How many times have you heard, said or thought: Don’t just sit there … do something! ?
We live in a world that encourages, and values, busy-ness. Isn’t it this the attitude that lies at the very heart of that which we describe as: The Christian work ethic? And it is precisely where we find Peter in today’s reading from Luke’s gospel.
Peter was overwhelmed … he had just witnessed the Transfiguration of Our Lord … HIS Jesus in company with the great prophets of old.
At that moment … the moment when he was given a brief glimpse of Jesus’ divine glory … Peter reacted in the most human of ways … he wanted to preserve the moment for posterity.
Peter sought to do something …
to create a physical shrine …
to mark the spot where heavenly glory and Jewish history came together with the human Jesus.
We may consider Peter’s excitement as being a completely natural reaction … but … what does God have to say?
We read: Then from the cloud came a voice that said, ‘This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!’
As Peter’s enthusiasm to do something bubbled over, the voice from the cloud said: Listen!
This divine word puts a stop to Peter’s hyperactivity … just as it should give us pause for thought!
Too often we rush headlong into doing something when we should be standing in awe of the mystery of God … instead of listening we pander to our desire to do, no matter how unwise that may be!
It is only after the listening to Jesus that our actions become meaningful … purposeful … sustainable.
In a marvellous little book, called Out of Silence, Henri Nouwen relates a Taoist story about a carpenter and his apprentice …
A carpenter and his apprentice were walking together through a large forest.
When they came across a huge, gnarled, old, beautiful oak tree, the carpenter asked his apprentice …
“Do you know why this tree is so big, so gnarled, so old, so beautiful?”
The apprentice answered: “No … why?”
“Because,” said the carpenter, “It is useless! If it had been useful it would have been cut down long ago and made into tables and chairs. But … because it is useless … it has been able to grow so big and so beautiful that we can sit in its shade and relax.”
In the same book, Henri Nouwen goes on to say that: As we learn to set aside the need for success and rewards, and as we cease to value our own usefulness – we begin to offer a service to our community which we had never planned for … nor even dreamt of!
By listening, rather than rushing into doing, we free ourselves to form a community of faith in which there is little to defend, but so very much to share … as a community of faith we take the world seriously … but never too seriously!
The lesson of today’s gospel reading revolves around the word balance … knowing when to do and knowing when, and how, to just be.
We have to let go of our need to control!
We have to listen for the voice of God so that our actions may be true acts of discipleship that flow from a being that is formed in the awe and wonder of God’s gracious love for us.
We are all guilty of staying busy … out of a need to justify our lives to God … to those around us … and to ourselves!
We want people to be impressed … we want people to think: I don’t know how he or she does all that!
And, of course,
if we do let up …
if we do ever go quiet …
if we do contemplate where God is moving in our lives …
if we do consider what God might be calling us to do …
then what might we find ourselves having to deal with?
God has a way of challenging us to step outside our comfort zones.
God challenges us to confront that for which we have not planned.
God asks us to make sacrifices!
We stay busy … like Peter … to fill time and space.
We stay busy not just to serve God but, sometimes, to block God’s will for us … and to block our discerning of God’s will.
We are not afraid that God will not speak to us …
on the contrary, we are scared stiff that he will!!!
On the mountain of Transfiguration, Peter wanted to get busy … but … Peter’s desire for busy-ness was set by his own agenda.
Jesus’ agenda … deny yourselves, take up your cross daily, and follow … was too much of a challenge …
But … the voice from heaven persisted … This is my Son, the Beloved … listen to him!
That voice from heaven is the same voice that is calling to us as we stand on the verge of our journey through Lent. Our journey into suffering … our journey to the cross … and our journey beyond the cross.
The journey for which the Transfiguration is intended to prepare Jesus … the disciples … and us!
Lent … which begins on Wednesday … calls us to discover our spirituality.
Lent is calling us to quit our frantic babbling …
and to pay attention …
to consider who we really are …
and whose we are in baptism.
We are God’s precious children …
forgiven, loved and held …
and it is from that position …
from that identity …
that we are gifted and called to do God’s work in the world.
If we do not grasp the being part, then the doing will be chaotic, frustrating and self-justifying … either that, or it will be grounded in fear … and devoid of any joy!
If all our doing seems pointless and manic …
learn again to behold the mystery …
to enter a quiet place of awe and wonder.
There will be ample opportunity and compulsion, to live out our call to discipleship … to take up our crosses …
But … in order that we might be able to do that as God wants …
don’t just do something …
sit there …
and listen to God!
Amen.
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