It is important
to read Luke with an awareness that it is the first part of a two
volume set, with Acts as its second volume. Reading it in that
way allows one to see just how the trajectory of the Gospel is from the
particularity of the Galilean Rabbi Jesus, through the cross and out
into a risen Christ Incarnate in communities throughout “all the
World.” This journey in the Gospel of Luke/Acts is a new Exodus.
If you follow
the pattern of the Gospel and the second volume of Luke's work, the
exodus is away from the hierarchical structure of Empire, custom and
religion and into the “reign” or kingdom of God that is found among the
“poor, hungry, mourners and persecuted.” This Kingdom is
announced in the parables, sayings and actions of Jesus and extends out
into the whole world: Acts 10:34-35: "I truly understand that God shows
no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what
is right is acceptable to him." With Luke’s
particular emphasis on the marginalized, women and those who fall
outside the boundaries of religious or cultural “blessing,” the
Gospel’s use of the exodus theme introduces into history a new kind of
cultural and communal identity, defined not by the “shame/honour”
system, but by the compassionate impartiality of God in new communities
where the new communities (Acts 2: 44) “held all things in
common.” These communities brought together those whom
custom, politics and empire wished to hold apart. This
re-interpretation of Exodus means that people are defined by the
pattern of their lives and not by cult or social status. The new
chosen people are those whom other covenants have isenfranchised or
relegated to an inferior position.
The Luke
reading for Transfiguration
Sunday brings the Exodus theme into sharp focus. When Jesus
speaks with Elijah and Moses on the Mountain, in contrast to Mark or
Matthew, Luke says they speak about (Luke 9:31) “his exodus
(εξοδον) which he will accomplish in Jerusalem.” In Mark, the
writing Luke used to construct his text, there is no note about what
Elijah, Moses and Jesus may have spoken about. Matthew, in
using Mark, does not add any discussion, and he stays much closer to
the Markan account than does Luke. Only in Luke is the word
“exodon” used to describe the mission of Jesus, here on the Mountain,
as Jesus converses with Moses and Elijah.
The first Exodus was the release of Israelite slaves from “bondage and
captivity” into a wilderness and wandering that was intended to bring
them into a promised place. Exodus is the foundation story of
Israel. However, the narrative is not without ambiguity and
loss. The Promised Land is never entered by Moses, and once
Israel enters the promised land, there is a falling away from the
initial vision of liberation into a “new Egypt” of Israel’s own
making. Even the emergence of the Royal Household of David, the
anointed one, is fraught with moral ambiguity. Is David a
Divinely inspired leader, or is he a new “pharaoh” who leads his people
into a moral captivity as oppressive as that of the Egyptian
rulers? When read through
the lens of Exodus, the ambiguity
surrounding David and Saul reflects a corruption of the original vision
of liberation. Thus, the
story of Exodus leads not to a finished state of perfection, but to a
continuing journey where a part of the vision of God has been achieved,
but with a corruption of that vision. The prophets remind the
people of the original vision of Exodus, and call for a new
Exodus. Thus Luke takes the tradition of Exodus and applies it to
the Jesus story. In Luke’s case, the story transcends the
boundaries of Palestine, moving out into the whole world, in the shape
of communities that live out the vision of God.
There is no explicit discussion of God’s nature. We are left to
assume this from the way in which the narrative works. Luke is
making a theological argument, holding to a particular theological
view, but doing this through the way in which the narrative is
structured and through his use of language and imagery. Theology
is presented in story form, not in the analytical style of the
“doctors” of theology. The God we
encounter in his narrative ihas been involved in the messiness of human
history and life from the start. The (Luke 1:1) “events that have
been fulfilled among us” involve human birth and death. The
narrative is not about a heavenly court, or a palace of the gods; it is
about human beings, and one human being in particular. Not enough
is made of this theologically. The narrative in this gospel, as
in the other synoptic gospels and Hebrew Scripture, is about particular
human beings living in a particular human landscape at a particular
time in history. However, the intent is to show an Exodus from
enslavement or particular forms of captivity to cosmic freedom in a
community that extends beyond all social, cultural and religious
boundaries.
God then is
that experience and creative source that calls forth a transformation
in human structures and lives. The God of transfiguration is the
God of Exodus, a God who leads us over into a new way of being and a
new identity. The new identity and the new way are not
disassociated from the past or the difficulties of human life.
Rather, the transfiguration is associated with these
difficulties. It points to the new thing in the heart of the
ordinary, the presence of God “among us.” Even in the sequence on
the mountain, Jesus is in conversation with two human beings from the
past who themselves represent real struggles. Elijah was an early
prophet who was in conflict with the powers of the world, the Kings of
Israel and Judah. Elijah is shown as a real human figure with
real human conflicts. Moses, as the
central figure of emerging Israel, was portrayed as reluctant and
uncomfortable with his position of leadership. He tried to avoid
his calling and escape the conflict it brought to him. He did not
complete his mission successfully, dying before his
people entered the promised place. The Exodus God is not a God
that works with the perfect and the most accomplished. This God
works with fallible human beings in all the messiness of history,
politics, society and culture. God is not a God above human
struggle and experience, but is at the heart of that struggle and
experience.
Jesus,
as the new Moses, leads us through the cross to a way of being
radically hospitable, by accepting our mortality. The cross is a
way of being that refuses to allow anyone to be a scapegoat, even our
enemies. The journey of the cross denies the way power is
exercised in our world of retribution and division. The Exodus of
the risen Christ moves out into all the world, calling for a Divine
hospitality beyond all boundaries of custom, religion and society.
Transfiguration Sunday not only brings a new vision and identity, but
calls us to be about that journey toward the community of God’s radical
hospitality. On that way, as we enter Lent, we recognize that we
must let go of many things, just as in Exodus the people left behind
all they could not carry tas they journeyed into freedom. Seeing
the transfiguration as the new exodus brings us into an awareness that
our new found freedom lies in community with the whole of creation.