"This is My Beloved. Listen!"

"This is My Beloved.  Listen!"

(Graphic from Jesus MAFA project, see www.jesusmafa.com)

Lectionary Scripture Focus - Mark 9, vs 2-9 NRSV

Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them.  And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus.  Then Peter said to Jesus, "Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah."  He did not know what to say, for they were terrified.

Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, "This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!"  Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one with them anymore, but only Jesus.  As they were coming down the mountain, he ordered them to tell no one about what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead.

Reflection on the Scripture:

In the office of a corporate president this week, I sat marveling at the man in front of me.  He had come personally to the lobby to greet me and a colleague.  He then escorted us to his office.  While waiting for him in the lobby, I read the story of his own transfiguration; a transfiguration from a criminal and drug addict (You should see his mug shot!) to the gentle person who approached and greeted us wearing a pair of jeans with his long hair tied in a ponytail draping down his back over a gray shirt that sported the graphic of a large decorative cross.

Sitting before us in his office, he spoke of his passions for families struggling with mental illness and how that concern extended to the incarcerated.  He then took spoke of the great importance of spirituality in people’s lives and his passion for seeing that need addressed in people.  He then made very clear that he had no interest in advocating, supporting, or building up any particular religion.  Spirituality wasn’t about that and he wanted to be clear that if we were seeking charitable support for any specific faith tradition, he wasn’t available for that.  At that point, I thought, “You, sir, are preaching to the choir!  What you’re saying is exactly my cup of tea.”  

My colleague and I assured him that wasn’t the case for us and spoke further to being a non-profit mental health center that values spirituality for people’s lives and respects all faith traditions.  I smiled to myself realizing that this man was one who can be called, “Son of God.”  And then, toward the end of our visit after being satisfied that we did not represent a specific religious institution or some form of organized religion, he asked to come to our annual fundraiser breakfast in April.  I will have the pleasure of hosting him at my table during the event.  I feel honored and anxious to get further acquainted.

You know, Peter, James, and John were so typical as human beings.  They don’t know how to respond to the presence of the Divine in their midst, so they wanted to enshrine the moment by building a dwelling or kind of altar or temple.  I suppose that at an earlier time in human history, people would have wanted to do the same, in some fashion or another, for the corporate president I met with this week.  Thankfully, his own voice is in tune with God’s voice and he’ll have no part in such endeavors for such things are not God’s ways.

On that note, after sharing my May 26th experience (see My Recent Journey, My God Encounter) with a good friend several months ago, my friend shared an experience he had with a friend of his while they worked to replace a roof on the church they attended.  Like the mountain transfiguration experience of James, John, and Peter -- both men on the roof that day had the same experience at the same time.  To them together, the Spirit said that God’s will only be accomplished on earth when churches are no longer being built.  For me, the experience also says that when we let go, when we no longer build monuments like churches to our egos, either the ego of a single individual or the shared ego of a faith community wanting to showcase itself to the world around it, then maybe like my new acquaintance this week, we’ll finally learn that it is the spirituality of God’s presence made manifest in a single life that matters most.

When we can look to the life of any other man, woman, child or youth and allow ourselves to hear the words, “This is my beloved, listen to her!”  Or as I did this week with a non-conforming corporate president and heard God say, “This is my beloved son, listen to him!”  It’s then that there will finally be hope for all humanity.  It’s then that we will have truly climbed a high mountain and communed with the ancients of time to realize that peace, justice, and healing for all are no closer, nor further away than our spiritual condition justifies – which is a statement from my former faith tradition that I will always treasure.

Be of good cheer, my friends, for as Jesus once said, it is God’s good pleasure to give us the hope and promise that one day, God’s just and peaceable reign will come to the earth.  And for those who build monuments of any form to their ego and greed – they will finally be made to look into the deep and dark abyss of their own soullessness.  And of that, they will be terrified.

Brad Shumate, M.S.,M.A.,LMHC
Free of Encumbrance
Vancouver, WA
Email: brshumate@freeofencumbrance.net