WHEN GOOD NEWS IS SO GOOD -Luke 4:14-21

The story is told of a Franciscan monk in Australia assigned to be theguide and "gofer" to Mother Teresa when she visited New South Wales.Thrilled and excited at the prospect of being so close to this greatwoman, he dreamed of how much he would learn from her and what they wouldtalk about. But during her visit, he became frustrated. Although he wasconstantly near her, the friar never had the opportunity to say one wordto Mother Teresa.

There were always other people for her to meet.Finally, her tour was over, and she was due to fly to New Guinea. Indesperation, the Franciscan friar spoke to Mother Teresa: If I pay my ownfare to New Guinea, can I sit next to you on the plane so I can talk toyou and learn from you? Mother Teresa looked at him. “You have enoughmoney to pay airfare to New Guinea?” she asked.Yes, he replied eagerly. “Then give that money to the poor,” she said.“You'll learn more from that than anything I can tell you.” Mother Teresaunderstood that Jesus’ ministry was to the poor and she made it hers aswell. She knew that they more than anyone else needed good news.On a Saturday morning, in Nazareth, the town gathered in the synagogue tolisten to Jesus read and teach. It was no big surprise. He was well knownin the area; it was his hometown. He was raised there. They wanted tolearn from him. So when he read from the Isaiah scroll, “The Spirit of theLord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the good news to thepoor” everyone understood these words to be the words of Isaiah.

It is howthat prophet from long ago defined his ministry.When Jesus finished that reading he handed the scroll to the attendant andsat down. In that day you sat in the Moses Seat to teach to the people.Today preachers stand in a pulpit. So all eyes were on Jesus, waiting forhim to begin his teaching. What would he say about this great prophetIsaiah? Would he emphasis the bad news? Israel had sinned and would betaken into captivity by the Babylonians. Or would he emphasis the goodnews? One day God would restore his people and bring them back fromcaptivity.

It was Israel’s ancient history but it still spoke volumes.Now here’s the wonderful twist, the thing that catches everyone off guardthat Saturday morning in Nazareth. Jesus does neither. He doesn’temphasize the past. He focuses on the present. He doesn’t lift up Isaiahas the great role model; Jesus lifts up himself. This is the pertinentpoint. It’s what upsets everybody at the synagogue. It’s why everybody wasfurious with him and drove him out of town. They were going to kill him.He dared to say that these great words of Isaiah were really abouthimself. “Today,” he said, “this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” Study the ministries of Isaiah and Jesus. Why are their ministries so closely tied and why does Jesus describe himself as fulfilling Isaiah’s ministry?

Mountin Top Experince -Luke 9:28-36

Many of us have had them, those times when we felt like we were on top of the world, really happy, confident that we knew all the answers, could solve any problem that came up. Or we felt that we were really close to God, really in tune with God’s plan for us. In those moments we were excited and alive, and everything seemed new.

The moment might have come at some exciting event in your life: graduation, baptism, your first kiss, your first day on your first job, your wedding, the birth of a child, even catching your very first fish. It might have been something really spiritual, like a week at church camp or a church retreat. Or it might have been something of a smaller, quieter nature, like a very intimate conversation with your father or mother when you felt that they honestly understood what you were saying and why you felt the way you did.

We call these "mountaintop experiences," and oh how we hate to come down off that mountain! We want to hang on to that moment for as long as we can. "Let’s just stay right here and let the rest of the world go by for a while." But to freeze that one moment in time shuts off the possibility of the next moment.

In the Gospel reading for today we hear the writer of Matthew give his version of the event which we call "The Transfiguration of Jesus." Mark and Luke also contain an account of this strange occurrence, with some minor variations in the telling. It’s one of those rare moments we were just talking about, one of those mountaintop experiences of life, which somehow defy adequate description and challenge us to stretch our concept of reality to the point that we usually wind up asking the question, "Did this really happen?" Events such as the Transfiguration somehow connect us with the mystery of creation and eternity.

For Jesus it was a time of confirmation and affirmation of his ministry. For Peter, James, and John it was a brief glimpse of the transcendent, a peek at the reality that lies just beyond everyday life.

But notice that Jesus quickly led the disciples back down off that mountaintop – in spite of Peter’s desire to pitch a tent and camp there for a long while. Jesus led them back into the daily routine of teaching and preaching and caring for the broken and hurting people of the world they lived in, back to the reality of life in the valley...