A Weekly Devotion for Clergy and Lay Leaders by Bishop Kevin S. Kanouse

 Mardi Gras Comes Early 

          Victory was assured on that first play after halftime when the Saints recovered the on-side kick to shift the momentum into their hands.  It felt like the underdogs were destined to win their first Super Bowl ever and Mardi Gras came early to the Crescent City in Louisiana.  It is not likely to end early.  Like the wedding at Cana in Galilee it is likely to go on and on...until all the wine runs out and they start looking for water to create some more.  It will flow right up until midnight of Shrove Tuesday when the disciplines of Ash Wednesday will be undertaken.  Drunken revelry for 10 days; piety for 40 (plus Sundays).  I am a rose-colored glasses kind of optimist in that I almost always root for the underdog.  I rooted for the Saints.  When it pays off, the victory is even sweeter.  It is a victory to be savored for a long time to come.

          The image that will remain etched in my mind for some time to come was that of quarterback Drew Brees holding his less than one-year-old son on the field after the game was over.  Tears in his own eyes, a glow on the mvp's face, a look of bewilderment on his son's face that showed he understood nothing.  The glow, the afterglow with tears, dumbfounded lack of understanding...all encapsulated in a few moments in front of millions at the end of the Super Bowl. 

 Mardi Graw Continues On

          If course I cannot liken Drew Brees' moment of great joy to that of Moses' experience on Mt. Sinai when he encountered God, although the fans of the Saints might liken their victory to something of a sacred and spiritual experience.  When Moses came down from Mt. Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant in his hand, he did not realize that his face shone because he had been talking to God.  The people around him saw that it was a sacred experience of such import that Moses glowed.  They were taken aback, frightened.  A dialog between God and Moses took place for any number of days while God gave the law to Moses.  In all of his conversations with God, Moses' glow continued to shine brightly.

           The feeling of Mardi Gras might well describe what Peter, James and John experienced that great day when they ascended the mountain with Jesus and witnessed the Transfiguration before their very eyes.   So much so that they wanted to build booths, huts, dwellings to hold onto the experience as long as they could.  Although Luke makes it clear Peter did not know what he was asking, the joy of the moment is not lost.  Peter wanted to do anything he could to hold on to this most profound experience; but Jesus showed him that he could not.

Super Bowl and Mardi Gras Soon Fade...

          Mardi Gras will be more lively, more celebrative, more drunken than any time in recent years because of the great feat of the Saints in the Super Bowl.  The visitors and residents will want it to go on and on and on.  But soon enough, following Fat Tuesday, comes Ash Wednesday and the celebrating is likely to simmer down quickly.  The real world will set in, the Saints will not rule forever, and most folks will realize it was just a game.  (Just a game!  Just a game?  Never!)

...But Not the Power of the Cross!

          Not so for Jesus.  For him, it was down off the mountain, into the valley, up to Jerusalem, there to die on the cross.  The moment on the Mount of Transfiguration was a moment of revelation that sustained Jesus and his disciples through the most terrible days to come.  It was a very high point that would show his followers that his real mission was not glory; but the journey to the cross, to give meaning to suffering, to lead us to faith unto eternal life.

          Super Bowl victories are momentous, although momentary.  The glow on the faces of the Saints will soon fade and life will go on.  The glow on Moses' face soon faded as he led the people through the wilderness to the Promised Land which he was not privileged to enter.  The glow of the Mount of Transfiguration did not last very long when Jesus had to deal with the reality of evil, sin, and crucifixion.  But for us, he persevered until the victory of the cross was won and that is what we should really celebrate.  Our faces should indeed glow with the moisture of our baptisms emblazoned on our foreheads, the ashes of repentance etched upon them from Ash Wednesday onward, the cross of Jesus Christ emblazoned in our hearts.  We, too, should glow and they should see it upon us.  Do they?

Text for This Devotion

Luke 9:33

Just as they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, "Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah" -- not knowing what he said.

 

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