Feb. 10 was the first day of the Chinese New Year. I pray that this year will open new opportunities of ministry for you and for Silliman Church. In the Christian calendar, Feb. 10 was Transfiguration Sunday. It is also about new beginnings.
Our gospel lesson tells us that Jesus one day asked Peter, James, and John to go with him to the top of a mountain. When they got to the top, Jesus started praying. It must have been a very long prayer for we are told that the disciples fell asleep. But while he was praying, Jesus was transfigured. And when the disciples woke up, they saw the appearance of his countenance altered, and he was talking with Moses and Elijah. They were then enveloped by a cloud and a voice said, “This is my Son, my Chosen, listen to him.”
Transfiguration. What does this big, 15-letter word mean? People today have different meanings when they use the word “transfiguration”. It means a makeover on how people dress or how they look, or even for some, on how to look slimmer. In fact, it is a big business. People spend a lot of money to get a face lift to look better and younger.
Humans are obsessed with the unique, defining nature of our faces. Some would even inject poison on their faces or undergo several surgeries just so they have longer noses or lesser wrinkles.
Long before “virtual life”, human beings were walking, talking “Facebooks”. One of the most advanced new computer identification techniques is the science of “facial recognition” – computer programs that can scan and identify individual faces without any other physical information.
In the “transfiguration” scene described by the gospel of Luke (9:28ff), Jesus’ face shone. He was transformed, by a glorious presence. In the Revised Standard Version it says, “The appearance of his countenance was altered.”
According to one preacher, “God’s glory is manifested physically upon Jesus’ face – the focal point of his humanity. Jesus’ face shone so gloriously and was so illuminated that even his famously clueless disciples could see and report about its radiant nature.”
This is one of the passages in the gospel that is difficult to explain. Some say that the disciples were half asleep, and that there was a cloud cover that they really did not see well. It’s one of those rare moments which somehow defies adequate description, and challenges us to stretch our concept of reality to the point that we usually wind up asking the question, “Did this really happen?”
Events such as the Transfiguration somehow connect us with the mystery of God’s action. It defies explanation. However, let me share some of the things I learn from this passage.
First is that in our spiritual journeys, we need a mountaintop. Peter, James, and John needed the mountaintop. For Peter, it was a brief glimpse of the transcendent, a peek at the reality that lies just beyond everyday life. And because of that, Peter felt God’s presence very strongly.
We all need mountaintop experiences. Those holy moments when we learn that God is ever working among us. It is there on the mountaintop where we learn to listen to what God wants us to do.
But let me tell you a wonderful little secret: Peter did not go up the mountain to find God. God brought Peter, James and John up that mountain. God revealed himself to them.
Thus, we don’t find God. God finds us, and reveals to us the plan that He wants us to do for our lives.
Have you come to a moment in your spiritual journey when you experienced very strongly the presence of God? And during those moments, have you felt the love of God embracing you, and heard God talking to you?
For many of you, it may have been a long time ago that these things happened. But in case you have not experienced these things, let God take you up the mountain — not literally — but take time to pray, study the Bible, listen to others as they share their stories of faith and open yourself to God’s leading.
And I pray that as we come together on Sunday mornings–singing the hymns of faith, listening to the Word of God read and interpreted, sharing of ourselves with fellow believers — these can be our mountaintop experiences.
Secondly, when we have that mountaintop experience, it is not only a time when we encounter the transfigured Christ, it is my prayer that we, too, will be transfigured just like the experience of the disciples. They had been “transfigured” by their holy encounter. And since then, the impetuous Peter became the rock.
As we move on from Transfiguration Sunday, may we feel different, may we look different, and may we act different. We are called to reflect the face of God to this world. May our humanity be “transfigured” into a life that reflects the radiance of God’s presence, as the “face” that God puts forward to the world.
Yet, a major irony of this is that we who have been sent to transform the world as transfigured people don’t cease being ordinary people. We still are vessels of clay, even though we are entrusted with a gospel of gold. There are times when we revert back to who we are–sinners who defy the Christ within us. We may be vessels that are cracked or are imperfect, but we comport a glory that is not ours, with the greatness found in the gift and the Giver.
When we are in the valley, the same Jesus who leads us to those spiritual high places also leads us to care for the hurting, broken-hearted children; to minister to folks who have lost hope; to bind up the wounds of a broken world, or simply to tend to the needs of a brother or sister.
Jesus is there with us in the valley in that foul-smelling garbage dump where people go to look for recyclables; Jesus is there in the valley of fears and the tears of everyday life where people are grieving or who have problems of coping with day-to-day living; Jesus is there in the valley of the aching loneliness of those who are by themselves at home; Jesus is there when you take difficult exams and you are not sure whether you will pass or not; Jesus is there when we have to make difficult decisions like calling a pastor; Jesus is there in our repeated failures.
Most likely, many of us have seen the movie Les Miserables. It is a musical based upon a 200-plus year old novel about France. The musical highlight of the show reveals that the novel, play, movie, has never been about history, or politics, or economics. In the finale musical number, the “heroes,” sing a duet about that which has transformed, transfigured, their lives from drives of desperation to hopes of higher aspirations. The words of their song: Take my hand,/And lead me to salvation/Take my love/For love is everlasting/And remember/The truth that once was spoken/To love another person is to see the face of God.
Did you get that? “To love another person is to see the face of God.” Having glimpsed at the face of God, may we be instruments that others also see God’s face.
