From Here to There

 The View from There to Here

Two themes have traded the stage on these Sundays after the Epiphany.  The first is the “manifestation” to the world of God’s presence in the person of Jesus of Nazareth.  The other is furtherance of that manifestation in the sharing of God’s presence through the Kingdom of Heaven, in Greek βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν or basileia tōn ouranōn.  As Jesus shows himself for who he is, his reach finds us and his realm extends to include us.    

So we read the stories of the Magi and their somber visitation (frankincense and myrrh are burial “perfumes”), John’s dialogue with Jesus ending in his ultimate submission to being the one who baptizes his cousin in the Jordan River and followed finally by the miracle at the wedding in Cana of turning water into wine. 

In each of these moments our focus is increasingly fine tuned and we ultimately wake to him as THE incarnate one.  Scholars have coined a term for us that names this “focus,” as the Word made flesh commits a “scandal of particularity.”  It’s not that Jesus becomes more unique — there are no degrees of uniqueness — but that his “person” increases in intensity and impact. No wonder last Sunday’s gospel had him sounding so “harsh.”

While this ”particularity” is happening in and through him, the kingdom of heaven is also “made manifest.” In the same way that a lamp lights a whole room, or salt flavors all it touches the realm of God reaches and includes us and ultimately all of creation.  

This coming Sunday the gospel lesson tells of a transfiguration of Jesus with Moses and Elijah on a mountain top witnessed by Peter, James, and John. They are enshrouded in a cloud of light that glistens and God can be heard echoing the voice from the bank of the Jordan as Jesus was baptized, “this is my Son!”

So I’m thinking that in this mysterious and powerful event Jesus view is from both there and to here and he sees something new, something different. I think he can see how far this kingdom extends from him and how far he still has to go in his demonstrating an obedience like no other on the cross of Calvary.

For us the view from there, from that mountain top was both particular: about him — and general: about the kingdom. It is a kingdom that is in him already here and by our acceptance still being realized.  That’s why we use the story of the Transfiguration to close this “ordinary time” after our Epiphany triptych.  It reminds us that the kingdom is “already” AND “not yet.”

As we make our way — soon with Lent as our season — the kingdom that is already present in the particular person of Jesus keeps being realized by us in our faithfulness.  And we affirm the already-ness demonstrated by Christ’s transfiguration and turn to acknowledging the not-yet-ness in our striving. 

FrDann