After a number of tries earlier this week, the text of this week's reflection on the Transfiguration actually was completed. Actually, it's last revision only happened this morning, after its first public appearance. In a rare first, this reflection was recorded for purposes of podcast not once (as is normally the routine) but twice so that the minor adjustments to the text could be reflected also in the recorded version. Happy Sunday!
Have you ever had the experience of seeing something that looks ordinary enough in one moment and completely different in the next? Nothing remarkable … and then seemingly transfixed? Autumn leaves can strike you this way, as the sun comes out with its gift of illumination. People say, 'the sun makes a great difference … but that's not quite the kind of change I'm referring to here because in that case the sun is shining on something. What I'm thinking of is an occasion where light is shining through ... in fact where it comes breaking through.
You may or may not have noticed, but there are a number of stained glass windows in this church, each of which has its own particular beauty. They are best appreciated when sunlight is shining through them from outside this building, but they take on a special beauty when the sun is brilliant and bright. They are then transfigured, and bathe the inside of this building with their own mixture of reds, yellows, greens and blues. I suppose the transfiguration we meet most often is the one that happens in the human face: when a serious face breaks into a smile, or better yet, when a person who means a lot to you looks at you with love.
What changed the Lord's appearance up on the mountain that day. What broke through? It was his divinity ... the God in him. On every other day, he looked like an ordinary man, but for however long it lasted, he looked like the Son of God. The transfiguration is a proclamation from the very mountaintops that this person is divine.
Why was Jesus transfigured on the mountain? Why did he bring the three apostles with him? The first reason has to do with Peter. Prior to this moment in time, another significant encounter had taken place between Jesus and Peter in a place called Caesarea Philippi (Mt 16:13-20). It would seem that people generally thought of Jesus as one of the prophets who had come back to life - nothing particularly new or exciting, but rather a reincarnation of the old. 'But you,' he had said to his apostles, 'who do you say I am?' It was Peter who had the courage to answer, 'You are the Christ, the Son of the living God' (Mt 16:17). There must have been a silence at that moment: the kind of silence that seems to stop time, the kind of silence that senses a significant discovery, a silence that acknowledges faith. What Peter had just said was absolutely momentous. He had expressed faith in Jesus as the Messiah. He was the first of the disciples ever to do so in such a clear-cut way.
Jesus wanted to sustain this faith in Peter's heart and in the hearts of the other disciples. He did it first with words, 'Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven' (Mt 16:17). He did it the second time in action at the summit of the mountain. Verbal confirmation first, and visual confirmation later. What he had seen in faith, Peter would now see with his own eyes, if only for a fleeting moment. So would James and John.
The second reason for Jesus' transfiguration also has something to do with Peter and the other disciples. One thing for which none of them was prepared was the notion that Jesus would have to suffer and die. For Jesus though, it was important that they should be prepared for this reality. Immediately after Peter's confession at Caesarea Philippi, Jesus warned them about the cross that was also to come, but they weren't listening. More than that, they just didn't want to believe it. In fact Peter actually challenged Jesus over this truth, 'Heaven preserve you Lord. This must not happen to you.' (Mt 16:22) Their unwillingness to accept his dying was a normal human reaction. After all, he was healthy and robust at the time, but the Transfiguration would also prove to be an enormous help to them when the truth of his suffering and death became known. It would reinforce the message that Christ's death must inevitably come. Moses and Elijah would be 'talking to Jesus about the exodus he was to accomplish in Jerusalem (Lk 9:31). They would be confirming, as prophets themselves, what the prophets had always foretold, but more importantly, the Transfiguration would help to convince the disciples that death would not prevail - the Resurrection would.
The third reason for the Transfiguration has more to do with you and me. Peter, James and John saw the Transfiguration on that day. We see it in hindsight. They saw it as television 'on demand', but we see the replay some time later. It helped them to retain faith in Christ through his passion and crucifixion. When he and they were at their lowest, they remembered these heights. Hopefully, even at this distance, it can help us to remember the heights as well. There are all sorts of ways in which our own faith is tested: by the randomness of illness or accident, by the seemingly arbitrary way someone we love suffers a slow death or a sudden extinction, or by the biggest test of all when we have to face, in our own lives, the reality of suffering and the prospect of dying. There is a terrible tension between the fear we experience and the faith we profess. When our faith is tested in these ways, I'm not sure whether our memory of the Transfiguration makes that much difference. It does help though, when we're down and doubting, and more so when we're dreading, to know that the Lord is near at hand.
The glimpse of God in Christ was meant for more than just three of us. It was meant for all of us.
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