...For a moment
Jesus' friends were seeing truly,
seeing him as he was,
seeing a human being as we all truly are,
shining with the whole glory of Creation,
stardust that we are.
They saw through the scruff and dirt
that this rough world leaves on us,
saw past the judgments and appearances,
the masks and costumes and shrouds
that we throw on each other:
they saw the heaven within a person,
the image of God.
If only they hadn't been so shocked
they would have noticed it in themselves.
Jesus had to tell them later:
"You are the light for the world."
God shines in you,
gleams with the splendid light of heaven.
-Transfiguration, Steve Garnaas-Holmes
The Transfiguration takes place just before the season of Lent begins. It is a literal mountain-top experience for Peter, James, and John as Jesus takes them up on the mountain. There, Jesus is suddenly transfigured before them. His appearance radiates and his clothes are intensely white. The disciples are scared and don't know what to make of it all. They see Elijah and Moses standing there talking with Jesus and they are terrified because they cannot explain it. Then the voice of God comes through the cloud that overshadows them, saying, "This is my beloved son, listen to Him."
The disciples are probably asking a thousand questions in their heads but are given no answers. Jesus actually tells them to keep silent about what they saw until the Son of Man is risen from the dead. So, now the disciples are even more confused because they don't know that Jesus means.
Peter, James, and John see the real Jesus with the glory of God shining from Him, but they don't comprehend until subsequent events occur the reason they were witnesses to such a sight. They are important in the sharing of the Gospel later, and they are shown something that they will understand at the proper time, when Jesus is raised and their ministry begins. Jesus is equipping them ahead of time, they just don't recognize it as such. Yet the experience sits on their hearts and as events unfold and all that Jesus told them occurs, they see the pieces fall into place.
Can't we all relate to Peter, James, and John? In our own lives, haven't we seen or experienced something that we don't fully understand but we know it is something important, something that will be a part of our future? And as events unfold we see pieces fall into place? Slowly, along the way, we learn, little by little, the importance of that initial occurrence and everything since then and how all of it could not possibly be orchestrated by you or anyone, except God. That is what I think of when I read about the Transfiguration. We may not understand what God is showing us, but in His time all the pieces will come to together and make sense to us.
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