Rev Hugh Perry

Theme: Transfiguration

Readings

2 Kings 2:1-12

Today’s reading is about Elisha succeeding Elijah and we should note that Elijah has to cross over the Jordan to fulfil his destiny then, in the passage immediately following today’s reading, Elisha crosses back to fulfil that promised ministry.

Moses led the people across the Red Sea to leave Egypt and Joshua leads them across the Jordan to enter the Promised Land.

As we listen to the crossing of the Jordan bringing new promise in today’s reading remember that earlier this year we looked at John the Baptizer appearing as the new Elijah by the banks of the Jordan.  We also read that in baptism Jesus comes up out of the Jordan and instead of the waters parting the heavens parted, a truly new beginning.

Andrew notes that all biblical religion depends on succession and that understanding not only helps us cope with our world but helps us understand the message the Gospel writers bring us as they explain Jesus as a continuation of their religious tradition.

Mark 9:2-9

Context is always important because so much of the gospel writer’s message is delivered in the way the story is assembled.

Chapter 8 begins with a great crowd following Jesus to the point where, if they went back to their homes for food, they would collapse on the way.

We learned in our first reading that new beginnings have got something to do with crossing water and dividing things.  However, with Moses as the model we also know that when people of God take people away from home on the way to something new they are expected to feed them.  Jesus does that by feeding four thousand. (Mark 8:9)

Then the Pharisees come and ask for a sign and the disciples worry about not having bread and we are left with the impression that neither the Pharisees nor the disciples can see what is happening.  Jesus then heals a blind man who sees very well.

That brings us to the turning point of the Gospel at the return from Caesarea Philippi where Peter proclaims Jesus as the Messiah but does not understand about Jesus’ death.

In today’s reading a representative group of disciples are taken to a secluded place and have a spiritual experience of Jesus’ identity.

Sermon

Through their understanding of their religious tradition and scripture Peter, James and John had formed a reasoned understanding of who Jesus was.  That framed the spiritual experience described in our reading and was the structure Mark used to describe it.

So are our spiritual experiences also constructed in our minds by our religious tradition and scripture, and if so can they still guide us to our best possible future.

Maurice Andrew writes that ‘All biblical religion depends on succession.  What comes feeds on the past, and what is past leads to what comes’[1]  A very wise comment from a very astute biblical scholar but it goes further than simply acknowledging biblical structure.  Innovation in the human society also feeds on the past.  Practices and understandings from the past help to build new knowledge, structures, organisations and ways of living in the future.  The rapid development of the covid vaccine was based on years of vaccination science and practise.

The Bible is built on a structure that recognises that experience and spiritual insight from the past informs the future.  The reason why Christians put so much emphasis on reading the Bible is this reality that spiritual insight from the past will not only inform our lives now but guide us to the future.

The Bible is a collection of books, that’s why it is called the Bible. It is not a book of rules called Spiritual Direction for Dummies.

The Bible has a collection of rules but also, history and stories.  All of which are assembled in a pattern of succession where the past informs the future and episodes in one time are reflected in earlier times.

Therefore, the Bible reflects real life and offers us both a foundation and a framework to build our own religious response to our world.

Our gospel reading is built on a previous episode and the imagery in the vision described reflects past scripture and religious tradition.

Jesus and the disciples took time out in the gentile resort of Caesarea Philippi.  That was not Jewish territory, but it was a place of considerable ancient religious significance.  Building on the past is an interfaith experience.

On the way back from Caesarea Philippi Jesus instigates a discussion about his identity.  Where does he fit in their religious tradition and perhaps other religious traditions?

Mark’s Gospel gives us two prompts from Jesus.  Who do people say he is, and who do the disciples say he is?  After going through a number of significant figures from their religious and cultural tradition Peter finally proclaims Jesus as the Messiah.

That was a reasoned conclusion based on the religious tradition of the past. It was also a conclusion derived from the difficulties people experienced in the disciples’ time.

Through reasoning they were led to believe that God would send new leadership in the future.  God would send a messiah.  The disciples concluded Jesus’ actions and teaching came so close to what tradition said about a messiah that he must be the expected messiah. Continue reading Sunday 11th February →

Rev Barbara Peddie

God’s work – and ours

Epiphany 5B and Waitangi

This was one of the times when I was tempted to move away from the set lectionary readings – although as it happens there was a choice for this Sunday. There’s a separate set for Epiphany 5 and Waitangi Day and this is the closest Sunday to Waitangi Day. But, in the end I opted for the readings for Epiphany 5. But, let’s face it, they’re a challenge!

In these days, where the news is full of death and disaster, both in the wider world where there is war and misery and desperation in far too many countries, and in our own land where the new year has begun with fire and storm, far too many deaths on the roads and in the water, and violence in the streets, it’s hard to take real comfort from Isaiah’s hymn to the everlasting Lord who “gives power to the faint and strengthens the powerless”, or from the Psalmist who sings of the Lord who “heals the broken-hearted and binds up their wounds.” Tell that to the people of Gaza and Ukraine and wait for their reaction!

And the reading from Mark has its own challenges. Jesus’ healing stories are hard for us. We know both too much about illnesses and not enough. We know that fevers are often caused by infections, and we know how to deal with them. We know that some mental illnesses are genetic in origin, and some are caused by chemical imbalances, and there are ways of treating them. But we also know that some diseases are unexplained and uncontrollable. And we know that wellness means more than physical wellbeing. There is a spiritual dimension to health, and there is a ministry of healing.

I’m not saying that God doesn’t heal. There are times when the veil between us and God – between what we see as reality, and what we feel as something other, or sacred, or numinous – whatever we call it – is thin. I think there are people with a healing ministry – who can make themselves channels for God to act as God chooses to act. I don’t, however, have much time for people who claim that power for themselves. And there’s more than one sort of healing ministry. We have people walking among us with gifts of reconciliation, or of mending the earth, or of recognising and calling out gifts in others. They’re all healers too. Continue reading Sunday 4th February →