Old Testament Reading: Exodus 34:29-35
Gospel Reading: Luke 9:28-36
I am wondering how many of you ever got to take a child or grandchild to a Wiggles concert? Jeff Fatt, the purple Wiggle, would pretend to fall asleep – the children would call out, “Wake up Jeff!” This was so that Jeff could join in the fun, and not miss out. Everyone got involved, including Jeff! There was a whole song, indeed an album called ‘Wake Up Jeff’! (sing Wake up Jeff, everybody’s wiggling).
No-one wants to be called a sleepy head – it is quite a put-down – and who would want to miss out on whatever is going on around them, especially if it’s fun!
But up on the mountain, Peter, James and John are reported to be sleepy. They are at risk of missing out on the events that are transpiring.
Already Jesus and the visitors (Moses & Elijah) “were speaking about his exodus, which he was about to fulfil in Jerusalem.”
Exodus! Jerusalem? Here in the one sentence, we are let in on the Gospel narrative arc, the overarching story that connects the glory of the divine One, Jesus, with the liberation of God’s people, and that it will happen in Jerusalem.
We can imagine Jesus calling out to them, “Wake up Peter, wake up James, wake up John.”
And wake up they do! They become witnesses to a most extraordinary event. Indeed you could say that it is the high point of the Gospel. If there had been any doubt about the identity of Jesus before this point, now all doubts can be brushed aside, here is the Glorious One, his face changed and his clothes as bright as lightning!
This is not like Moses, where God’s radiance had rubbed off on Moses, and the people became afraid of Moses, so that he wore a veil. The glory that shines in Jesus is not the glory of God rubbed off, but rather, the Glory of God in full.
No falling back to sleep now! The disciples are fully awake and fully alert to the enormity of what they are witnessing, even if they do not understand it. (Unlike in the garden of Gethsemane later on where they could not stay awake).
What Luke is doing is exhorting all disciples, including us, to be awake, to be fully alert to the presence of the Glorious One in our midst. More than that, to join in the liberative movement that Jesus leads. The path to freedom is a path that refuses to stay on the mountaintop, but descends to the plain, the place of people who are marginalised, who are oppressed, who may well be asleep to their plight.
The narrative recalls the Holy Spirit telling the disciples, “ This is my Son my chosen, listen to him!”
Jesus prays a lot – and we are reminded to pray, to be awake to the guidance of the Glorious One. This is how we listen!
Our prayer has the capacity to attune us, to wake us from our slumbering, to sharpen our awareness to the ways in which we can participate in the liberative work, the ways of God’s kingdom,
Do not be worried if a mean spirited person calls you woke. To be woke is to be awake to God’s dream of justice and peace for all people. To be called woke is really a badge of honour, that you are awake to the needs of people, and awake to God’s hopes and dreams for humanity and creation. Being awake to God’s justice is part of how God’s glory shines in the world.
Our season of epiphany ends with a dazzling theophany, a big hurrah in the liturgical calendar before we turn our attention to Lent, and the journey to Jerusalem. At Jerusalem, the glory of God will be revealed on the cross, the place of utmost paradox. We are invited to participate with sharpened attention to God’s call on our lives. We can expect transfiguration – we will be changed.
To God be the glory!