Many
of us fondly remember the comic strip “Peanuts.” In one episode, Lucy, Linus and Charlie Brown are seen lying on the ground looking up:
Lucy Aren’t the
clouds beautiful? They look like big balls of cotton. I could just lie here all
day and watch them drift by. If you use your imagination, you can see lots of
things in the cloud’s formations. What do you think you see, Linus?
Linus Well, those clouds to me look like the map of the
Lucy Uh huh. That’s very good. What do you see in
the clouds, Charlie Brown?
Charlie Brown
Well... I was going to say I saw a duckie and a horsie but I changed my mind.
Maybe
it’s a good thing that not all of us have Linus’ vivid imagination, but we do
tend to see more meaning in the clouds than good old Charlie Brown. Anyone who
lives on the prairies soon learns to interpret the sky and the weather of
various kinds of clouds. Rain clouds, thunderclouds, snow clouds, and so on…
Clouds
have emotional meanings, too. Many of us will also remember the comic strip “L’il
Abner,” which had a character named Joe Btfsplk. Poor old Joe went around with
a cloud over his head, symbolizing his role as the world’s worst jinx.
When
we turn to the Bible, we find a special meaning for clouds as symbols both of God’s
presence, and of God’s unknowable nature. A cloud plays this dual role in both
of today’s’ readings.
In
Exodus, the cloud came down over the mountain, as the glory of the Lord settled
upon it. On the seventh day, God called from the cloud, and Moses entered the
cloud to receive the tablets of the law. No-one went with him. From Matthew, we
heard how a “bright cloud” overshadowed the awestruck disciples, and the voice of
God came to them from the cloud.
Both
are stories of God revealing something of his nature and of his purpose for
those whom he has called. Moses’ time in the cloud is associated with the Law,
God’s plan for the community called to live in covenant with him. The giving of
the Law through Moses pointed the way ahead for God’s people. Later, on another
mountain, God spoke to the three disciples, pointing the way ahead for the
community they would form:
This is my Son, the
Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!
Matthew
portrays Jesus as the new Moses, the one come to fulfil the Law, and to
complete the story of salvation begun at Sinai. Our salvation depends on
looking into that “bright cloud,” hearing the voice that comes from it, and
obeying.
Listen to him!
The
command is not just for Peter, James and John, who at the time did not (they
could not!) grasp what they had just seen. The command is for us who follow on
in the apostolic faith of Jesus Christ, inheritors of the
Listen to him!
The
command still comes from the cloud—the dazzling and at the same time obscuring
vision of God’s presence. God is there in the cloud, hidden yet fully available
to us. The coming season of Lent is an invitation to let God’s bright cloud
overshadow us, to seek again to know his presence, and to listen anew to God’s
Son.
Maybe
then our own comic strip dialogue would go something like this:
Lucy … What do you think you see, Linus?
Linus I see that God is here.
Charlie Brown
Thanks be to God!