🦁 Lent 3-3

Readings: Psalm 19; Exodus 19:16-25; Mark 9:2-8. 

Reflection

Good morning. This is Tim Tribble, broadcasting from Sacramento, California. Today's readings come to us from Psalm 19. Exodus Chapter 19, verses 16 to 25 and the Gospel of Mark. Chapter nine verses two through eight. 

So we are back again. Revisiting Psalm 19, which is still a continuation of the law of the Lord, the celebration of the perfection of the laws of the war, and how following the laws of the Lord will keep us in redemption. In the Book of Exodus is reading today, we have the continuation of the appearance of God on Mount Sinai. 

And this is a so going back. Moses talked to God. God said, Hey, I've got you on with all the things I did for the people of Israel. Do you follow my precepts? I will take care of you and be your God. And Moses went down, told the people that they said, Yes, we will follow. God told them, don't hold God yet. Will follow you. He says, Well, in three days I'm going to come down here and get prepared. So here we are on the third day, on the morning, the third day there was thunder and lightning in a thick cloud. Oh, the trumpet blasted the people tremble. Then Moses brought them out to meet God and they stood at the foot of the mountain and the smoke went up like the smoke of a kiln. The whole mountain trembled. And as the trumpet grew louder, Moses spoke and God answered him. And what would sound the people like thunder. And Lord came down on Mount Sinai and then called Moses up. Moses the only one that can go up. Remember anybody else's who came, touched, touched. Even the base of the mountain would be stoned or shot with an arrow and he said, Lord Gizmodo's, another warning Go down and warn the people lest they break through to the Lord and look. And many of them may perish. But the priests had come near constant create themselves. Bless the Lord, break out against them. So Moses is going back and this is more of the separation of God and His Holiness. And these this is where a lot of the cleansing rituals and things like that come into play. When they had the tabernacle and went in and and had the holy of holies and how the priests had to prepare themselves, this is the basis for, for a lot of that. In the book of Mark's, we have the Gospel Mark and Chapter nine, and we're looking at the Transfiguration. 

So this is a you look at the timeline of Jesus's ministry. This is about just over a year. So he was baptized by John the Baptist in the spring of the year before. This is the summer middle ish of the summer of the following year as the Transfiguration. So Jesus had his 12 disciples. So in this timeline, so he's been baptized, He's cleansed the temple. He's met the Samaritan woman. He was rejected at Nazareth. He healed the blind man. He chosen the four fishermen. He chosen Matthew. He had all 12 disciples. He had done the Sermon on the Mount and the sinful woman had anointed his feet. He done the parables. You call them the storm, and he healed. Is his daughter. He'd walked on water. He fed the 5000. And now we come to the Transfiguration. 

And so Jesus took his three of his disciples, the Peter, James and John. James and John being the brothers, the sons of Zebedee. And he led them up on the high mountain by himself of the Mount, that they think that we're pretty sure that this was on was is a mountain called to Bor. I'm pronouncing that correctly. And there is a church there. So the there is the church. It's the church of the transfiguration. And it is there. You can go to it today if you travel in Israel. So we come up and they go before they come up there. And then he transfigured befallen his clothes and he turned this brilliant white of the sky, which is better than anyone could bleach. And then appeared Elijah and Moses. And they were talking with Jesus and Peter. Peter the rock of the church as Jesus called them. And also one Jesus said, You will deny me three times before the cock crows says, Hey, you're Rudy, Rabbi, This is good that we are here. Let's make tents. One for you, one for Moses, one for Elijah. 

And he goes, You know what? You probably had to say something. He was terrified. And then again, as with at the baptism with John the Baptist, the cloud came and the voice came, said, This is my beloved son. Listen to him. And then Moses and Elijah were gone. So what does all this mean? Why do we have the transfiguration? This show is one of the miracles of Jesus. And this is showing is he showed to those his top three disciples who he is. 

So he became this brilliant light. And then to show the continuity you had Moses and Elijah come down. Is the Moses. The law represents the law. Elijah represents the prophets. We have the laws and the prophets and Jesus. That was the original covenant with God. Now showing Jesus is the New Covenant. This is our New Covenant with God and through Jesus Christ. So this is why we celebrate Transfiguration Sunday. Yeah, and you'll hear that coming up as we go through the church here. 

And this is Mark's version of it. So, again, this is showing the duty of Christ because he's been in human form, just like the rest of us, and showing the continuity between the law. So Moses is the one who did the law and Elijah representing the prophets, the laws and prophets of the old covenant that Jesus had made with Abraham. Now we have a new covenant. That's why we can be Christians and be part of this is because the New Covenant is through Jesus Christ. You don't have to be Jewish to be part of the covenant with God now. Amen.