08.29.2020 Homily

This passage of the gospel falls immediately after the passage that was part of the gospel of last week. Remember, last week Jesus comes into the region and He says, "What do people say that I am?" And then Peter confesses, "You are the Christ, the son of the living God." And then Jesus changes his name. He says, From now on you're Peter," and He gives to him the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And later that day or the next day, Jesus says, "Now what it means to be the Son of the living God is this. That I must go to Jerusalem. I must suffer. I must die. And I must be raised to life." All four of those pieces have the word must with it. That you cannot be the son of the living God without this happening.

Peter says, “Well it will never happen." The one who just almost hours before confessed, 'You are the son of the living God," now challenges Jesus. The Greeks have two ways of describing time. One word they use is kronos, like chronometer, and that's just ordinary time, regular time. It's like you would say, Oh, I had a wonderful time at the birthday party, or it's time to pay property taxes, or I really should see the doctor. It's been a long time since I've seen the doctor. That's the kind of time that is kronos, 
But then the Greeks have another word for time and that's kairos. And that means time that's transformational in life, time that makes the world stop and then move in a different direction. It is time that is suffused with the power of the spirit. The Transfiguration story in the gospel reflects that kind of time, that kairos time. And what happened to Peter, that also is kairos time, is transformational time. It's turning things upside down. He gets a new name and he gets a new mission. 

This time, this special time, this transformational time is really the time that makes the ultimate difference in life. When you're experiencing that kind of time, when that kind of transformational event occurs, you don't always understand it when it's happening. You know, Peter did not understand what he was saying. When he said "You are the Christ, the son of the living God," he didn't understand that until after the Resurrection and the Ascension of Jesus and the coming forth of the Holy Spirit. Then all of a sudden the light went on, and then all of a sudden he saw a life change.  There is a new heaven and a new earth. 

Well, my friends, I believe that COVID-19 is for us a transformational moment. I believe the time that we're experiencing is that kairos time. Transformational time always involves prophecy, and the work of the prophet is to point out the signs of the times. And the kairos time provides a unique opportunity, an invitation, a challenge. And the invitation is to live in a new future, not the future I dreamed about a year ago, but a new future. That there is something very new. People say to me, when are we going to get back to normal? And my answer is we'll never get back to normal. What we're experiencing is a profound change in life. We need a new vision of something more than just what was old and just clean it up. We need a vision of a new community. We need a vision of a new society.   And in the United States, we need a vision of a post-racial world. 

The old world is run off. It's run its course, it's going and gone. I just can't polish up things and straighten up things and say, okay now, now everything's going to go on like it was before, because it's not. What we do know is that at least at this point in this transformational moment, there are a number of realities that are held together. One of them is the experience that we are having with COVID-19, but linked to it very, very tightly is the experience that not only this country, but the world, has undertaken as a result of the events that were associated with George Floyd's death.

Peter ultimately realized what the Lord was saying and doing with him. But the way that you realize that transformational moment, the way that it makes sense for you, it's a hard thing to do. But it means going back and rediscovering your roots, rediscovering what are the ultimate facts of who you are, or the ultimate facts of what this society is, or the ultimate facts about what this community is. And then from that point to rebuild in a new spirit. 

The Germans have a word for it. Now this word is 26 letters long for Bergegenheistaufarbitung is what they call it. And it means the process by which we strive to learn from our histories, the process by which we strive to learn from our histories, the process by which we go back to our roots, a process by which we don't take anything for granted, the process by which we embrace the ultimate facts of our lives. That there is God, that human beings are made in the very image of God, that the love of God is inclusive and embrasive of all, that human beings are part of God's creation, and that there's a fundamental connection between the elements of the created universe, between me and the rest of the created universe. 

Those are some of the basic principles. There are others, but we go back and we grab onto those really tight. And then we say in light of that, how do we want to live it? How do we want to live it? And I would suggest we have to do the same thing with the society, the principles that undergird the society, the dignity of the human person, the value of the human person, the rights of the human person, the justice that is owed to the human person, the opportunity for a person to use their talent for their good and the good of their neighbor, all of those basic principles that we hold to. We need to grab on to those and then rebuild. 

Well, let's just say it's not easy to do. That's what Jesus was really saying to Peter. “Peter, you're thinking about this with human thoughts and you'll never get there that way. You've got to view this through the mind of God.” That's what's transformational. That is what is the new heaven and the new earth. 

And so I would suggest to you that ultimately the meaning of COVID-19 and the meaning of the death of George Floyd is found in the very presence of God.