Year B
 2 Kings 2:1-12
 Psalm 50:1-6
 2 Corinthians 4:3-6
 Mark 9:2-9

May the words of my mouth O God…  speak your truth…

When my daughter was about four-years-old…  she had one of those orange and yellow…  foot-propelled…  Little Tikes toy cars…  she loved it…  because she was able to pretend to drive…  she was able to pretend being grown-up…  doing what grown-ups did…  drive like her mom and I did…  and she’d go up and down the sidewalk… back and forth…  honking its make-believe horn…  and using its make-believe turn signals…  or sometimes…  she’d stand in the driver’s seat of the car we drove…  and would pretend to steer…  and go around corners…  and speed up and slow down…  it was learning by imitation…  learning by seeing and learning by doing…  in small moves…  and really…  as they get older…  there’s some real delight in seeing our children learn to walk…  to speak…  to tie their shoes…  learn to tell time and spell…  and read…  learn to help in the kitchen…  keep their rooms clean and help around the house…  learn to contribute to their community in other ways…  learning the many things they’ll need to do…  as they become young adults…  and then just simply adults… able to be in healthy relationships with others… able to be role models…  and teachers…  and mentors…  to others… 

The prophet Elijah…  a Tishbite…  is first introduced to us not in today’s reading…  but in 1Kings 17:1…  and Elisha…  the son of Abel-meholah…  is first introduced to us a few chapters later in 1Kings 19:16…  Elijah does not anoint Elisha as God commands…  but instead throws his mantle over Elisha while he plows…  the meaning is the same though…  you have been chosen by God for this ministry…  selected as my student… my protégé…  as my successor…  but Elisha says…  Let me kiss my father and my mother first…  and then I will follow you…  and Elijah replies…  in effect…  Oh no…  what have I done…  Elisha’s request indicates that he does not yet have the determination to be Elijah’s successor…  and Elijah’s response suggests that he wants nothing to do with disciples who are not completely focused on the task at hand…  but when Elisha slaughters his animals…  and cooks the meat…  it’s an irrevocable act…  indicating that he is willing to make a decisive break with his past life…  the text doesn’t specify that he made those goodbyes…  but after he feeds the people…  Elisha follows Elijah…  and for at least ten years…  he studied with and learned from him…  and in today’s reading…  they travel from Gilgal…  to Bethel…  to Jericho…  and to the Jordan river…  where in a whirlwind…  which signifies God’s presence…  Elijah is taken up bodily…  into heaven…  and v. 13 tells us that Elisha picked up the mantle that had fallen from Elijah…  now on the surface level…  a mantle is like a shawl…  but in this case…  Elijah’s mantle more deeply represents empowerment…  a growing into one’s calling…  and a mantle from God conveys that one has been given a holy assignment…  and that they have the authority to carry it out…

And so Jesus takes three disciples…  who had been with him…  watching and learning…  up a high mountain…  away from their daily distractions…  to what we call a thin place…  which according to Celtic Christianity…  is one of those places…  where the distance between Heaven and Earth collapses…  and there…  Moses and Elijah appear as disciples… they are talking to Jesus…  Jesus is not consulting them…  and while the disciples don’t overhear the conversation…  it’s enough for them to know that the Moses of the Law…  and the Elijah of the Prophets…  who represent the whole Jewish tradition…  are involved…

And while Peter gushes that it’s good for them to be there…  at the same time…  it may be that he’s not quite sure what they’ve gotten themselves into…  Peter may be thinking they’re in over their heads…  but also…  like Elisha…  wondering whether some proverbial bridges need to be burned…  because what was unfolding around them was beyond the comfortable boundaries of their consciousness…  while this thin place offered something unique…  a tremendous mystery…  it was also shot through with trepidation…  and in this experience of divine awe…  he doesn’t quite know what to say…  ] and while being there then…   might sustain his and the others’ commitment to Jesus…  while it may be like a mantle placed around their shoulders…  it does little…   in the moment at least…   to increase their comprehension of all that it implies…

One tradition says that Jesus allowed Peter…  James…  and John to see his glory…  in order to strengthen their faith against the dark days ahead…  and because Jesus refers to his resurrection from the dead in v. 9…  and ordered the three disciples to tell no one about what they have seen…  it has a direct bearing on the upcoming events of Holy Week and Easter… 

We’re on a cusp today…  on the cusp of Epiphany and Lent…  of light and penitence…  of revelation and repentance…  and the Transfiguration is another epiphany…  a showing… or revealing…  of Christ’s identity as God and savior…  St. Leo writes: The great reason for this transfiguration…  was to remove the scandal of the cross from the hearts of his disciples…  and to prevent the humiliation of his voluntary sufferings…  from disturbing the faith of those who had witnessed the surpassing glory that lay concealed…

Like Peter…  and James…  and John… and all of the disciples…  we’re not here to simply marvel at what happened so long ago…  not here to simply be silent witnesses…  and we’re certainly not here to comprehend the Transfiguration’s incomprehensibility… we’re on a cusp today…  on the cusp of spiritual childhood and spiritual maturity…  of selfishness and selflessness…  of ignoring what’s going on around us so we don’t have to change the systems which keep God’s children oppressed or in need…  or hitting head-on those who are invested in not changing them…

In some ways…  too many of us are like four-year-olds…  driving up and down the sidewalks in our Little Tikes cars…  not wanting to grow up…  and really going nowhere…  in some ways we’re like reluctant prophets…  who have received the mantle of baptism…  but who are either looking for ways to remain at home…  or prolong our departures so we don’t have to venture outside of our comfort zones…  in some ways…  we seek those thin places…  where the distance between Heaven and Earth collapses…  but when we experience the light of God’s glory…  our words to describe it will always fall short…  they might not even make sense…

And as they were coming down the mountain…  Jesus ordered them to tell no one about what they had seen until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead…  so they kept the matter to themselves…  questioning what this rising from the dead could mean…  they had no point of reference for this…  it was beyond their experience…   and even now… the how of it…  is beyond our comprehension…  all we need to do then…  is forgo proclaiming ourselves…  and heed the voice from the cloud…   and listen to…   and let Jesus teach us…  and we will be strengthened…  and changed into his likeness…  from glory to glory…