[Propertalk] Last Epiphany b 2-18 - part 3 of 3

[Robert P Morrison]

Well, with luck, this third part will take off also!
Bob

	 Jesus was transfigured precisely so that people could be moved,
could be shown that there IS Glory in life, GOD’S Glory, and that
it’s up to us now to tell others about it, it’s up to us to DO
something about it.

	 This week, on his blog, Rabbi Jonathan Sacks wrote, “A young
American, living in Japan to study aikido, was sitting one afternoon
in a train in the suburbs of Tokyo. The carriage was half empty. There
were some mothers with children, and elderly people going shopping.

	 “Then at one of the stations, the doors opened, and a man
staggered into the carriage, shouting, drunk, dirty, and aggressive.
He started cursing the people, and lunged at a woman holding a baby.
The blow hit her and sent her into the lap of an elderly couple. They
jumped up and ran to the other end of the carriage. This angered the
drunk, who went after them, grabbing a metal pole and trying to wrench
it out of its socket. It was a dangerous situation, and the young
student readied himself for a fight.

	 “Before he could do so, however, a small, elderly man in his
seventies, dressed in a kimono, shouted ‘Hey’ to the drunk in a
friendly manner. ‘Come here and talk to me.’ The drunk came over,
as if in a trance. ‘Why should I talk to you?’ he said.

	 “‘What have you been drinking?’ asked the old man.

	 “‘Sake,’ he said, ‘and it’s none of your business!’

	 “‘Oh that’s wonderful,’ said the old man. ‘You see, I love
sake too. Every night, me and my wife (she’s 76, you know), we warm
up a little bottle of sake and take it out into the garden and we sit
on an old wooden bench. We watch the sun go down, and we look to see
how our persimmon tree is doing. My great-grandfather planted that
tree …’

	 “As he continued talking, gradually the drunk’s face began to
soften and his fists slowly unclenched. ‘Yes,’ he said, ‘I love
persimmons too.’

	 ‘And I’m sure,’ said the old man, smiling, ‘you have a
wonderful wife.’

	 “‘No,’ replied the drunk. ‘My wife died.’

	“Gently, he began to sob. ‘I don’t got no _wife_. I don’t got
no _home_. I don’t got no _job_. I’m so _ashamed_ of myself.’
Tears rolled down his cheeks.

	 “As the train arrived at the student’s stop and he was leaving
the train, he heard the old man sighing sympathetically, ‘My, my.
This is a difficult predicament indeed. Sit down here and tell me
about it.’ In the last glimpse he saw of them, the drunk was sitting
with his head in the old man’s lap. The man was softly stroking his
hair.” 4

	 THIS is why Jesus was transfigured, and continues to be
transfigured: for you, and for me, and for everyone in the world –
even for the cows and the cowherds.

	NOTES:

	[1] _“Transfiguration of Christ” _by_ _Giovanni by Bellini, d.
1516._,_ from ART IN THE CHRISTIAN TRADITION, a project of the
Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. 
[1]http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=46565 [2] 

	2 _“Introduction”_ from _“The Second Epistle to the
Corinthians”_ by C, K. Barrett, Adam & Charles Black, London, Great
Britain, © 1973, page 6.

	3 “_New York Today: Kelly Hall-Tompkins, a New Yorker of the
Year”  _New York Today [3] by ALEXANDRA S. LEVINE  [4]DEC. 27, 2017 
[5]http://p.nytimes.com/email/re?location=pMJKdIFVI6pghfX2HXfSzxRpdoyDWYNWftnS2EhDhGY2ljtZxEsmTwj6Ox/sz5DBphnNoxno6tA7s6dYYWnTwlK8ZMdLj41X+t4tSZ6gx4ieiJaCkWrzVRSOH8MoQ/bfUDdyJ8N7bN/kD8mk6Y/6/ifi0Eocin1FdaWEtpPcceSyRWvyXY3GsALT6cAkfEZ/7vIRZcrkLNs=&campaign_id=61&instance_id=110815&segment_id=120099&user_id=13776d46e58cd1c84bbfacad680c03b7&regi_id=63205127
[6]

	4 Adapted from “_The Power of a Positive No_,” by William Ury,
Hodder Mobius, 2007, 77-80, quoted by Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks in
_“The Power of Empathy”_Wednesday 7th February, 2018 
[7]http://rabbisacks.org/power-empathy-mishpatim-5778/ [8]  


Links:
------
[1] http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=46565
[2] http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=46565
[3] https://www.nytimes.com/column/ny-today-daily-briefings
[4] https://www.nytimes.com/by/alexandra-s-levine
[5]
http://p.nytimes.com/email/re?location=pMJKdIFVI6pghfX2HXfSzxRpdoyDWYNWftnS2EhDhGY2ljtZxEsmTwj6Ox/sz5DBphnNoxno6tA7s6dYYWnTwlK8ZMdLj41X+t4tSZ6gx4ieiJaCkWrzVRSOH8MoQ/bfUDdyJ8N7bN/kD8mk6Y/6/ifi0Eocin1FdaWEtpPcceSyRWvyXY3GsALT6cAkfEZ/7vIRZcrkLNs=&campaign_id=61&instance_id=110815&segment_id=120099&user_id=13776d46e58cd1c84bbfacad680c03b7&regi_id=63205127
[6]
http://p.nytimes.com/email/re?location=pMJKdIFVI6pghfX2HXfSzxRpdoyDWYNWftnS2EhDhGY2ljtZxEsmTwj6Ox/sz5DBphnNoxno6tA7s6dYYWnTwlK8ZMdLj41X+t4tSZ6gx4ieiJaCkWrzVRSOH8MoQ/bfUDdyJ8N7bN/kD8mk6Y/6/ifi0Eocin1FdaWEtpPcceSyRWvyXY3GsALT6cAkfEZ/7vIRZcrkLNs=&campaign_id=61&instance_id=110815&segment_id=120099&user_id=13776d46e58cd1c84bbfacad680c03b7&regi_id=63205127
[7] http://rabbisacks.org/power-empathy-mishpatim-5778/
[8] http://rabbisacks.org/power-empathy-mishpatim-5778/

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