In the time of the Prophet Elijah, Queen Jezebel, the wicked wife of the Jewish King Ahab, . . . Queen Jezebel was promoting the universalist religion of Baal.  It was a very popular religion.  It was very popular because it was a religion which had no restrictions.  It was a religion which asserted that all things were acceptable; any form of self-expression -- anything you wanted to do to fulfill your “personhood”; . . . all sorts of behavior was acceptable if it was done as an offering to the honor of Baal, the so-called “lord of life”.  Elijah vigorously opposed this nonsense, which really annoyed Jezebel.  In fact, Elijah annoyed Jezebel so much … that he was eventually forced to flee for his life.  . . . And it is at this point of running away from Jezebel that the Old Testament Lesson assigned for today begins.  It tells us that Elijah, alone and despairing, flees, for comfort, to the most sacred place in all the history of his people; . . . Elijah flees to Mount Horeb, the sacred mountain upon which Moses received the Law from the Lord God Almighty.  And finding shelter in a cave on Mount Horeb,  Elijah complains bitterly to God.  Elijah complains bitterly that he has failed in his prophetic mission; . . . in fact, Elijah complains so bitterly . . . that one gets the impression that Elijah might be thinking that God hasn’t been very helpful in preventing Jezebel from getting the upper hand.  . . . But, in reply to Elijah’s bitter complaint, God tells His prophet to stand upon the mountain.  And as Elijah stands where the Lord God Almighty has told him, . . . there comes a great and shattering wind; not just strong gusts, mind you, but a wind so powerful as to put hurricanes to shame; a wind so severe as to move great boulders and send them crashing down the side of God’s mountain.  . . . Such a wind, in prophetic parlance, represents great eloquence about noble beliefs which speak powerful words on behalf of a great cause.  . . . But, as Elijah experiences the wind . . . he does not experience God in it.  . . . And then there comes a great earthquake which shakes the entire mountain and topples walls of rock, . . . which, in the language of prophesy, is symbolic of political upheaval and the shaking of complacency by the force of political change.  . . . But, even though Elijah is impressed by the mountain’s shaking . . . he does not experience God in it.  . . . And then a great fire sweeps across God’s mountain; an enormous fire with flames leaping hundreds of feet into the air, consuming everything they touch, … representing, to the prophet, the power of holy warfare to purge the land of wickedness.  . . . But for all of its fearsomeness and destruction, . . . Elijah sees that God is not in the fire.  . . . And then Elijah hears . . . nothing; he hears the silence of God, . . . and the silence of God is so majestic that Elijah is overwhelmed with awe and terror!  . . . And then God assures His prophet that in the silence . . . in the unnoticed and unnoticeable places . . . in the ordinary things, the Lord God Almighty has fortified a multitude of ordinary people to resist the enticements of Baal and not bow down to it.  By this sacred silence, God assures Elijah that the time will come when the present evil shall be overwhelmed, not by eloquent speeches which stir the heart, nor by political reforms which topple governments, nor by holy wars which consume the heretic and the faithless; . . . rather, God says, the wicked power of Jezebel shall be overwhelmed by the strength of the virtue that is in the silent endurance of a multitude of ordinary people who continue in faithful obedience to Yahweh, the One, True and Living God.  . . . And as the result of Elijah’s encounter with God on Mount Horeb, . . . God’s holy prophet becomes, by the might of God’s Spirit; . . . Elijah becomes the champion of ordinary people.  So much so that, for three thousand years, in every single Jewish household the world over, at the Passover Seder Meal, there is a cup of wine which is set out for Elijah.  It is called The Cup of the Prophet Elijah, and it represents God’s perpetual accessibility to His people to shield them in time of need.

    God is accessible to His people because He has made a covenant with them.  And it is in the ordinary keeping of that covenant . . . in the ordinary keeping of God’s Commandments; . . . it is in the ordinary keeping of God’s covenant that He is present.  . . . In the household where God is honored, He sits at table and provides for our needs.  In the household where mother and father are honored, God is present to encourage and strengthen.  In the household where covetousness and lying are unknown, God enriches us with peace.  In the household where the world, the flesh, and the devil are regarded with indifference, God transfigures our humanity so that it shines with the light of heaven!

    And so, . . . when Peter, James, and John go with Jesus, their remarkable but perfectly ordinary Master; . . . when Peter, James, and John go with plain, ol’ Jesus to the top of Mount Tabor for the perfectly ordinary business of prayer, . . . they are astounded by the sudden and glorious vision of Jesus transfigured so that He shines with an unearthly, heavenly, and eternal splendor and glory!  Not only that, but they see a vision in which the light of their Master’s splendor illuminates Moses and Elijah, who seem to have been with them all along!  . . . Quite unexpectedly, on ordinary business with their ordinary friend Jesus, . . . Peter, James, and John see the Word which was heard by Elijah in the stillness;  they see the Word which broke Elijah’s heart and filled him with joy and hope all at the same time.  Not only that, but they see that Jesus is the meaning of the Commandments; . . . Jesus is the meaning of our humanity and of our ordinary lives.  Jesus is Who we were created to be and become under God’s Holy Law.  Jesus, clothed in our ordinary humanity, is the very door through Whom the light of heaven shines; the very gate through Whom we have access to God.  Jesus is the very definition of who we are, Who God is, and what is the nature of this intricate and beautiful and heartbreaking and joyous universe in which we participate.

    Peter, James, and John see this all at once, and it is more than Peter can bear.  He simply must organize a work party and do something to please God.  And so, Peter says, “Master, it is well that we are here; let us make three booths, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.”  . . . But even as Peter is speaking, the Presence of the Lord God Almighty overshadows those three astonished disciples, and the Voice of God speaks to them, saying, “This is my beloved Son; listen to him.”  . . . Now, where have you heard those words before?  . . . You heard those very words spoken by God seven weeks ago . . . at the Baptism of Jesus.  And what happened after the Lord God Almighty spoke those words?  . . . Jesus was driven by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted . . . and to become Paradise for us … so that anyone who comes to Jesus . . . enters the Kingdom of Heaven; they don’t die, but they enter into everlasting glory!  . . . And now, when Peter and James and John see the divine glory of Christ Jesus shining with an effulgent splendor beyond human imagining . . . when Peter and James and John see a vision of Christ’s glory, . . . God speaks the words He spoke to Jesus.  . . . God tells Peter, James, and John not to do something . . . but to become something!  . . . What do you suppose God wants them to become?

    A moment ago I told you that at the Passover meal there is a cup of wine placed on the table in honor of the prophet Elijah; a cup of wine which represents the perpetual accessibility of God Who gives aid and meaning to the lives of His people.  It is this cup -- it is The Cup of the Prophet Elijah -- which, after supper, Jesus took and blessed and gave to His disciples saying, “this is my blood.”  On the night He was handed over to suffering and death our Lord Jesus Christ took the Cup from which no one drinks, and He bade everyone drink from it.  . . . Jesus took The Cup of the Prophet’s intercessory communion with God on behalf of God’s People; . . . Jesus took The Cup and made us all prophets -- made us all partakers of the divine and living Word.  Jesus is our risen and ascended champion and our perpetual accessibility to God.  Jesus is the fulfillment of all that God promised in the Law, given through Moses, and all the divine hope, spoken through the Prophets.  And Jesus invites us to become His glory; . . . He invites us to become His precious Life.

    This coming Wednesday is the beginning of Lent.  This coming Wednesday is the beginning of a Season in which the Church invites you to intentionally stop; . . . the Church invites you to intentionally stop and take a look at what you’re becoming; . . . the Church invites you to intentionally stop and take a look at what you’re becoming and to see if it has brought you anywhere nearer to participating in the effulgence of Christ’s glory.  . . . How is this done?  How do you stop and take a look at what you’re becoming?  . . . Well, today, in His kindness, the Lord God Almighty has shown you how to begin.  You start by listening to Jesus.