Jesus took with him Peter, James and John up to the mountain to pray, we are told. He would later take that same three to the Mount of Olives and to the gates of Gethsemane on the night before he died. Today's gospel is seen as a preparation for the dark future, a strengthening of the disciples so that they might endure the ordeal that lay ahead. As our Preface today puts it: "He had already prepared them for his approaching death. ...He wanted to teach them that the promised Christ had first to suffer and so come to the glory of his resurrection." While the incident did not have the desired effect (all three either fell asleep or ran away when the crisis came), it did confirmed the three Apostles in this conviction: in the person of Jesus, they were dealing with a reality that, while human, had an added dimension. On that hill this divine dimension broke through. They were dealing here, not merely with a social reformer or a political visionary; they were dealing with a man who had a unique relationship with God, a relationship which led him to call God his father and for God the Father to verify in public that this was indeed his beloved Son. The intensity of that relation was obvious to all on the mountain.
For the three friends, it was a heady and thrilling experience, so thrilling that they wanted to remain on there forever. "Let us make three tents," said Peter, "one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah." But Jesus rejects this option emphatically. Peter was following his human instincts, and indeed all our human instincts. When we undergo an experience of intense joy, we want it to last forever. We want to see that horse first past the post again and again. Or we could sit in the Hogan Stand forever watching Galway winning the All Ireland. That is the human instinct: to hold on to the high. But that is not how life is. But as Mark states explicitly in today’s gospel: "Peter did not know what he was saying." Peter was carried away by the whole experience. It had lifted him out of reality. While this spiritual, prayerful dimension is at the core of Christianity, it is not the whole story. Jesus came to save the whole human race, not just a privileged elite gathered on a mountaintop. Throughout the gospels, Jesus insists on the universality of his message. His truth will not be contained and confined by any one individual, nation, culture, Church or religion. The good news is intended for all, as much for those with their feet on the ground as for those with their heads in the clouds.
So, on the insistence of Jesus, the three disciples are forced to accompany him back to reality. He leads them down from the clouds, literally. The intense love between Father and Son witnessed on the mountaintop has consequences in everyday life. The adopted children of God, the brothers and sisters of Jesus, must now translate that divine dream into human reality. Strange and painful thing will be expected of us: like forgiving our enemies and even praying for them, offering hospitality to strangers, turning the other cheek to our assailants, giving away our cloak to the man who has none, visiting the sick, visiting those in prison, and so on. This is where the joy of the mountaintop fades into the background and the shadow of the Cross intrudes. Martin Luther said famously that no man was ever transformed by a sunset. It is only through rising to the challenge of the cross as we meet it daily that we are gradually changed.
While the transfiguration was an extraordinary event, it wasn't an isolated incident. It was entirely consistent with the way Jesus lived out his life and worked with the people. From the very beginning he outlined his aims: to make the deaf hear, the dumb speak and the lame walk, to set captive free. Every day of his life, he worked hard to bring about those stated ideals. He touched people deeply and transfigured them. Change in ourselves and others comes about through doing, through acting out his message in our lives. Through living his message we are being gradually transfigured. We are sustained by the hope that, when we see him face to face, we will be transfigured gloriously, because we will become like him. But, in the meantime, we must continue to translate his divine dream into human reality.
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