LUKE 9:28-36
THE TRANSFIGURATION
ALWAYS TROUBLES ME. IT IS DESCRIBED IN THREE OF THE FOUR GOSPELS.
THE GOSPEL OF JOHN SUGGESTS IT, AND THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER REFERS
TO IT. THERE CERTAINLY SEEMS TO BE AMPLE EVIDENCE THAT IT TOOK
PLACE. AND YET IT SEEMS SO OUT OF PLACE. JESUS IS GOD MADE MAN, GOD
WHO BECOMES ONE OF US, LIKE US IN EVERYTHING BUT SIN. AND THAT SEEMS
TO BE GOD'S PLAN, TO MAKE HIMSELF SO APPROACHABLE THAT HE WANTS TO BE
OUR FOOD AND DRINK, HE WANTS TO PHYSICALLY AND SPIRITUALLY BE IN US,
TO BE UNITED TO US IN A MOST INTIMATE WAY. AND YET THE
TRANSFIGURATION SEEMS TO BE A STARK REMINDER THAT JESUS IS GOD AND
WE ARE BUT MEN. IT SEEMS TO BE A REMINDER THAT IN THE FINAL ANALYSIS
THERE IS SOMETHING UNBRIDGEABLE HERE, THAT ALL WE CAN DO IS STAND
BACK AND TREMBLE – JUST AS THOSE APOSTLES DID.
AND THERE IS JESUS
CONVERSING WITH MOSES AND ELIJAH – HOW DID THE APOSTLES KNOW THAT?
THEY DIDN'T HAVE CAMERAS IN THOSE DAYS AND MOSES AND ELIJAH NEVER HAD
PICTURES OF THEMSELVES PAINTED. AND YET THEY REMEMBERED SNATCHES OF
THE CONVERSATION – THEY SPOKE OF JESUS “EXODUS” – HIS LEAVING
THIS LIFE – WHICH WOULD TAKE PLACE IN JERUSALEM. I WONDER WHAT
THEY SAID. DID MOSES AND ELIJAH TRY TO GIVE JESUS ENCOURAGEMENT?
WAS IT A PROPHECY OF SORTS? OR WAS JESUS INFORMING THEM OF WHAT HE
WAS ABOUT TO DO? AND THE VERY FACT THAT JESUS IS THERE TALKING TO
THE GREAT LAW GIVER AND THE GREATEST OF THE PROPHETS OF ISRAEL IS
IN ITSELF ANOTHER WALL BETWEEN THE DIVINITY OF JESUS AND OUR
HUMANITY.
SO ON THE ONE HAND WE
HAVE THE INCARNATION – THE WHOLE POINT OF WHICH WAS FOR GOD TO
TRANSFORM OUR HUMANITY SO THAT WE COULD BE LIKE HIM. AND ON THE
OTHER HAND WE HAVE THIS TRANSFIGURATION WHICH SEEMS TO MAKE IT
ABUNDANTLY CLEAR THAT HE IS VASTLY BEYOND OUR REACH.
AND PEOPLE HAVE
SPECULATED ABOUT WHAT JESUS INTENDED WHEN HE ALLOWED THOSE APOSTLES
TO SEE HIM TRANSFIGURED. SOME WRITERS SAY IT WAS TO SHORE UP THE
COURAGE OF THE THREE APOSTLES GIVEN THE HORRIBLE DEATH HE IS ABOUT
TO UNDERGO; IT WAS SO THAT IN THEIR DARK DESPAIR THEY WILL NOT LOSE
HOPE. BUT IF THAT WAS THE REASON, WHY NOT THE OTHER NINE
DISCIPLES? WOULDN'T THEY NEED THEIR FAITH STRENGTHENED AS WELL,
MAYBE MORE SO? AND OBVIOUSLY IF THIS WAS THE REASON, IT DIDN'T WORK;
PETER'S BETRAYAL AND THE FACT THAT THE APOSTLES WERE LONG GONE
DURING THE DEATH OF JESUS ON THE CROSS, AND THE FACT THAT THEY WERE
HUDDLING IN THE UPPER ROOM FOR FEAR OF THE JEWISH AUTHORITIES, SHOW
THAT THEY DIDN'T PICK UP A LOT OF COURAGE FROM THEIR MOUNTAINTOP
EXPERIENCE.
AND THE DISCIPLES HEARD
THE FATHER AND HIS LAST COMMAND TO THE HUMAN RACE – “THIS IS MY
CHOSEN SON, LISTEN TO HIM.” AND THE APOSTLES MAY HAVE HELD BACK A
REASONABLE QUESTION, “WHAT DO YOU THINK WE'VE BEEN DOING FOR THE
LAST THREE YEARS?”
SO HOW DO WE MAKE SENSE
OF THE TRANSFIGURATION? HOW SHOULD IT IMPACT OUR LIVES?
MAYBE THE ANSWER LIES IN
THE INCARNATION; MAYBE THIS IS A HINT OF WHAT GOD MEANS TO HAPPEN
THROUGH THE DEATH AND RESURRECTION OF JESUS. IT ISN'T THAT JESUS IS
IRREDUCIBLY DIFFERENT FROM YOU AND I. IT'S THAT JESUS SHOWS US WHAT
IS REALLY AT THE CORE OF OUR OWN BEING; HE REVEALS THE CONSEQUENCES
OF OUR BAPTISM TO US.
FIRST, THERE IS HIS
APPEARANCE. ALL THE ACCOUNTS TALK ABOUT THE BRIGHTNESS OF HIS
GARMENTS – DAZZLING, WHITE. AND IN THE LAST BOOK OF THE BIBLE,
THERE IS THAT SCENE IN WHICH WE MEET THOSE WHO HAVE GONE THROUGH THE
GREAT TRIBULATION, AND WASHED THEIR GARMENTS IN THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB
– AND THE GARMENTS ARE WHITE. THE REAL YOU, THE REAL I, LOOKS LIKE
JESUS DID ON THAT MOUNTAIN.
THEN THERE ARE THE TWO
COMPANIONS. THEY SYMBOLIZE HOW GOD GUIDED THE JEWISH PEOPLE THROUGH
ALL THOSE TROUBLING YEARS. HE GAVE THEM LAW AND HE GAVE THEM
PROPHETS TO CALL THEM BACK FROM THEIR ERRORS. BUT TWO PROPHETS MADE
A PROMISE TO THE PEOPLE, ALMOST IN THE SAME WORDS: “I WILL TAKE
YOUR HEARTS OF STONE AND GIVE YOU HEARTS OF FLESH, AND I WILL PUT MY
SPIRIT IN YOU SO THAT YOU WILL KNOW MY DECREES AND TAKE CARE TO KEEP
MY REGULATIONS.” THE NEW HUMANITY WHICH JESUS GIVES US IS NO
LONGER ONE WHICH WILL BE FOREVER STUBBORN AND DISOBEDIENT; WE ARE NO
LONGER LIKE STUBBORN BEASTS, BUT ARE GIVEN THE GRACE TO FOLLOW GOD'S
LAW OUT OF LOVE. LIKE MARY WE HAVE THE POWER TO SAY TO GOD WITH OUR
WHOLE BEING, “BE IT DONE TO ME ACCORDING TO YOUR WORD!” MOSES
AND ELIJAH ARE NO LONGER EXTERNAL VOICES, BUT SPEAK TO US FROM WITHIN
OUR HEARTS.
AND THERE IS MORE. THE
FATHER SAYS, “THIS IS MY CHOSEN ONE, LISTEN TO HIM!” AND JESUS
TOLD US LONG AGO THAT WHATEVER WE DO FOR THE LEAST OF OUR BROTHERS,
WE DO FOR HIM. THE TRANSFIGURATION TELLS US THAT WE, LIKE JESUS, ARE
CHOSEN; BECAUSE OF OUR BAPTISMS WE ARE SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF GOD.
AND PART OF BEING CHOSEN IS THAT WE LISTEN; WE LISTEN TO THE VOICE OF
JESUS, IN OUR SCRIPTURES, IN OUR CHURCH, IN OUR CONSCIENCES, BUT OF
GREAT IMPORTANCE, IN THE VOICES OF THOSE AROUND US. BECAUSE GOD IS
ALWAYS SPEAKING TO US AND SPEAKS TO US MOST STRONGLY THROUGH OUR
BROTHERS AND SISTERS, ESPECIALLY THOSE WHO ARE LEAST, WHO ARE POOR,
FORGOTTEN – WHO LIVE ON THE MARGINS. WHEN WE BECOME WHAT WE ARE
MEANT TO BE, WHEN WE ACCEPT THAT WE ARE CHOSEN, WE HAVE TO LISTEN TO
THOSE OTHERS WHO ARE ALSO CHOSEN.
SO MAYBE IF YOU WANT TO
ASK HOW THE TRANSFIGURATION AFFECTS YOUR LIFE, THAT MIGHT BE THE
DIRECTION TO TAKE. LOOK AT JESUS ON THAT MOUNTAINTOP, AND SEE
YOURSELF THERE. IT ISN'T THAT THERE IS AN UNBRIDGEABLE GULF
BETWEEN JESUS TRANSFIGURED AND MYSELF; IT'S THAT JESUS TRANSFIGURED
IS WHAT I AM MEANT TO BE, IS WHAT I REALLY AM IN THE EYES OF THE
FATHER. AND SURE, I DON'T SEE IT VERY CLEARLY TODAY, OR MAYBE EVEN
FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE; BUT INCARNATION HAPPENED, GOD BECAME MAN,
SO THAT MAN COULD BECOME LIKE GOD.
AND AS YOU AND I LOOK ON
WHAT GOD HAS IN MIND FOR US, WE CAN SAY WITH PETER, “MASTER, IT IS
GOOD THAT WE ARE HERE!”
