By Rev. Canon David B. Tabo-oy
Now about eight days after these sayings he took with him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray. v29And as he was praying, the appearance of his face was altered, and his clothing became dazzling white. v30And behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah, v31who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. v32Now Peter and those who were with him were heavy with sleep, but when they became fully awake they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. v33And as the men were parting from him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah”—not knowing what he said. v34As he was saying these things, a cloud came and overshadowed them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. v35And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him!” – Luke 9:28-35 ESV
The Feast of the Transfiguration of our Lord is celebrated every August 6 (Friday this year). My esteemed seminary batchmate and authority in Liturgy, the Rev. Tomas Maddela posted on FB a timely reminder that it is one of the three feasts that takes precedence over the regular Sunday. Hence, this reflection is focused on the feast over the lectionary gospel reading appointed for Proper 14. I can’t recall if it is on this same paper that I wrote on the topic of the same title, ‘Mountain Top Experience’. Some thoughts on the occasion then are reiterated in this article.
***
Mountains have made humans marvel at the majesty of God’s creation all through history. Man needs the mountains, for the heights are in his head and heart. Mountains awaken in man the instinct for heaven. He knows when he looks at the mountains that he was made for a high and lofty purpose.
“But chief of all Thy wondrous works, Supreme in all Thy plan, Thou has put an upward reach within the heart of man!” In the English language we have the expression “mountain-top experience”. This expression has originated from the Bible because of the dealings God had with His people on various “mountain-tops”. So the phrase has come to mean a moment of transcendence – or epiphany; and in particular an experience of significant revelation given by God. To some people “mountain-top experience” would be that of the most wonderful experience – the summit of all good in a certain aspect of life experience. To Hidilyn Diaz her standing on top of the podium in the Tokyo Olympics for winning the gold in women’s weight lifting may be considered her mountain top experience. She does not only bask on the fame of her victory but also attributed the feat to the Almighty as she primarily expressed gratitude to God during her interviews after the win.
***
The transfiguration event took place somewhere in the midst of Jesus earthly ministry. At that time, people were coming and going. They are seeking healing and to hear his new teachings about the Kingdom of God. They came to hear a message of hope amidst their suffering and bickering. And that is just where the revelation of God’s glory fit in. Jesus did not take a mountaintop vacation to “get away from it all” – to escape, to rest, to be renewed. Jesus was transfigured on the mountain to meet the challenge waiting for him back down in the valley. The transfiguration was not meant to be looked back on nostalgically as a “break” from the suffering of the world, but to be seen as a gift in God’s grace impelling Jesus deeper and deeper into the pain and darkness of a suffering world – until that pain and darkness culminated in the cross. Peter, James and John could not understand on the mountain that God’s glory was not to be found apart from the suffering world in the valley. Peter wanted to build “booths” to stay on the mountain, to bask in the glory. But the blinding light on the mountaintop was a declaration of the presence of the glory of God in the world. That glory is not something you wait for, hope for, seek for – that glory of God is already present in the midst of a tired, aching world, wherever God’s people do God’s work. The transfiguration is not a vision of the way the world could be, it is a declaration of the way the world already is, when God’s people accept the promise and live out the vision.
***
Peter wanted to stay on the mountaintop and bask in God’s glory. Jesus knew that God’s glory was not on the mountain, but down in the valley where an epileptic boy waited to be healed, the disciples were arguing about who would be greatest in the kingdom, and Lazarus, Jesus’ friend, was dying. God’s glory was down in the valley where a cross waited on a Friday called Good. This is the glory of God, transfiguring the world. Scripture reveals God’s bias for all those who have been disenfranchised. Feeding the poor, offering a cup of water to the thirsty, clothing the naked, visiting the prisoner, and speaking for the voiceless is required of us. But there is a crucial distinction to be made between personal acts of charity and political actions that seek remedy the root causes of poverty. The fact remains that we live in a world where political systems contribute to an economic stratification in which the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Giving first aid may salve consciences, but it leaves the disease untreated.
***
Our obedience to God and to His Son revealed in that Transfiguration Mountain is not measured by the orthodoxy of our beliefs or the earnestness of our praise. It is, rather, gauged by our restoration to wholeness those who have been oppressed. In our society, love of God and neighbor are inescapably political. I believe that the glory of God is all around us, even on the way to the cross. We see the glory of God even amidst the unabated suffering in this world – even the hellish effect of the ongoing COVID19 pandemic.
We are called to seek out the transfigured Christ in the world, and as we do so, we are called not just to wonder and delight in that presence, but we are also called to listen and to respond with a servant’s heart, humility and love. We are called to listen when our brothers and sisters are suffering, when they are in need, when they are disenfranchised and subject to injustices for whatever reasons.
***
Peter wanted to stay on the mountain and live in the moment of glory forever, but it could not be. Life moves on, and the way of Jesus moved on to the cross. Moments of transformation are not to be held on to, but are to change you to live on in a different way, even after the light is gone. The question in every transfiguration, every conversion, every burst of enthusiasm, is: does it change us and enable us to live better the lives to which we are called? Believing is only the beginning.
The transfiguration of Jesus is not an oasis, a temporary resting place in the gospels, but a sign of the presence of God’s glory, alive in our world – and it is not by our words, nor by our beliefs that the reality of that glory will be judged in our lives, but by the transfiguration caused in us, our lives and our actions, when we behold the glory of God.
***
But there is another unforgettable event that I learned from history about August 6. It happened 76 years ago today. In August 6, 1945, the Americans dropped the first atomic bomb in Hiroshima. After that the world is never the same again. This cataclysm released such energy that a blue sky was transfigured into a blinding white light of an intensity never before witnessed. To some, it seemed that hell itself had intersected with the earth that day. Fifty to seventy thousand people were instantly killed and countless other maimed and fatally injured. For more than six decades we have lived with the reality that humans have the capacity to destroy every life form God so lovingly created. This is an extreme, dramatic example of how we on earth can treat one another, how fearful we can become when we are threatened, how easily we can forget why we were created, despite what God desires and longs for us to become. It illustrates how easy it is for us to pervert the energies God has created.
***
Though the bombing of Hiroshima has been repeated only once (in Nagasaki), its memory keeps vividly alive the threat brought by the existence of such weapons. For a season we might forget, but its sobering reality is never far from home. Our world is now embroiled in the fear and frustration and agony attached to the intentions of Korea and Iran to develop the capability of employing nuclear weaponry. Israel is also paranoid that longer ranged missiles may be in the arsenal of Lebanon and may hit more parts of Israel these coming days of rocketing and counter bombardment.
Maybe there is nothing new about this. Maybe this is just one more example of a history-long tendency to misuse technology. Still, on this sixth day of August, 2006, the existence in our world of enough nuclear weapons to kill all humans many times over makes us wonder whether scientific development has reached a point whereby we can literally negate God’s purposes. Today’s Gospel, however, reminds us of a deeper reality — that God insists always on having the last word. The dazzling, blinding white light cast on the mountain declares that God insists on transfiguring hell into heaven. God will not let the hell of Hiroshima that we speak of be the last word. God will not let the selfishness and inhumanity of nuclear annihilation win out.
***
The power of God can transfigure the events of August 6, 1945 into a level of restraint in the way nations settle differences. Wearied and bewildered world leaders in our small global community are fully awakened by powers bigger than all of them and the people they represent. The power of humanity to destroy and dehumanize one another is ever before them.
People of faith know that lying beside the power to destroy is the power of God — a force that will rise in human consciousness, intersecting our human ways, and unleashing the dazzling white power of love that can transfigure us. The power of those who wield authority, to kill those who does not agree with them or critical of their excesses will be overcome by the power, glory and authority of that man who was transfigured in the mountain of our gospel reading.
***
As we remember August 6, 1945, always the image of the mushroom-shaped cloud comes to consciousness. But Christians who remember that August 6 is the Feast of the Transfiguration know, too, that another cloud overshadows the mushroom-shaped one. It is the cloud of the mountain from which the voice of God reminds us that Jesus is God’s chosen one to whom we must listen.
Let us pray.
O God, who on the holy mount revealed to the chosen witnesses your well-beloved Son, wonderfully transfigured, in raiment white and glistening: Mercifully grant that we, being delivered from the disquietude of this world, may by faith behold the King in his beauty; who with you, O Father, and you, O Holy Spirit, lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Collect, The Transfiguration)**
