The last Sunday after Epiphany, February 7, 2016

Epiphany is the season when we celebrate how Jesus is made known to the world. What a wealth of examples we have! The face of Moses shines when ho comes away from conversation with God. Saint Paul reminds us that the veil (of Moses) is not for us! We who know Jesus do not need any barrier between us. Peter and James and John are on the Mountain with Moses and Elijah. They get it all wrong, yet they see Jesus as he is and they see what he can do.

We have a tendency to not take these manifestations seriously, as if they were written for someone else. We assume that we are hearing a selection of the bible intended to make us feel superior. Those silly Israelites! - Too afraid to look at Moses! The silly church at Corinth! - Too easily erecting barriers to God and a veil over the gospel! Those silly disciples! - Sleepy and stupid - talking about tents and unable to heal a boy!

We have these words not to make us proud but to humble us. These stories are about us. We fear true intimacy with God. We don't see faces shining, but we are a little afraid of those who can spend many hours in prayer and contemplation. Perhaps we are even a little ashamed that we can't.

We are quite ready to create our own barriers between God and us. We make our own veils that keep us from experiencing the freedom of the gospel. We are quick to write our own list of rules or requirements to be a good person - or to be a good citizen or to pursue the good life. We often substitute this pale copy for the true gospel.

We are the tired disciples. We follow Jesus up the long and steep climb to get to some mountaintop. We are not sure where we are going and we have no idea what will happen when we get there.

Once in a while, we find ourselves in an unfamiliar landscape. We discern who Jesus is and we know we are loved. We want to preserve the experience and keep it safe. This is why we argue over liturgy and hymns. We want to re-create some precious moment. We want to hold it and remember it forever. This is not possible. We hold our memory silent and go back down the mountain. There we find the same old problems that we don't know how to fix.

To our surprise, Jesus is not sympathetic. He is mad! How long will he have to put up with us! He calls us faithless - perverse! Who, us? The truth about us is that we find it very hard to live what we believe. We have spent the last month celebrating the many ways that Jesus is made known to the world. We act as if it were not true. We have forgotten what we were told. "Listen to him!"

The voice does not tell us to do or make or try. The voice tells us to listen. What does Jesus say? Jesus tells us to love. Jesus tells us not to worry. Jesus tells us to follow him - even into places we would rather not go. We have trouble believing because we keep on trying to tell Jesus what we want to do instead. We keep replacing the good news with our own plans and desires. We keep busy doing many good things instead of the few that Jesus asks us to do that would give us life.

To follow Jesus, we have to give up our own path. We have to let go of all the ways we perfect ourselves and have pride in ourselves. It is not wealth or success or status or power that will help us follow more faithfully. We have to embrace what Jesus offers. We are free to grow in love. We are free to grow in faith and trust in God - this means believing the truth about God and believing with the same trust as Jesus. We can grow in hope that God's promises will come true even if we can't see when. We can grow in generosity, in openness, in wonder and in joy.

This requires that we first be listeners. We keep our ears open to the right words and the right message. We have some choice in what we mediate upon. Maybe we can turn off the noise of the media and the noise of the cultural messages that surround us. We can ignore the pleas of resentment and fear. We can choose to listen to the voice of love and reconciliation. When we hear the voice of Jesus, then we can begin to follow.

Jesus asks the disciples to climb the mountain right after he tells them that he must suffer and die - and that we might have to as well. It's not easy climbing the mountain. Sometimes we catch a breathtaking sight. Sometimes we get to the top only to find another mountain to climb. God puts before us many difficult paths to follow. We will always be tempted to find our own short cuts. We always have the freedom to choose the path we are given. We can listen and follow and trust. We will find God in those difficult places. God will work in us and make us into the people who are able to live in freedom and climb every peak. We will become the people Jesus hopes we will be. We will be free and able to love. We will do the work set before us. We will be transformed for the sake of others.