Hello, my friend Dr. Brad Miller here with the Daily Bible Refresh.

This is your daily reading of the Bible from a progressive point of view.

In a bit I will read the New Testament lessons selected from the Revised Common Lectionary for this very day.

The reading is understandable.

I use the message version relatable.

Please listen to the points to ponder and applicable to with action steps you can take.

We pray and are done in less than 10 minutes.

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Here's today's reading.

And we are reading today from the Gospel of Matthew 17:1 9 From the message sunlight poured from his face.

Six days later, three of them saw that glory.

Jesus took Peter and the brothers James and John and led them up on a high mountain.

His appearance changed from the inside out.

Right before their eyes.

Sunlight poured from his face.

His clothes were filled with light.

Then he realized that Moses and Elijah were there in deep conversation with him.

Peter broke in, master, this is a great moment.

What would you think if I built three memorials here on the mountain, One for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.

While he was going on like this, babbling, a light radiant cloud enveloped them and sounded from deep in the cloud a voice, this is my son, marked by my love, focus of my delight.

Listen to him.

When the disciples heard that, they fell flat on their faces, scared to death.

But Jesus came over and touched them.

Don't be afraid.

When they opened their eyes and looked around, they saw it was Jesus, only Jesus, coming down the mountain.

Jesus swore them to secrecy.

Don't breathe a word about what you've seen.

After the Son of Man is raised from the dead, you are free to talk.

What a really incredible passage of scripture.

This passage is called the Transfiguration, where the images of Jesus and Elijah and and Moses were transfigured or changed in their appearance.

And I just want to thank you for spending a little time to unpack this message.

It has some complexities to it, but it's really just simply this.

Jesus shines like the sun and then a Moses and Elijah show up and Peter's kind of here, ready to build three tabernacles or memorials to them to preserve the moment.

Even before the Echo of the glory fades.

But we see something beautiful here.

Peter trying to grab a toolkit, as it were, and create something permanent.

So Jesus takes Peter and James and John up to the mountain and everything changes.

His appearance says, sunlight poured from his face, and this light radiant cloud shows up, says, this is my son, marked by my love.

Listen to him.

That's part of the key part here, listening.

And they all fell flat out on their faces, afraid.

And then they realized they had this turn of a phrase when they looked up.

Oh, I know you, Jesus.

It's only Jesus, they say.

Interesting way of putting it.

And Jesus tells them, yes, it's me.

And Jesus tell them to keep quiet until the resurrection.

Some interesting twists and turns in this story here.

It's really a supernatural thing.

And so let's get into it.

Let's talk about three points to ponder from a progressive perspective.

The first one is this.

From building monuments to practicing listening.

Peter's impulse is familiar.

This is a big, big deal.

Let's build something big about it.

But the voice interrupts him.

Listen to him, meaning Jesus.

And a progressive read of this notices how institutions often rush to memorialize experiences instead of metabolizing them, making them part of who you are.

Monuments freeze a moment, as it were, like a statue or photograph.

It freezes a moment.

And listening transforms us for a movement.

The transfiguration isn't a call to cement glory into that moment.

It's a call to recenter to Jesus's voice, especially when he speaks most clearly.

That's about the poor, about the sick, about the excluded.

It's about the best thing you can do sometimes, like you take a walk in the woods, is not to try.

To describe every tree and every leaf was to quiet down, feel the wind, feel the warmth of the sun, let the view that you have rearrange your life before you cut down the trees and make a plaque to the beauty.

If our faith reflex is to construct, to deconstruct, and to reconstruct something, maybe the Spirit's real invitation here is to attune or to tune in.

Second point to ponder.

The shine is real, but the touch is the point.

The text glows with this spectacle, you know, sunlight, phase, radiant cloud, ancestral prophets showing up.

But the pivot is intimate.

Jesus came over and touched them.

Don't be afraid, he says after he touches them.

And the progressive heart of the matter here is that embodied compassion is what makes glory credible.

If we can't translate the mountaintop experience of all into the valley floor, sensation and action of tenderness We've missed the point.

For Jesus and the cancer community, which I work with, hope isn't some abstract light.

It's a hand on your shoulder during chemo.

It's a holding your hand.

It's a conversation.

It's given a ride to a medical appointment.

It's maybe it's a joke that lets you smile again.

The Showstopper is not the show.

It's the presence.

It's the nearness.

That's what only Jesus looks like in practice.

It's not only Jesus, it's only Jesus.

Third point to ponder Transfiguration reveals an inside out way of power.

Matthew says Jesus's appearance changed from the inside out.

That's a reversal of how power usually works.

It usually works from the outside in with control, coercion, issue management, things of that nature marked by love.

It says here the voice says the authority of Jesus is rooted in belovedness, not dominate.

Domination at a progressive lens.

Here follows that thread.

Belovedness fuels justice.

When we come down the mountain, we live out of an inside out politics, centering on dignity, redistributing power, making repair visible for our churches and our city life.

We can model power that doesn't demand the spotlight, but shares it.

The work is quiet and the impact is for everybody.

Here's an action step for this week.

Practice Listen.

Before you build with someone overshadowed, that is, choose a conversation or context where you'd usually kind of jump in with a quick fix or a quick supportive advice to a family member, co worker, neighbor, somebody at your church, somebody in the margins especially has the temptation to do that.

Or sometimes somebody navigating illness or financial problems and ask an open ended question.

What do you wish people understood about you?

Then listen and I'm going to invite you just to be quiet for five full minutes.

For crying out loud.

Set a timer on your on your phone if you have to.

Don't interrupt, don't say anything, listen.

Then reflect back on what you heard and ask what support would actually help.

And then do it.

Listen and do something.

Do the smallest next faithful thing to name it might mean a conversation.

It might need a ride to work or something, an email, introduction, donation, showing up, volunteerism, and a number of things the then you might want to tell somebody about to hold yourself accountable so you can keep on practicing this good practice.

Want to come back and have a prayer?

In just a moment I did want you to know that we do have a resource for you called the ABC 1, 2, 3 Bible study method.

It's our gift to you.

Please head over to our website, voiceofgoddaily.com that's where you can pick it up.

Let's pray.

Oh God of radiant clouds and quiet touches.

We love the mountaintop, of course, but we often live in the valley.

So teach me to listen before I build.

To trust belovedness more than bravado to carry light as dark as kindness, not as glare.

When fear drops me to the ground, reach for me like Jesus did.

Steady my breath.

Let only Jesus look like compassion, emotion for a family.

My neighbors, the ones the world passes by, shine in me from the inside out so I can be a small lamp on somebody's hard road.

Amen.

My friend, I am delighted you chose to join me for today's reading.

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Thanks much.

My name is Dr. Brad Miller and I'll be right here tomorrow with your Daily Bible Refresh.

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Remember, God's loyal love doesn't run out.

His merciful love hasn't dried up.

It's created new every morning.