1 Kings 19:9-18
2 Peter 1:16-19(20-21)
Mark 9:2-9
Psalm 27 or 27:5-11
Have you ever noticed how God seems to delight in the unexpected? That a good deal of the time, God is where we least expect to find God?
As I look through the readings of this Epiphany Season, it seems to me that the long awaited Messiah is to be found in some pretty odd places.
We began the season of Epiphany as we do every year, with the wise men paying homage to the babe who is to be the King of the Jews. They're offering him elaborate gifts of gold and precious incense - gifts befitting someone who is to become the King of an entire people.
But the baby isn't in a grand palace. This baby is lying in a feed box in a stable with all manner of undesirable folks hanging around - like disheveled shepherds who are considered the riffraff of first-century Palestinian society. Nope, it just doesn't seem like the kind of place to be looking for the King of Kings.
The first Sunday after the Epiphany we find Jesus standing in the muddy waters of the Jordan River. And some loud-mouthed fanatic who lives out in the desert is shoving Jesus down into that dirty water. It's Sure not a place where I'd expect to find my Saviour.
Although a pretty impressive thing does happen there when a voice from heaven says, "You are my Son, the Beloved, with you I am well pleased." Now that seems a little more like it - that sounds like the sort of thing one would expect to happen to the Messiah.
But just where did this remarkable event occur? Scholars tell us that it didn't take place in Galilee where the Jordan is lush and everything flourishes. Nope, Jesus was most likely dunked in the Jordan where it runs into the Dead Sea - and is surrounded by the parched hills of Judea. It's a bleak and barren place where God acknowledges God's Son for the first time.
As we move through the rest of the Epiphany readings, things just don't seem to improve much. We hear Philip telling Nathaniel that he's found the Messiah. But when Phil tells Nate where Jesus is from - well, Nate just shakes his head. It has to be a joke. "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" Then we find Jesus picking out his first disciples, those who will become his inner circle - and who is he picking? Smelly fishermen. Not the kind of people I'd be likely to go to for help in finding God.
And in recent weeks we've read about Jesus making his home base of operations in Capernaum - an ancient fishing village where homes are poor and the community is small and insignificant. Not exactly where you'd expect a King to establish his court.
Yet the vast majority of his early ministry happens within a three-mile radius of this little fishing village. Jesus wanders around hot, dusty villages preaching and healing, proclaiming that the Kingdom of God is at hand. And when his notoriety spreads, he leaves the towns behind and stays out in the countryside - probably camping out with those disagreeable shepherds.
So that brings us to today's reading which finds Jesus finally revealed in heavenly glory - his clothes are dazzling white, such as no one on earth could create - and instead of smelly fishermen and obnoxious shepherds - he's talking with two of the most important figures in all of Israel's history - Moses and Elijah. Finally the Messiah is hanging out with the right kind of people.
And what does Peter do? Exactly what most of us would do I expect. He says - hey, let's stay here - with important people like Moses and Elijah - we've finally arrived - we've made it. Everyone will really get it now. Folks'll recognize that Jesus really is the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords.
And then God says, "This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!" Well now, all of that seems pretty impressive. More like what I'd expect for the Messiah - for the Son of God.
But when that majestic voice fades and Peter looks around? - there's no one with them any more, at least not anyone important. There's just Jesus. The same old Jesus dressed in his ordinary, dusty clothes standing on the top of an ordinary, dusty mountain.
Peter, James and John are totally confused. They just don't get it. A minute ago, Jesus was filled with the majesty and brilliance of heaven - they had finally seen Emmanuel - God with us. And now it's all gone - was it really there in the first place? Or had they just imagined it in their longing to be sure that God was really with them?
And isn't it so often like that for us? When we finally think we've got it all figured out - and things are working the way we always knew they should - when God is acting the way we've always known God should act - we look around and everything seems to have vanished - right into thin air.
We so much want to find God in our lives. We long to hear God's voice - guiding us and reassuring us. We ache to see God in all of God's glory and majesty. We yearn to feel God's presence, to know that God is with us... that there is something greater than we are, something that we can count on and trust...
There's a poem about a man who wants to know that God is there:
The man whispered, "God, speak to me.
And a meadowlark sang.
But the man didn't hear.So the man yelled, "God, speak to me!"
And the thunder rolled across the sky.
But the man didn't listen.The man looked around and said, God, let me see you."
And a star shone brightly.
But the man didn't notice.So the man shouted, "God show me a miracle!"
And a life was born.
But the man wasn't there.Finally the man cried out in despair,
"Touch me, God, let me know you are here!"
Whereupon, God reached down and touched the man.
But the man brushed the butterfly away and walked on...
Yes, God delights in being where we least expect to find God - and where we often forget to even look. As we prepare to enter the season of Lent - a season when we are called to seek God - to allow God to heal the broken places that keep us separated from God - where will you look for God? Where will you be most likely to find God?
Chances are that God will be right where you least expect.. In the dark and dusty places, in the places where you are tired and thirsty and hungry... in the places where you've wandered away and forgotten that God's gifts of infinite grace and unconditional love are to be found in the most unexpected places....
AMEN.