“[F]rom the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!”
[Image: Mike Moyers, Transfiguration, 2014]
August 6 is the Feast of the Transfiguration. It is one of three feast days in the Anglican tradition that are called Feasts of Our Lord and they take precedence over the usual observance when they fall on Sundays.
The Gospel reading comes from Luke. It is one of the three versions of this story found in the synoptic gospels including Mark and Matthew. Luke sets this encounter of Jesus and his disciples on a mountaintop with two revered figures of the Hebrew tradition, Moses, representing the Hebrew law and Elijah, representing the Hebrew prophetic tradition. There the Holy is revealed.
You should hear echoes of Moses’ encounter with YHWH on Mt. Sinai from the lesson from Exodus in the lectionary. No doubt that is the scriptural inkwell into which all these gospel writers have dipped their stylus to write this story.
[Image: Russian icon, date and writer unknown]
Revelations, the Shadow and Mountaintop Experiences
There are several elements to the story. First there is the context – a mountain. Second, the changes in Jesus’ appearance lets us know this is an encounter with the Holy. Third, representatives of Hebrew tradition, Moses and Elijah appear. Fourth, the disciples respond to this gathering by offering to create a temple on the spot to worship the holy ones gathered there. Finally, a voice from heaven speaks saying “This is my Son, my Chosen. Listen to him.” Suddenly the luminary Hebrew saints are gone and soon thereafter Jesus and crew are headed down the mountain with Jesus giving them strict orders NOT to tell anyone about this encounter.
[Image: Elandain (Jonathan Mayers) “Unto which of the angels” (2009)]
We call this story the Transfiguration because Jesus’ appearance changes during its course becoming almost unrecognizable. But transfiguration ultimately means that the one who is transfigured has actually been revealed to us. They have temporarily dropped the mask, what Carl Jung called the persona, that all human beings ordinarily wear, masks by which we make sense of who we really are and how we fit into the lives of others. My Franciscan professor often said, “Jesus was the revealer of G_d. He became so attuned to the will of his Father, he became transparent and the G-d in him shone forth.” This is what we see in the Gospel reading.
It is our tendency to associate this notion of transfiguration with the more common word we use, transformation. And they are related but they are not the same thing.
Transfiguration is step one. Something, someone is revealed to us in ways we have not previously seen them. Step two is the transformation. As a result of what has been revealed, we who have witnessed this transfiguration find our lives have changed. And while we may choose not to respond to this encounter, telling ourselves this was just an anomaly or coincidence, most of us find it impossible to explain away and repress what we have witnessed. And as a result, our lives change.
[Image: Alexander Ainetdinov, Icon of Transfiguration (2009)]
It’s interesting to note how the disciples respond to this transfiguration of their master. First of all, this is occurring on a mountain. That’s no coincidence. Abraham Maslow is known for his discussion of mountaintop experiences. These kind of encounters tend to overwhelm us with a vision much larger than the one we ordinarily operate out of. As a result, most of us want to stay on the mountain. We don’t want that which is larger than our mundane lives to end. We are simply blown away.
We see that in the disciples. They want to build a temple to worship Jesus, Moses and Elijah. Presumably, they foresee themselves as staying up on the mountain, doing nothing but worshiping the Holy that has been revealed to them. They don’t want to come down from the mountain.
But G-d has other ideas. Out of the clouds a voice can be heard: “This is my Son, my Chosen.” We’ve heard those words before. These are the words that Jesus heard as he emerged from the waters of the Jordan River after his baptism. That day it was Jesus who encountered a revelation of who he truly was and what he was called to do, a life changing moment that would overwhelm him, driving him into the desert to reflect on a calling that would end in crucifixion.
In today’s reading the revelation is to those around Jesus. They are astounded at what has happened in front of them. And their response is quite understandable. Let’s stay here and worship Jesus and company the rest of our lives. But, G_d has other ideas. “This is my Son, my Chosen.” OK. But now, the important part: “Listen to him.” And what Jesus tells them is that they must keep silence about what they’ve just witnessed, descend from the mountain and rejoin their nomadic mission which will eventually end in the death of their beloved Lord in Jerusalem. That’s not something they want to hear. But it is what G-d is calling them to hear and respond to.
When Transfigurations Prove Unsettling
Transfigurations happen all of the time, events occur that reveal who we are as individuals and as a people. They change our perceptions about that which we thought we knew. They overpower us with an experience that takes us out of our daily lives, if just temporarily, allowing us to return to them with new understandings. But, more importantly, they often bear a message that merits our serious attention.
Not all revelations resulting from transfigurations are positive. We do not always like the image of ourselves that is revealed when the personae, the masks we prefer to show the world, are dropped. It’s not something we want to confront. But as Luke’s Gospel tells us, it is what G-d is calling us to hear and respond to.
On August 6, 1985, I visited Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. There was a multi-lingual service in the crossing of the Cathedral at noon followed by a mass to commemorate the Feast of the Transfiguration in one of the chapels which ring the apse. My spoken French is minimal but I am pretty fluent in Eucharist. And so we attended the mass, a wonderful opportunity to worship in that magnificent space.
When we stepped out the front doors onto Cathedral Square, our eyes still accustomed to the darkness of the Cathedral, we struggled to see in the bright light of afternoon. But the light gradient was not the only change our eyes struggled with. The Square outside had been transfigured. Across the paving stones were a series of outlines of human bodies made with chalk representing those who had been vaporized in a transfiguration event in Hiroshima a mere four decades previously, the detonation of the world’s first atomic bomb.
That was not the only transfiguration that would greet us. Across the Square in a newsstand, the afternoon paper had been placed in the window of the small structure. From the front page the headlines screamed, “Rock Hudson has AIDS.” A photo of Hudson, who had come to Paris desperate for treatment to save his life from this new, deadly illness, appeared. The gaunt image that peered back at us was almost unrecognizable from the paragon of Hollywood masculinity we had idolized for so many years. And yet, it demanded that we look at this transfigured idol. And learn from it.
With the transfiguration of Hiroshima, our world was transformed in 1945 by the birth of the nuclear age. The last of our innocence as a species was suddenly snatched away by a demonstration of humanity’s power to destroy itself. Within years, school children like myself would be taught to duck and cover, trembling in fear as we prayed that atomic bombs much greater than those used to destroy Japanese cities would not transfigure the world we knew in a dazzling white light that shone like the sun.
Our world was also transformed in 1981 with the arrival of a pandemic that would attack humanity at its most vulnerable level, the intimate connections we make with one another. The capacity to marshal humanity’s innumerable resources to determine the nature of this deadly illness and treat it should have driven our response. But we had chosen to ignore it until we could no longer do so. We also chose to demonize its victims. Where compassion was clearly demanded for the suffering, our religious and political leaders more often added insult to injury, engaging in homophobic tirades from pulpits and political rallies. Sadly, many of the recent responses to the COVID and Monkeypox pandemics reveal that we learned very little from that pestilence.
Transfiguration experiences are wake up calls. They demand that we see our lives and our world differently, to learn something new. It is instructive that the voice of G-d says to the disciples on the mountaintop with Jesus, “Listen to him.” Every transfiguration is an opportunity to grow as human beings, individually and collectively. An opportunity to transform our lives. The Way of Jesus is exactly that – a way to transform our lives and the life of the world around us. The question is never whether we can, it is always whether we will.
Questions to Consider
Jesus was known for speaking in parables that raised questions while avoiding providing easy answers. So, I would leave you today with some questions to consider, like Jesus, confident in your abilities to find the answers that make sense to you.
First, what have been the moments of transfiguration in your life, moments when the world you knew suddenly changed? How did it transform your life? Where was G-d in that process? And how did you respond?
Second, it is our tendency to want to remain on the mountaintop, worshipping, even as the Holy One is telling us it is time to go home and live in new ways. But the Way of Jesus is never easy to discern and sometimes even harder to engage. So what is the Holy revealing in your life today? And how will you respond?
Finally, massive transfiguration events such as Hiroshima and the AIDS crisis unmask much about us as human beings that we often don’t want to own. But they also offer us the opportunity to learn from our mistakes and engage our world differently. We live in a time when the world in which we live is undergoing radical transfiguration from the ravages of anthropogenic climate change and the resulting waves of refugees driven from their homes that it has generated. What is G-d calling us to see and hear at this time in our lives together? And how will we respond?
I close with a prayer from the Reconciling Congregations Program of the United Methodist Church. Let us pray.
Radiant God, source of light, you surrounded Jesus with your glory; come to us in penetrating brightness. We choose the limelight while you call us to explore the shadows and brighten the darkness. We seek the spectacular while you bind up the broken in countless acts of mercy. We want to stay on the mountain or in a comfortable pew while you walk through the valleys of suffering and need. Radiant God, fill us with light and courage to be good news in all the corners of the world revealing the joy of your presence. AMEN.
[Sermon preached on the Feast of the Transfiguration, August 6, 2023, St. John’s Episcopal Church, Saugus, MA]
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Harry Scott Coverston
Orlando, Florida
If the unexamined life is not worth living, surely an unexamined belief system, be it religious or political, is not worth holding. Most things worth considering do not come in sound bites.
Those who believe religion and politics aren't connected don't understand either. – Mahatma Gandhi
For what does G-d require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your G-d? - Micah 6:8, Hebrew Scriptures
Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world's grief. Do justly, now. Love mercy, now. Walk humbly now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it. - Rabbi Rami Shapiro, Wisdom of the Jewish Sages (1993)
© Harry Coverston, 2023
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