Similar to a previous peacemaker, Gautama Buddha, Christ Jesus creates a seismic shift in human history. This Sunday’s Transfiguration is one expression of that shift. Its seismic nature however is not appreciated by Biblical fundamentalists who write commentaries on the event. They diminish both Jesus and the Transfiguration. They do so by interpreting both as a continuation of the Abrahamic religious model. But neither Jesus nor the Transfiguration fit that model. Nor are those who learn from Jesus therefore part of the Abrahamic religious tradition. Both Jews and Muslims are a part of that tradition but no matter how much Biblical fundamentalists would force it, disciples of Jesus are not.
The Abrahamic religious traditions consist of Judaism and Islam. Important figures within Judaism include Moses and Elijah who appear at the Transfiguration. The men are not present, as commentaries suggest, to signify Jesus’ continuation of their legacies but rather to highlight the distinction between an old religion and Jesus’ new Way. Moses was a warrior lawgiver. He offered battlefield blood sacrifices to his warlord deity, Yahweh. Elijah was a prophet. He also killed people in Yahweh’s name. Moses represents Yahweh’s Law and Elijah represents Yahweh’s Prophets. All of it is an old model for humanity yet still practiced. It is the model of the glory of military rule and military justice which, as a peacemaker, Jesus does not continue. Such military glory is however continued by Muhammad in Islam. Muhammad is regarded as both a warrior lawgiver and a prophet. Like Moses and Elijah, Muhammad also worships a warlord deity, Allah, and also offers battlefield blood sacrifices, killing in Allah’s name. Though the military model is ancient, believers in each deity, to this day, still battle each other for supremacy (Yahweh vs. Allah, Isaac vs. Ishmael, Moses vs. Muhammad, Torah vs. Quran, 10 Commandments vs. Sharia, …). The most militant of these believers are fundamentalists. Fundamentalists demand people choose between them and their mirror image warlord deities in their ongoing military feud. Fundamentalist Christians in the U.S. are especially demanding. They are self-titled christians. Their more accurate title is Yahwists or Biblicalists or Biblical Nationalists. They are, in cult, creed, and code (relationship, belief, and practice), warriors in the old Armies of Yahweh. Their idolatry of the Old Testament explains their current allegiance to empires of both the U.S. and Israel. Their idolatry also explains their perpetuation of an ancient holy war against those they judge infidels, such as worshipers of the warlord Allah.
We who desire and work for peace need to reach out to and cooperate with all people who share our intention and mission. This includes people of peace who are Jewish and have transcended worship of the warlord Yahweh. It also includes peaceful people who are Muslim and have transcended worship of the warlord Allah. No matter the name given to a warlord deity, the number of its adherents, nor the years even centuries of their worship patterns, all people of the world can transcend warring tribalists and the warlords they invent. We can be transfigured, seeing in each other the glory of a life-giving unifying power.
Prayer: Spirit of Togetherness, help us to grow in unity.
Question: How difficult is it to question man-made religions that worship warlord deities?
March 12, 2017 Matthew 17:1-9 2nd Sunday of Lent