In the Transfiguration, Peter, James, and John saw Jesus a little more for who he is \u2013 as we say in the Creed: \u201cGod from God, Light from Light.\u201d The letter to Peter\u2019s church and the Gospel of Luke both describe what the disciples saw, because it is important for us as the church, as Christ\u2019s Body, to understand what it shows about who Jesus is \u2013 and who we are becoming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Imagine the top of that mountain wrapped in the deep indigo of night. Notice the four men climbing slowly up. At the top, watch three of them sit down and lean on their hands, but notice that Jesus begins to pray.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He likes to go away sometimes, to pray. Sometimes you have to. Life is so noisy and busy, it\u2019s hard to hear what God might be saying. Getting away from extraneous noise and activity helps focus your attention \u2013 at least it can. If your life is too full of constant noise and activity without a regular habit of rest, you might fall asleep anytime you get still enough to try and listen. Peter, James, and John felt like that the night Jesus took them up the mountain \u2013 they were weighed down with sleep. But they were trying to stay awake, and it was a good thing they did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While Jesus was praying, Peter, James, and John looked up and suddenly saw a change coming over their teacher \u2013 or maybe it would be more accurate to say the change was coming out from him. Light began to radiate from his face and from his whole body. His face, his skin, even his clothes were shining \u2013 like the light of a welding torch \u2013 like lightning. They could hardly look at him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The next thing they noticed was that Moses and Elijah were there, talking with Jesus. Peter, James, and John were totally awake at that point, their eyes fixed on the three figures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The disciples all knew the stories about Moses and Elijah and how they interacted with God. Peter knew the story of Moses going up on Mt. Sinai to get the law and talking face to face with God as with a friend. John remembered that after Moses came down the mountain from talking to God, the stories all said the skin of his face was shining. He even had to wear a veil because people were freaked out by his shining face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
James knew the stories about Elijah, the great prophet who at the end of his life didn\u2019t die but was swept up into a chariot of fire and carried away by God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They all knew the stories, but now the stories were standing in front of them talking to each other: Moses with his shining face, Elijah looking like fire, and in the middle of them, their own teacher, Jesus, transformed into a human lightning flash. Staring, the disciples started to listen, and they heard Moses and Elijah talking with Jesus about his departure. They remembered Jesus had talked the week before about dying and being raised. Here he was talking about it again, saying that it was all about to happen in Jerusalem. What was going on?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Just as the disciples had started to take in what they were seeing, the conversation was wrapping up; Moses and Elijah were turning to leave. Peter didn\u2019t know what to do; he didn\u2019t want this amazing situation to end, since it seemed like it just started. He blurts out something like, \u201cWait! Don\u2019t go.\u201d He tells Jesus that it\u2019s good for them to all be there, and he offers to build him, Moses, and Elijah each a little hut so they can all stay. It really wasn\u2019t the right thing to say, but he didn\u2019t know what he was saying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It didn\u2019t matter, though. While Peter was still talking, a cloud started coming down onto the mountain, and the three disciples all froze in fear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here was another part of the stories they\u2019d all heard before: the presence of God himself guiding Moses and the Israelites through the wilderness in a pillar of fire and a pillar of smoke, the presence of God descending on Mt. Sinai in a cloud that made the whole mountain shake and smoke as Moses went up to receive the law, and all those descriptions of God that talk about his presence in terms of raw power \u2013 like a super storm. Psalm 18 says, \u201cFrom the brightness of his presence through the clouds burst hailstones and coals of fire.\u201d The disciples had heard all this in the scriptures, and there they were on the top of a mountain, with Moses, Elijah, and their teacher \u2013 who Peter himself had identified as the Messiah of God \u2013 shining like human stars, and the presence of God was descending over them in a cloud. Luke\u2019s Gospel says, \u201cThey were terrified as they entered the cloud.\u201d Anyone who\u2019s lived through a tornado, hurricane, earthquake, or natural disaster of that kind can testify to the terror of being in the presence of such natural power, much less supernatural power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
God\u2019s incredible power, though, is surpassed by the mercy he shows in reaching out to us in a way we can understand. God speaks to the disciples out of the cloud in words they can recognize: \u201cThis is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!\u201d The cloud, though frightening to the disciples, veils God\u2019s glory to a point that they can bear it \u2013 but this veil also reveals enough for them to recognize God\u2019s presence for what it is. A veil partly obscures and partly reveals what\u2019s behind it. Sometimes a veil protects the one who wears it from others\u2019 eyes, and sometimes it protects the eyes of the ones who are looking. Moses\u2019 veil was to protect the other Israelites, who were afraid to come near him when his skin was shining in such an alarming way. When God wanted us not to be afraid to come near him, he veiled himself in our humanity. As we sing in that wonderful Christmas hymn, \u201cVeiled in flesh the God-head see; hail the incarnate Deity.\u201d Jesus is Emmanuel \u2013 God with us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jesus\u2019 Transfiguration revealed his identity as both God\u2019s Son and the Son of Mary \u2013 human and divine, connecting us in our humanity to God in his glory. The Transfiguration, as God\u2019s glory shone out of Jesus, shows the truth of who Jesus is, inside and out, and it unveils an alarmingly beautiful promise of who we are becoming as Christ transforms us. Consider this when receiving communion. As you receive Christ\u2019s body, his body becomes part of your body and is transforming you from the inside out, increasing your capacity to both hold and reveal God\u2019s glory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Even though God loves us, and even when we believe God loves us, we can still be afraid of God, imagining his great power. But Jesus reveals to us that, even in his power, God is making himself small enough that we can receive him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s like the way a wise adult will sometimes stoop down to talk to small children, eye to eye, knowing that, from the children\u2019s perspective, it can be frightening to see such a huge person towering over them and booming down big words they can\u2019t understand. Jesus is God, stooping down to where we are so we can see him eye to eye. But he is also still God, and at times, the veil between us is pulled aside, and we may glimpse some of his glory \u2013 \u201cLight from Light, true God from true God.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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