A little boy asked his mother, “Marriage makes you have babies, doesn’t it, Mom?” The mother reluctantly answered her son, “Well, not exactly. Just because you are married does not mean that you have a baby.” The boy continued his inquiry: “Then how do you have babies?” His mother, not very enthusiastic about continuing, answered, “It’s kind of hard to explain.” The boy thought for a moment. He then moved closer to Mom, looked her right in the eye, and carefully said, “You don’t really know how it works, do you, Mom?”
The Transfiguration of Jesus is one of those stories that is difficult to explain. It is difficult because like what the little boy told his mother, we “don’t really know how it works.” And when you don’t know how something works, it’s hard to explain.
Going back to the passage, Jesus went on a retreat and invited Peter, James, and John to go up on the mountain to pray. They were ecstatic. As they were on the mountain top, they suddenly noticed the presence of Moses and Elijah standing with Jesus. Luke tells us that they might have fallen asleep. And when they woke up, they were there.
Mark wrote that the disciples were terrified. I think if we were there, we, too, would have been terrified.
Aside from the presence of the ghosts of the past, their teacher whom they were traveling with for the past two years or so started to glow and shine like some special effect in a science fiction movie. Then just as suddenly as they appeared, Moses and Elijah were gone, and Jesus was back to normal. And a cloud enveloped them and a voice from the cloud was heard saying, “This is my beloved son, listen to him.” Talk about a strange passage.
Even if we do not understand fully this passage, let me share some thoughts.
First of all, we are asked to look and listen if we are to experience Jesus. When the disciples saw Jesus together with Moses and Elijah, they saw him in his full glory. It was what they call a Shekinah moment–the moment when they experienced the glory of God.
And because of what they saw, it changed their lives. They left the mountaintop with many of their questions unanswered. But they left empowered to serve.
Robert Louis Stevenson tells the story about a ship that was in serious trouble in a storm. A passenger on that ship, defying orders, made his way to the pilot who, seeing the fear on the passenger’s face, gave him a smile of assurance. Relieved, the traveler returned to his cabin and said, “I have seen the face of the pilot. He smiled, and all is well.”
There are times in life when we need to see our pilot face-to-face. Remember the hymn that says, “Turn your eyes upon Jesus, Look full in his wonderful face; and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace.”
Once Peter got over his fear, he recognized the glory of the moment.
I pray that as we come together to worship, we, too, could get a glimpse of Christ. As we listen to the anthem sang, as we listen to the scriptures read, as we say our prayers, as we sing our hymns, may we experience the glory of God.
And Mark tells us that a voice was heard saying, “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!”
The problem is that many of us have difficulty listening. A story is told of King Edward VII. His grandson, Prince David, had a good relationship with his grandfather. Still David was a child, and adults in England during this period, particularly royalty, were not known to listen to children.
At dinner on one occasion, little David tried to get his grandfather’s attention. He was reprimanded immediately for interrupting the king’s conversation at the table. So the young prince sat in silence until given permission to speak. When he was allowed finally to address his grandfather, he said, “It’s too late now, Grandpapa. There was a worm on your lettuce and you have eaten it.”
We need to listen to what God is saying through the scriptures. We need to listen to each other as we share our stories of faith. We need to listen to what is going on with our country. We need to listen on how we can prevent some of these human-made calamities. We need to listen from others on how we can take care of God’s creation. God speaks to us through these experiences.
Secondly, if we focus on Jesus and listen to him, like the three disciples, we will be transformed.
You see, I don’t think this passage is so much about Jesus being transformed right before their very eyes. I see it as a transforming moment for the three disciples. In this moment Peter, James, and John’s perception of Jesus changed, and it changed how they did their ministry.
When God breaks into our lives, our perspective on life is changed. The way we look at things, the way we relate with each other, and the way we relate with our world are changed.
And such experience prepares us for life in the valley. It tells us that whatever the situation will be, we keep on doing our ministry for we are not alone. Because God is with us, we have the power to transform lives and to transform the world.
In one of the churches where I served, there was this young lady who was told by the doctor that she had only a few months to live. The first time she got the news, she was despondent and depressed. And everyone in the church was devastated. Some members of the church decided to schedule their visits with her. Sometimes they would bring some books, other times, they would bring some food. In my visits later, she said the visits of the members of the church had transformed her outlook. The ministry that these members did brought her comfort and made her face death courageously. She eventually died but her life had been transformed by the ministry of these caring members.
And I think that is the feeling of those to whom we reach out whether in the prison ministry or in our feeding program, or as we help the victims of Sendong, and the earthquake or as we share our resources with those marginalized.
Some of them may not say it in words. But you can see that glimmer in their eyes when they see people who are willing to help them in their need.
Roy Hattersley is a columnist for a London newspaper. He is also an outspoken atheist. But covering the Katrina devastation on the Gulf Coast, the reporter made this observation. “There was a notable absence of rationalists’ societies, free-thinker clubs, and atheists’ associations among volunteer relief workers. There was a notable presence of the Salvation Army and other faith-based groups digging through the rubbish trying to help.”
Then Hattersley said this, “Christians are the most likely to take the risks and make the sacrifices involved in helping others, while others sit around and scoff at religious intellectual absurdity.”
There is truth in this for a friend of mine who volunteered to help in the Gulf Coast told me that many of the groups who were there were from churches. The pails, brushes and other cleaning equipment that our churches contributed had made a difference in the lives of those people.
I hope the various programs that we have: our Sunday School; our youth program, our student programs; our vacation church school; what we are doing to reach out to the victims of calamities–would all point to the Jesus whom we serve.
We are called to bear the light of the one we met on the mountaintop, and to let the light of Christ shine through all that we do that others may desire to live their lives focused on Jesus.
God is doing a work of transformation in each of us. We may not “really know how it works” but when we listen to God and focus on Jesus, God’s work of transformation continues. And lives are changed.
