Transfiguration

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Elijah, faith, Hebrews, James, Jesus, John, Moses, Mount Tabor, Peter, St. Paul, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, transfiguration

Today is a feast in Christianity that is difficult to explain. The word itself: transfiguration, if broken apart, speaks of a change from something into something else, a change in figure or form. What we know from each of the three synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) is a similar recounting of the same event that took place on Mount Tabor. Jesus had taken his friends Peter, James and John to that mountain for a time of prayer and something inexplicable happened. Jesus appeared to change into a “being of light” – as if from another realm. It seemed that the space-time continuum had been breached because he was seen by his friends to be in conversation with Moses and Elijah the prophet, both Old Testament figures.

Clearly, this event was something “other-worldly” for the three disciples of Jesus, something that they wanted to hold onto. (“Let us set up three tents here, Master, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah…”) but that was not to be. The vision disappeared as quickly as it had come and they were left in the presence of “only Jesus” again.

Why was this gift given to these three and not all twelve of the apostles? What did it mean for their lives? How are we to interpret the story? These questions and more can only be answered as conjecture. Perhaps our experiences of meeting Jesus are not as real in this physical realm. Perhaps we meet him in imaginal space or simply in our deepest moments of prayer. Perhaps we have yet to trust ourselves to some holiness in ourselves that might allow a deeper understanding of our connection to the divine.

Paul’s Letter to the Hebrews (11:1) tells us that ” faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen…” Perhaps we might benefit on this day from sitting quietly and putting ourselves in the gospel story of the Transfiguration (LK 9:28-36) to see what cannot be seen with our physical eyes but which might be grasped through the eyes of faith.

Transfiguration

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being of light, darkness, enlightenment, illuminate, James, Jesus, John, Mount Tabor, Peter, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, transfiguration, transformed

When it’s dark outside, we flick a switch or look for a candle so that we can dispel the darkness in order to see. In a similar way, people on a spiritual path most often frame their journey as moving toward enlightenment. That process is not as simple as lighting a lamp or a flame and, although we need to be awake and participative, we are not “the doer.” It is our cooperation with Spirit, that spark of divinity in us, that needs to be activated in order for enlightenment to occur. Moreover, in most cases, it is a momentary experience, but one which changes our perspective such that our living is different – more conscious and loving – because we see more deeply than we did before.

Such was the experience of Peter, James and John one day when they accompanied Jesus up Mount Tabor to pray. It was an extraordinary experience. They saw Jesus transformed into a being of light as he communed with God and with Moses and Elijah. So my question this morning is: who was transformed? The feast celebrated today is called The Transfiguration, meaning “the change of form or appearance into a more beautiful or spiritual state” (dictionary definition) which is attributed to Jesus as he prays. The vision shocked the men and was so powerfully transformative that Peter wanted to set up tents and stay there – a reasonable response to such an event. As is usually the case, the moment passed and they needed to return to their “ordinary life” but there is no doubt that they were changed and from then on knew a deeper calling to follow even while still not totally understanding all that was involved in their discipleship.

So it is, perhaps, with us. Some of us go through life moving as best we can toward the God in whom we have believed since childhood with nothing but that “still small voice” inside to guide us. Our transformation is organic and steady. Others have bursts of recognition that cause us to change our lives radically toward the good. The goal is the same. We are all called to transformation and the more we cooperate with that impulse, the closer we move toward becoming those beings of light who in time will illuminate the world with love.