Transfiguration

Mark 9:2-9

The distance between human understanding and the heavenly reality is sacred ground!

Jesus took three of the disciples with him to the mountain top. There he was changed in their sight: was it insight or real sight? In Scripture the transfiguration of Jesus is called divine glory manifested as light shining through Jesus’ humanity.

There is a striking similarity between the transfiguration and the baptism of Jesus: the Spirit descending, the divine word speaking: this is my Son, my beloved, listen to him.

The three witnesses saw two others with Jesus: Elijah and Moses as representatives of law and prophets – the whole of Hebrew scripture. The disciples see a continuity in the three  which Jesus later confirms in saying I came not to condemn the law but to fulfill it.  The transfiguration linked the past with the present and the future.

Peter was so moved by the revelation that he wanted to build a monument. Shrines mark holy places all over the world.

A cloud descended upon them, turning a spiritual high into a brooding and fear provoking darkness. The idea is repetitive with other stories in scripture, such as Moses encountering God on the mountain and being told to turn his back so as to avoid seeing God face to face. The people who waited for Moses to return saw his face glow and pleaded that he intercede with God for them, believing that no one could see the face of God and live.  

Like Peter, James and John we ought to pause when we encounter the holy ONE. Even our thoughts, traditions, words, are insufficient to honor encounters with the Holy One.

The chosen three saw a truth that would shape their lived faith after the resurrection.

Mountain top experiences recur in scripture as times humans like us experience the living God in a life-altering way.  Moses receives the Ten Commandments. Elijah experiences God in the still small voice of sheer silence.  WE may be tempted to place too much emphasis on the light part of the transfiguration and not enough on the shadow that surrounded the witnesses. Maybe it was in the cloud of unknowing that they could hear God.

They had a great experience but they had to come down from the mountain and resume life, face reality, be practical, cope with Jesus’s  conversations about death and being raised. Talk about confounding and exasperating. They had no idea what all that talk about death meant coming from the one who was preaching the coming of the kingdom of God.

So what can we learn from this?

A few possibilities come to mind. We may think of exceptional spiritual experiences where we felt, knew, we were in the presence of the HOLY. What did it mean to our return to civilization lives? Were we changed by the encounter or did we memorialize it in some kind of mental plaque that we could dust off if we ever needed it.

Thomas Keating calls the experience finding the true self. In contemplative prayer we create space for the soul to emerge and become more fully known. It is deep soul work that brings us to the places of shadow and illumination.

Elijah is retiring from his ministry and his assistant Elisha feels vulnerable with his departure.  Elisha is persistent and wants a double portion of Elijah’s spirit. Trying to fill bigger shoes of one’s predecessor sometimes makes one want a double portion of something. Elisha is willing to wait in silence and is rewarded with seeing through the veil as the chariot takes Elijah into the heavens: the sign that says he will receive what he requested. Elisha is trans-figured by his journey.

He teaches us that staying the course, being persistent, dedicated, focused is productive spiritually. Elisha’s loyalty is an inspiration in a world of disposable relationships and transient loyalties. Elisha is faithful and willing to work through a process that leads to his transformation.

In God’s kingdom strength comes from weakness. The loss of Elijah does not deter Elisha from what he must do or what he is called to do. Elisha picks up Elijah’s mantle and journey’s on. Elisha is vulnerable and dependent and rewarded.

James, John, and Peter are invited to a special event whether Jesus foreknew what would happen or not and their willingness to be faithful, loyal, vulnerable, silent, and present was rewarded. Their transformation did not occur immediately. Those men ran away when Jesus was arrested. They stayed away  in hiding while he suffered on the cross and they were skeptical when Mary Magdalene told them he had risen… until another light flashed on the day of Pentecost and their memories no doubt brought to mind the scene on the mountain, the conversation between Moses, Elijah, and Jesus, the dark cloud that overcame them, and all the days since. With the power of the Spirit, they got up, dusted off the betrayal and hurt and grief and went to work…the same work they were trained to do by Jesus: preach the good news of the kingdom to everyone everywhere.

And so in our turn we also receive a glimpse of the uniqueness and divinity of Jesus.  Today we welcome into the full membership of the church two children, Logan and Caitlyn. These children are God’s beloved adopted children. It is not clear to us what they will become. What we do know is that by water and the spirit they are by grace made members of the body of Christ. Listen with your spiritual ears for the voice of the HOLY ONE.