrived in a cloud and spoke in a voice they could understand: “This is my Son, the Beloved (like he had said at Jesus’ baptism), Listen to him.” And then God, Elijah and Moses disappeared, and there they were with only Jesus.  I’m sure the three pals were whizzing through the Lord’s Prayer or something as they walked back down the mountain, completely stymied and fascinated by what they had just experienced. Then Jesus told them not to say a word to anyone. And when He said, “until after the Son of Man has risen from the dead,” I’m sure the trio had no earthly idea what Jesus was talking about, because up to now, they didn’t understand the part that Jesus was on the way to being crucified.

There are so many moments between earth and heaven. And another similar miracle, from the Old Testament, involved the great Elijah, present at the transfiguration, and Elisha, the young man who was a prophet, popular with Jews, Muslims and Christians, as well as Baha ‘i Faith. Elisha was the protege of Elijah, who soars away from this earth into the heavens without have to pass “GO”, so to speak, or having to die. Elijah’s vehicle had been a flaming chariot and what better to remember a man whose name meant My God is Yahweh. He was not only a prophet and miracle worker from the Northern Kingdom during the reign of King Ahab (the Arab?), but Elisha also defended the Hebrew God over the Canaanite deity Baal. Some even though Elijah was Jesus, and Jezebel, because he had ordered deaths of her priests, threatened to kill Elijah, who traveled 40 days and nights to Mt. Horeb and hid in a cave. When God asked him why, Elijah didn’t have an answer.  Interestingly, the nation of Islam believes Elijah returned as Elijah Muhammad, the black separatist religious leader who claimed to be a messenger, but not a prophet.

Elisha was also a prophet, protege of Elijah who worked in the Northern Kingdom of Israel during the reign of Joram, Jehu, Jehoahaz and Jehoash. His dad was Shaphat, a wealthy landowner. Elijah had encountered Elisha working in the fields with 12 yokes of oxen. Elisha consequently killed them all and went with Elijah, who adopted him as a son, and invested him with the prophetic office for the probably eight years they worked together.  When Elijah died, Elisha  asked to inherit a double portion of Elijah’s spirit, normal for the elder son to request.  He didn’t do too bad in his ministry: anticipating Jesus’s ministry, Elisha fed a hundred men with twenty loaves of new barley, with some left over; cured a Syrian military commander of leprosy, and often saved King Jehoram of Israel from ambushes.  He cleansed the infected waters of Jericho which halted miscarriages and fatalities, helped a prophets widow with healing oil so she could pay her debt. He was one busy prophet and had double the spirit of his mentor Elijah.

Although we don’t seem to have any more prophets, we certainly have examples of how each of us who believes in and loves God can help here on earth. We are his people and the sheep of his pastures, we are told. So as Lent rolls in upon us, let us re-think ourselves, run our souls through the washing machine, so to speak, and clean our hearts from any negative feelings about people around us and who disappointed us over this past year.  Start that motor of love in our hearts again so that when Easter arrives, we can rejoice and feel refreshed in our Easter outfits as we worship the son of God again with a clean spirit.

 ~ Rev
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audrey@audreytaylorgonzalez.com
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