Tranfiguration
In 2009 I did a 3 week course at St George’s Jerusalem. Travelling in Lower Galilee, we saw Mt Tabor rising abruptly out of the plains. It figures in the OT more than once, including the occasion when Joshua divided the Promised Land amongst the 12 tribes of Israel, and the dramatic story in Judges 4 when King Barak flatly refused to go into battle unless Israel’s Judge, Deborah, accompanied him, and another woman – Jael - secured the victory by killing the Canaanite King Sisera.
Tradition claims Mt Tabor as the site of the Transfiguration. It would be a long, stiff climb, rewarded by a panoramic view. The road is steep, zig=zagging crazily up the side of the mountain. We left the bus at the base, transferring to black stretch Mercedes, which spun around the hair-pin bends at breakneck speed. The drivers were racing, gleefully overtaking one another on the narrow roads, which lie precariously close to the gates of eternity. Verily I say unto you, more fervent prayers rose heavenward in those taxis than in the church on the summit.
James, Peter and John accompanied Jesus, and what a day they had! Jesus is no ordinary companion. The men were dazzled by Jesus' glory, then dazed by seeing Moses & Elijah’s apparitions, and lastly frightened out of their wits by The Voice. Just in case that wasn't enough, Jesus bewildered them entirely by speaking of his approaching death, and instructing them not to mention what they’d seen until after he ‘rose from the dead’.
My question is – why did Jesus take these men there? Surely it was for their sakes; and I wonder if the greatest change actually occurred in them, rather than Jesus.
Mark records that Jesus was transformed into a shimmering white, startlingly pure being, before their eyes. Jesus was their friend and teacher, but did they usually see the ‘real’ Jesus? Remember when Jesus visited Nazareth ‘he could not do any great works there’, because to the villagers he remained the boy next door?
Transformation and change are signs of life, and all around us large numbers of people are engaged in heroic efforts of personal growth and change in mind and body. Good for them.
But when the Bible speaks of becoming Christ-like, of being changed from glory to glory, of reflecting the Imago Dei, very few want to follow that path. Why is this?
Marianne Williamson, whom Nelson Mandela quoted in his inaugural presidential address, claims it is fear that prevents us from manifesting the Glory of God - or after the example of Peter, James and John - allowing ourselves to be transformed by the Spirit. Fears of being 'different'. Fears of social discrimination, or of being a tall poppy in a country of tall poppy loppers.
Williamson wrote:
'Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant,
talented,
gorgeous
and fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God.
Your playing small doesn't save the world.
There's nothing enlightened about shrinking
so that other people won't feel insecure around you.
We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.
It' not just in some of us; it's in everyone.
And as we let our own light shine,
we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear,
our presence automatically liberates others.'
We are not all called to be Mandela, of course. On Judgement Day we won’t be asked “Why weren’t you Mandela? We will be asked ‘why weren’t you Pirrial - or Hugh? Why weren’t you the person I made you to be, reflecting the glory of God into the darkness of the world around you?
Joan Chittester OSB, declares: The purpose of holiness is not to protect us from our world. The purpose of holiness is to change the way we live in the world, not for our own sake but for the sake of others. Jesus demands the same thing.
Pursuing holiness, or the incremental restoration of the Imago Dei in us, is the greatest service we can offer God. It is inherent in our Baptismal calling and is a co-operative venture between God and ourselves. We always have a choice.
Returning to the Gospel, Jesus invited Peter, James and John to join him that day and – having already seen and heard strange and miraculous things, and knowing anything could happen when Jesus was involved… they went. Simple, uneducated men, they each became towering figures in the history of the Church, whose influence continues to this day. When they fell to the ground terrified after hearing the Voice, Jesus came and touched them. 'Do not be afraid', he said.
Christian Transformation usually begins at the place where Jesus touches us. We have no need of fear with Jesus nearby, and as St Paul assures us, nothing can separate us from Jesus’ love. Nothing.
Christians traverse rocky terrain on their journey into God, and are likely to find the path steep and hard sometimes, but worth every step. We might feel overwhelmed by it all – even when we seemed to have reached our goal! We may feel lost in thick clouds: we might fall heavily, trembling with fear - but if God is with us, who is against us?
The Voice from the cloud urged the disciples to listen to Jesus. What else can we do? Jesus has the words of Eternal Life.
If we are blessed along the Way with a glimpse of the glorious Son of God, shimmering before our eyes in divine beauty, St John says we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. He should know. [in 1 John 3.2]
God’s peace be with you.