February 24, 2002

Genesis 12: 1-4 – 2 Timothy 1: 8-10 + Matthew 17: 1-9

A couple of weeks ago while I was on vacation, I had the privilege of visiting Antarctica. It was an experience that shall never dim in my memory It is a place totally unspoiled by human beings. not one cigarette butt, not a single styro-foam cup, no Kleenex, fast-food boxes, nor brown sky that burns the eyes. When I listened to Matthew’s description of Jesus in these verses, I couldn’t help but think of what I have recently seen, and I recognized that Matthew is struggling to describe “beauty”, the real thing.

It occurs to me that there are two kinds of people who relate to beauty· those who look at it, and those who see it and seek to understand it.Those who look are often the busy ones who have to be tapped on the shoulder, or called to “Look at that.” and then may or may not glance up from what they’re doing to see whatever it is that has excited another They are the ones have no time to look up and gaze at a sunset, who look at life in terms of what they can do and what they can get. They use music to cover the noise of a machine or the traffic, and their feet never cross the threshold of a museum.Those who see beauty are those who recognize a gift. They are sometimes stunned by the western sky They will put down what they are doing to listen, to gaze, and to wonder. They are like Peter, James, and John in Matthew’s gospel today, stunned by beauty, speechless, awed, and filled with wonder

Matthew is desperate in this text to describe beauty He shares with us the experience of Peter, James and John, and his own for that matter, of moving from seeing this great beauty to understanding.They have put down all the useless things of their lives. They have set aside the mind-set of “function as value”, and they have climbed this mountain to sit before beauty, and there in its presence, they understand.

They understand finally that this beauty is the presence of God, and that what they see is all that human kind can handle. They see in the beauty of Jesus what others cannot, because they have begun to understand true beauty as it reveals the divine artist.

In the context of Matthew’s gospel, the Transfiguration, or as I  would call it today, “The encounter with Beauty” comes just after the first prophecy of the Passion. Those disciples have come face to face with the passion of Christ, and they have been invited to see in it the beauty of Divine Love rather than the ugliness of human violence. This is what it means to understand beauty .

Our Lenten days this year can be, if we so chose, a time to see beauty and understand it. We may, ifwe chose, walk with Peter, James and John into the face of beauty They did more that day than look at Jesus. They saw beauty, and they understood it as a reflection of the divine; and we may do the same. The Passion is put before them, and they see the Transfiguration.

What this understanding allows is for us to look at the cross, see victory, and understand Love.What this understanding allows is for us to look at our own suffering, our broken hearts, disappointments, and failures,see the beauty of divine mercy, and understand forgiveness.What this understanding allows is  for us to look into the face of poverty and misery, see the face of the divine creator,and understand compassion.What this understanding allows is for us to look at those the world would pass by because they do not produce, look pretty, nor provide us with anything we want, see the face of the divine creator,and understand the Kingdom of God.

This is our Lent in it’s Second Week:a invitation to put down the busy things and tasks that keep us from seeing beauty and understanding it;the things that keep us from Love, forgiveness, compassion, and the Kingdom of God.

February 17, 2002 Genesis 2·7-9,3:1-7 + Romans 5:12-19 + Matthew4:1-11

Here we go, head long into Lent. Most of us have been in this desert many times, and a glance at the calendar says: “Easter is early this year We think: “That’s good, we’ll get it over with early and get back to the good times: after all, as they say in the New Orleans: “Laissez Les hon temps roulez!” And so we start with the story we’ve heard as many times as there have Lenten Seasons in our lives. He comes, the devil. Is he real or just a character of the story there to scare us? What really matters is, the lie he represents. That’s real enough. There are three of them in this story

The first lie is that eating more will make you strong. For most of us, eating makes us fat. In the story though, he urges Jesus to eat, because he’s hungry – it’s about instant gratification, a good temptation for those who are impatient, or hungry, or for those who don’t think that God is going to take care of them, so they had better do it themselves.

The second lie is that we are indestructible. For most of us, we’re falling apart faster than we like to think. In the story, he urges Jesus to jump, because after all, he’s special – it’s about believing or maybe wishing that we were better than some body else, that somehow by some chance of birth, we are privileged and have rights that  give us power, and choices that give us control.  a good temptation for those  whose most used words are “mine’  and “Me.”

The third lie is the lie of the golden calf It’s the lie of idolatry Anyone afflicted with or enabling addictive behavior knows this lie. They know that any person, place, thing, idea, law, theory, feeling, or fantasy can be turned into a god; a good temptation for people who are not too sure of who they are and what they are, for people who are making it up as they go along in life.

Jesus wasn’t making it up. His biggest concern was to make what was his become ours, and his hunger was for the Will of God, a God who enjoyed his trust and confidence without doubt. One of our ancestors in faith, a hermit named Anthony who lived in the desert around 250 years after Christ made the point that when the body is week, the spirit is strong, and his wisdom might guide our thoughts about this season and lead us to pay attention to the sick and those who suffer, to the poor and those who are weak in order to learn something about strength and endurance.

In all his temptations, Jesus found strength in the Holy Scriptures. From them he drew the Truth in order to confront the Lie. Later in his story and at his trial, Pilot  will ask the question: ”Truth? What is that?” Ironically, he will seek the Truth seated in front of the one who Is the Truth and the one who came to reveal the Truth.

The truth about us is told this season. The truth is, we are sinners, and too often we chose the Lie and make choices that do not lead us to the Truth. We choose to satisfy our physical hunger while we starve to death spiritually We meet our ego needs and set aside the truth of who we are, while we toy with power in place of having real strength of character, faith, and vision. These lies touch us in our most vulnerable places: hunger, pain and power We hoard food, we indulge in painkillers and mood altering potions, and we fight for control over others while our own lives spin on the edge.

This season we have begun does not have to be like the ones before. This time we may get it right – or come closer than ever before. This time we might, like Jesus find our strength in the Holy Scriptures and embrace the temptations we face because they say so much about us: our needs, spiritual, emotional, and physical. We might even come to say a prayer of Thanks when the temptations come because they tell us so clearly what we need to change. Lent is about choosing, it’s not about doing without – it’s about what we choose to have and what we choose to become.