Scripture & Reflection: Sunday 15th February and for the week ahead: Scripture: 'Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white. And there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him…As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus ordered them, ‘Tell no one about the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.’’' (Matthew 17:1-9)Reflection:I’ll wager that Peter, James and John wanted to tell anyone and everyone about the extraordinary event they’d witnessed! But Jesus tells them not to…..until after he has been raised from the dead. Maybe Jesus knew no one would believe them. Maybe he knew they didn’t really understand what they had witnessed, so wouldn’t be able to tell other people.We may not have witnessed a transfiguration, nor met Moses or Elijah; so we can’t speak with passion and personal experience of these things. But we can speak about our own personal encounters with God, however and whenever they might happen. Jesus is not saying to us, “Tell no one”; in fact, quite the opposite later in Matthew’s gospel when he says, “Go and make disciples.” You are the best person to share your experiences of God. If you do, it may transform someone else’s life….just like those first fishermen did when they spoke out.Revd David
Scripture & Reflection: Sunday 8th February and for the week ahead: Scripture: Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white. And there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him... Suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud a voice said, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!’’ (Matthew 17.1-9 The Transfiguration 8.3.36)Reflection: Soon it will be Lent, traditionally a time when we reflect on the suffering of Jesus, leading up to his betrayal and arrest, his physical and mental agony and his death on the Cross. Unlike his companions, however, we are blessed with the knowledgethat this was not the end; that in spite of everything death, for us as for Jesus, is not the end.As witnesses of Jesus’s transfiguration, his closest friends were granted an awesome experience of his glory, a confirmation of his true identity, to strengthen them in preparation for the challenges and horrors that lay ahead. How could they later forget this and flee in terror when everything seemed to fall apart?In all the misery and injustice that we see and hear about day by day, we pray that we may not lose sight of the glimpses of God’s glory all around us, perhaps not dramatic like the sign given to those disciples, but still a continuing source of hope and encouragement for us, day by day. Revd Rosemary Kobus van Wengen
