Dan 7:9-10,13-14; Ps 96(97):1-2,5-6,9; 2 Pet 1:16-19; Matt 17:1-9
Theme: It is Good For Us to Stay Here
1. THE FEAST WE CELEBRATE
a. The Trinitarian Presence in the Transfiguration Scene.
Today, the Church celebrates the feast of the Transfiguration. This feast commemorates the changing of form of Jesus in the presence of three of his disciples. This event is reported by the three synoptists (Matt 17:1-9; Mk 9:2-10; Lk 9:28-36 ). The high point of the feast of transfiguration is not just the shining face and garment of Jesus, nor his speaking with Moses and Elijah, but the Trinitarian presence in the scene. Jesus does not just want to show his disciples the glory that he possesses in himself, he wants them to have the glorious experience of heaven, that is, the being in the presence of the Trinity, because heaven is not just a place but a person, the person of the Trinity.
Before now, the only place we have seen the Trinitarian presence in the ministry of Jesus is during his baptism (Matt 3:13-17). But even here, it was a private revelation because only John the Baptist saw the dove (the Holy Spirit) and heard the voice of the Father. But here in the transfiguration, the three disciples of Christ were brought face to face with the presence of the Trinity. This presence was so great and captivating that the disciples could not withstand it, and as such, they fell on their face. Jesus wants them to have the foretaste of heaven, of what it means to live in the Trinity. The gospel says that Peter was still speaking when a bright cloud overshadowed them. The Greek word ἐπισκιάζω (‘episkiazo’ which means ‘to overshadow, to envelope, to come upon) which is used here, is the same used in Lk 1:35 when angel Gabriel speaks to Mary about how she will conceive by the power and overshadowing
of the Holy Spirit. The presence of the Holy Spirit is accompanied by a voice which we know to be thatof the Father because only the Father knows Jesus and refers to him as the Son.
b. God is experienced on the Mountain.
The gospel says that Jesus took Peter, James and John and led them apart to a high mountain. It is on this mountain that these disciples had this experience of the Trinitarian glory in Jesus. In the Bible, mountain connotes the meeting place between man and God. On the Mountain of the Lord will
provide, Abraham encountered God (Gen 22); Moses encountered God on Mt. Sinai, an encounter that left him with a shining face (Ex 34); Elijah encounters God on Mt. Horeb (1 Kgs 19:9-18); Isaiah speaks of the mountain where God will meet all men and take away their sorrows (Is 25:6), ETC. To have an experience of God, an experience that transforms one, we must have to make a shift from our comfort low land to the mountain top.
c. Jesus as the Culmination of the Law and the Prophets
In Jesus, shine out in its full radiance, the Law and the Prophet. The gospel says that Moses (the Law) and Elijah (the Prophet or the Promise) appeared and were speaking with Jesus. Moses reminds us of the Law (the Torah/the Pentateuch) God gave to his people to make them live as a holy nation and
Elijah represents the promise of salvation which God gave to his people through his prophets. Jesus becomes the glory of both the Law and the Prophet. In Jesus, are the Law and the prophets fulfilled.
The gospel says that the face of Jesus shone like sun and his garment became white as light. Here, our attention is being drawn to the face and the garment of Jesus. One will be forced to ask, why the emphasis on face and the garment? In Ex 34:29-35, after Moses had stayed with the Lord for forty days and forty nights, the meeting that produced the Decalogue, as he was coming down to the people of Israel, only for the people to see his face shining. Then 2 Kgs 2:8-15 tells us about the garment of Elijah.
The same garment which Elijah struck and water divided for him and Elisha to pass, was given to Elisha after Elijah was taken away from him, as the gift of God and transfer of prophethood to Elisha. In Jesus,
we see the shining face of Moses, that is, the precious gift of the Law of God, and the garment of Elijah, all shining it in its utmost splendor. Jesus is shown as bearing the face of the Law, and the fulfilment of the prophets.
2. FINDING MYSELF IN THE TRANSFIGURATION
a. Consolation at the Other Side of Suffering
A woman was pregnant of twins. When the time for delivery came, she was possessed by a great fear that the nurses feared she would not make it. As the woman was lying on the bed shivering, and the doctor was planning of going through CIS, one of the mid-wives, came into the labor room, put on the television and searched for “the moments with my twins”. Many videos of mothers who gave birth to twins and were playing with their kids showed up. The mid-wife put one of the videos for the woman to watch. It was so wonderful seeing how children were sweetly playing with their mum. It was as if their mother did not go through the pain of pregnancy and labor in order to give birth to them.
The happiness of this mum playing with her children changed the atmosphere and the feeling of this helpless pregnant woman in labor. The mid-wife said to the woman in labor, “few minutes from now, your two babies will be lying sweetly beside you. And few weeks from now, they will be playing with you as you just watched”. Just as the mid-wife was still speaking, the woman pushed out her first child. This is exactly what Jesus did for his disciples at the scene of transfiguration.
At this stage in the ministry of Jesus, he has started moving towards the hour of his suffering and death. In Matt 16, Jesus began to speak strictly and specifically of his passion and death (16:21), and the cost of true
discipleship (16:24-26). It became a hard moment for the disciples to accept (16:22). Jesus knows that he is moving towards his glory, but for that glorious moment to come, he must pass through the pain of the cross. Just like in the story of the pregnant woman, Jesus decided to show his disciples the glory
that awaits his suffering. And this is why he cautioned the three disciples not to tell anyone about the vision until after he had risen.
Dearest in Christ, there is the glory that awaits our turbulent moments. There is the glory that awaits our difficult times. We only need to keep faith with God and fix our gaze on him. Glorious moments are achieved through pain and sacrifices. Sometimes the pains and the difficulties may be so
excruciating. Seeing how beautiful children are, even the mother forgets the pains she endured for nine months, and the excruciating pain of the labor room. In our own labor room, may we keep our gaze on the glory that comes from our pushing and sweating,
b. It is Good For Us to Be Here
This is the remark of Peter when he beheld the tremendous shining of Jesus’s face and his white garments. Peter did not wish to go away from that moment. He wished that it does not stop.
We must pray for this divine encounter that makes one not to desire going back to his formal life. No one ever encounters God and his splendor and desires to go back. St. Teresa of Avila, in her deepest contemplation that brought her facing the glory of God, had to cry heavily asking God “Please
do not take me back to where I come from”. St. Augustine, just after that sweet encounter of the divine glory, could only exclaim “Late had I known”. Imagine what made saints to abandon the riches and the glories in the world, and run into desert, in order not to be distracted from the sweetness that comes from moments with God!!!
We ourselves encounter God in his most Transfigurative form, in the Holy Eucharist. If only our eyes can be opened for a second so that we see the divine awesomeness that surrounds the altar of the Eucharist, we can only but exclaim like Peter “Most Awesome God, I want us to be here FOREVER”.
Secondly, we have to ask ourselves, do we radiate the glory of God that makes people to desire meeting us and staying with us, or are we so toxic that everyone who encounters us ends up cursing God for having created us? We cannot be God’s children without possessing the same glory of our Father. People must be able to see our shining faces, and the immaculate garments of the characters which we put on.
How does our presence alleviate the painful moments of others? Does our presence bring enough consolation to people about the love and mercy of God? In our families, neighborhoods, places of works, church, societies, associations, etc., do people desire to have our presence in their midst
because of the beauty of our smiles, the purity of our love, the sincerity of our heart, the sacrificial tone of our words, the forgiving spirit that we possess?
On this day of Transfiguration, Jesus gives us a foretaste of the glory that awaits us at the end of the suffering moment, and he wants us to bring this his shining face to everyone who comes across us. The question then is, “Are you a child of Transfiguration?”
Wishing You a Very Holy and Wonderful Feast of the Lord