Last Epiphany, Yr A (2026) The Rev. Karen C. Barfield
Last Epiphany, Yr A (2026) The Rev. Karen C. Barfield
Exodus 24:12-18 St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church
Matthew 17:1-9
In the name of the one, holy, and loving God:
in whom we live, and move, and have our being. Amen.
“Arrive with no plan.”
At the beginning of a yoga class,
the instructor often begins with a teaching.
In offering suggestions for a home practice,
one particular instructor offered this:
“Arrive, with no plan.”
Now, for those of us who like to have a plan for everything in life,
that is quite a challenge!
Arrive with no plan.
Just show up.
Be present…
and listen.
Listen to your body…
listen to your environment…
listen to what is stirring deep within you.
While this works for a yoga practice,
it seems to me that this is exactly what today’s readings are about.
“The Lord said to Moses,
‘Come up to me on the mountain,
and wait there…’” (Ex 24:12a).
So Moses set out with Joshua and went up into the mountain.
Part of the way up he stopped and said to the elders,
“Wait here for us,
until we come to you again.”
Then Moses continues to climb the mountain,
and a cloud comes and covers it.
Moses sits for six days…
waiting for God.
Now, we are told that for those first six days
the glory of the Lord settled on the mountain,
so apparently God was present.
Perhaps Moses was simply basking in the glory of God…
being present to God’s presence.
But…waiting, nonetheless.
Finally on the seventh day God speaks.
Our Scripture story seems to be an amalgamation of multiple stories,
so it’s a bit unclear the exact details,
but it seems that Moses stayed up there at least forty days and forty nights.
Whether or not that was the exact number of days,
the point is that it was a long time.
In the meantime,
what are the Israelites up to back down the mountain…
where Moses told them to wait for him?
Well, they have panicked.
Perhaps they thought that Moses got devoured in that fire up on the mountain
or that he decided not to return like he said he would.
Whatever happened up there,
it was taking too long for the people down below.
The waiting got too difficult.
They became impatient and anxious
and decided to make for themselves their own god…
a golden calf to worship.
They had jumped ship.
Now…fast-forward many generations
to a day when Jesus takes Peter and James and John with him
up a high mountain.
Suddenly, God’s glory appears,
transfiguring Jesus before their very eyes.
Quick, scramble, don’t just stand there… DO something!
Build some tents.
When a bright cloud overshadows them and God speaks,
the disciples fall to the ground,
overcome by fear.
Perhaps this is the most appropriate response to the presence of God!
God says, “This is my Son, the Beloved…listen to him!” (Mt 17:5)
Then Jesus comes over,
reaches out his hand,
and touches them.
“Get up…
do not be afraid.”
Come and wait.
Arrive…without a plan.
Listen.
It can be difficult to be still and listen to the voice of God at any point in time,
but especially when chaos and change seem swirling all around…
whether in our private or public lives.
As commentator Erica Wood says of the today’s passages:
In Exodus, “The miracle that God performed to get the people out of Egypt
seems to have been forgotten,
and the larger picture of the vision and mission for and by the people of God is trumped by their fear.”
In the Gospel, “The disciples also become impatient.
“They are confused, anxious, and ironically, want exactly what they already have:
the presence of God among them.
“Fear again trumps faith.
“Peter, who so frequently plays the role of our own weaknesses,
will soon forget the miracles,
the healings,
and even the transfiguration,
on the night of Jesus’ arrest.” (Feasting on the Word, Year A, Vol 1, p. 439)
My friends, some days we can be so grounded in God’s loving embrace
that we extend to others a posture of compassion and generosity.
Other times we are so consumed by fear that we forget to listen…
We forget to listen toward God with openness.
We forget to listen to our neighbor with compassion.
Today is the last Sunday after the Epiphany,
a season in which we celebrate the manifestation of God in Jesus…
stories in which we can bask in the glory of God’s presence.
In just three days we will begin our Lenten journey.
The transfiguration of Jesus
is a moment when beauty and majesty and tenderness…
are juxtaposed to suffering and fear and death
as Jesus heads toward Jerusalem and crucifixion.
This is a bridge moment.
It is a moment of invitation…
to arrive with no plan.
To just show up and be in the presence of the Almighty God…
and listen.
Listen to where God might be leading us in our lives…
as individuals
and as a community of faith.
What that might mean
is that when we find ourselves in a situation
in which we don’t understand another…
we close our mouths,
and open our ears and hearts,
and listen to the other’s story.
It may mean that when we don’t know how to respond to a situation,
we turn and offer a prayer for guidance…
and then listen to how God may be guiding us.
That may happen in silent prayer
or in a conversation with a spiritually wise person.
Today’s scriptures offer us an invitation as we begin our Lenten journeys.
Lent is a time to approach God and wait…
resting in and listening to the movement of the Spirit within and among us…
being touched by the very hand of God.
Get up,
and do not be afraid.
Remember, I am with you always…
to the end of the age.
Amen.
