It's Beyond Us - October 15, 2010

Daily Lectionary for October 15, 2010
Psalm 119:73-96
Hosea 13:9-16
Acts 28:1-16
Luke 9:28-36

Acts 28:1-16
If the texts above look familiar it's because I think I listed today's texts yesterday.  Just to further the confusion though the Acts text on Paul's shipwreck that I referenced yesterday was Acts 27:27-44 which was the right text for yesterday.  So on we go.
Today the shipwreck folks find that the island they are on is the island of Malta.  They make a fire because it's cold and the text says that a viper jumps out of the brush that Paul is using on the fire and "fastened itself on his hand."  The response of the onlookers in interesting.  They first interpret this as a sign of divine judgment. They anticipate that at any moment Paul is going to get all swollen up and fall over dead - or some variation on that theme.  What else could this possibly mean?  Paul, however, does not swell up and does not keel over at this point which forces a reevaluation of the event.  Paul goes from being the object of judgment to being a god.  Paul does some curing and some praying and most likely some preaching and teaching as the opportunity arises.  What is well worth pointing out is that Paul shows no inclination to embracing his recently conferred godhood.  Paul, like the disciples, does amazing things, but always with a hand pointing beyond himself to Christ.

Luke 9:28-36
(yesterday's Luke passage was actually to have been Luke 9:18-27)
Luke 9:28-36 is the story of the Transfiguration of Jesus.  He's on a mountain when he becomes all dazzling white and suddenly Moses and Elijah are talking with him.  Some disciples see this, have a brief interaction with Jesus about how they should respond to what they see and then continue on their way.  "And they kept silent and in those days told no one any of the things they had seen."(v.36b)  Because really how would that sound to someone from the general population - "Hey - I just saw Jesus and he started glowing and then Moses and Elijah were talking with him."  Never mind that people don't glow, that Elijah is long dead, that Moses is even longer dead and so on...yes, I suppose they might have kept quiet about this for a bit.  And the thing is that this kind of extraordinary stuff was happening all the time as they followed Jesus around.  Eventually, post-resurrection, they process this wealth of itneractions and begin to bear witness to what they have lived.  Pointing to Jesus.  Which circles back around to the theme above out of the Paul passage.  Paul did not follow Jesus around and did not share all of these experiences, but Paul did have his Damascus road experience with the risen Christ.  The folks who encountered (and who encounter) Christ are changed.  They (and we) are moved by the relationship in a way that leads us to point beyond ourselves to Christ.  They are changed.  We are changed.  And it is a joy to point to the source of that change.