Word to the Wise
Thursday, August 6, 2009 - Feast of the Transfiguration
[Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14; 2 Peter 1:16-19; Mark 9:2-10]This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.
The transfiguration was no mere "getting to know you" event! There was a profound reason for this profound event. If what Jesus had done and taught was not enough to evince faith in him by the three closest apostles, the transfiguration was designed to reach them like nothing they had ever experienced before. As the text says it: "He [Peter] hardly knew what to say, they were so terrified." Indeed, it seems that the experience was too much for them and they didn't know what to do with it. Yet, the message was, and still is, clear enough! "This is my beloved Son. Listen to him." The theological import of the Transfiguration has led some scripture scholars to speculate that this event is a "resurrection" experience which has been "read back into" an earlier place in the story. However, many others simply accept the way the story is told and also accept the fact that perhaps we too are overwhelmed by the mystery of it. Whatever happened on that high mountain, the apostles and the early community kept the message clear: "This is my beloved Son. Listen to him." We should do the same. AMEN
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