RBWords

    The "transfiguration" of Jesus has fascinated and puzzled believers from the very beginnings of Christian tradition.  The event is recounted in all three of the "synoptic" gospels, and also in 2 Peter.  The description contains familiar elements of Old Testament encounters with God - a mountain and a cloud and dazzling white light.  Some scholars have suggested that the experience is one of the resurrection of Jesus which has been "retrojected" by the evangelists into the story as a way of enforcing the first prediction of the passion which takes place just before the transfiguration in the text.  That remains a matter of speculation.  What is clear is that Peter, James and John were given an experience of Jesus that left them confused and amazed.  In the Gospel of Mark, the disciples come to an understanding of Jesus' identity only after his death and resurrection.  So, this experience falls into a category that we Westerners have trouble with at times - the mystical or transcendent aspect of faith.

     The most important words in the story are those quoted above from "the voice" in the cloud:  This is my beloved Son.  Listen to him.  If nothing else, the three terrified disciples are admonished to take seriously Jesus' prediction of his suffering.  Perhaps they are given a "preview" of his ultimate glorification but they lacked the ability to comprehend this reality at the time.  Those of us who come to this event two millenia later have the benefit of the "big picture."  We are also challenged to consider and meditate on the transcendent identity of Jesus as the Son of God.  Our brothers and sisters of the Eastern rites seem to have a greater appreciation of this, especially in their liturgical traditions.  There is a considerable leap of faith involved in going from a wonder-working carpenter/rabbi from Nazareth to a manifestation of divinity, which is what happens in the "transfiguration."  If Peter, James and John found it beyond their own understanding, we can expect to be challenged as well.  The coming of the Holy Spirit would enlighten them as it enlightens us so that we can look on the Beloved Son and listen to him.  AMEN