2nd Corinthians 4.3-6; Mark 9.2-9
“Jesus in the image of the invisible God,” says the New Testament letter of Colossians. “In him, the fullness of God was pleased to dwell.” That theological observation about Jesus as the in-the-flesh presence of God for us goes hand-in-hand with today’s gospel reading telling of Jesus on the mountain, revealed in glory—‘transfigured’ is the word the Gospel of Mark uses. The voice from heaven confirms who Jesus is, “This is my Son, the beloved; listen to him.” The fullness of God was pleased to dwell in Jesus. And Peter, James, and John have the extraordinary experience of seeing this firsthand.
I admit to being a bit envious. Who wouldn’t want a moment like this in God’s presence. There’s nothing about my spiritual life as dramatic as this; you can let me know about yours. But you also know there are times when transformations do happen and you see things in a new light, when the veil of ordinary life is drawn back and you see something or someone in an extraordinary way: deeper, full of life and truth—more than the eye can see.
It happens in nature. Who among us hasn’t been astonished this last year by images from the Webb Telescope showing objects in space as they were billions of years ago, revealing galaxies in a new light, transforming the night sky into awe and wonder. Just then the words of Psalm 8 take on a new meaning. “When I consider the heavens, the moon and stars you have made, what are mortals that you are mindful of us, human beings that you care for us?” Or look in the other direction through a microscope at life within a single cell or the DNA strands that make us who we are. Psalm 139 then speaks in fresh ways about each of us as God’s work. “For you created my inmost parts, you knit me together in my mother’s womb.” In either case, telescope or microscope, a new depth to life in God is revealed.
That’s what happens for Peter, James, and John when Jesus is transfigured. They see Jesus for who he truly is. “Jesus in the image of the invisible God. In him, the fullness of God was pleased to dwell.” This deeper truth, this inner truth, of Jesus’s identity as the real presence of God’s very self is revealed to the outside world as the center of our life, of all life. “This is my Son, the beloved; listen to him!” No wonder Peter wants to make three dwellings—one for Jesus, one for Moses, and one for Elijah—and make the moment last. Who wouldn’t want to hold on to a moment of beauty when the world is transformed and you are caught up in something greater than yourself?
Yet as we hear in the gospel reading, the glory of God doesn’t stay on the mountain. All through scripture, the importance of mountain-tops is not only the experience itself, but what happens to God’s people through the experience, how people are changed and shaped to live down the mountain and in their daily lives. When God spoke to Moses on the mountain, “face-to-face as a person speaks to a friend,” all God’s people were called to live a life in response to that grace, a life that reflected God’s ways. ‘I brought you out from Egypt, out of slavery, gave you freedom. Live that way for the sake of others.’ God’s extraordinary revelation led to the people’s vocation in ordinary, daily life. When Elijah made his way up a mountain in a moment of despair, feeling like he’d worked his heart out for God with no result, nearly ready to give up, God spoke to Elijah in a still, small voice and assured Elijah that even when things looked grim, even in Elijah’s depression, God would continue to be with him and work through him. God’s revelation sustained Elijah’s vocation.
This transforming presence of God is for to us, too. When St Paul had his conversion experience, when the Risen Christ came to him in a flash of light and Paul looked into the face of Jesus, he discovered not only the glory of God around him but also the close personal presence of God for him. And this extraordinary vision, he says, is not for him only. In today’s second reading Paul says this same presence of God has come to us. “It is God who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” In Jesus, the veil of ordinary life is drawn back so that we can see in a new way: deeper, full of life and truth—more than the eye can see. God’s revelation leads to our vocation, life in God with Jesus at the center.
Today’s reading from 2nd Corinthians is part of a larger section where St Paul talks about how what we have seen in Jesus leads to how we live in the world. And he gives an image of what this life looks like. Just before today’s reading begins, Paul speaks of the glory of the Lord “reflected, as in a mirror.” Yet this mirror isn’t set directly in front of us so that we can look back at our own very fine self. The light that shines in the face of Jesus Christ is meant to reflect out from us to others. “We do not proclaim ourselves,” Paul says today. “We proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as servants for Jesus’ sake.” Christian spirituality and life, the Church’s mission and ministry, our ordinary and daily lives, are set up in the world as an angled mirror. We reflect God’s glory, love, and mercy into the world and we reflect back to God in prayer and praise all the joys, sorrows, and hopes of the world. Just as the main work of a mirror isn’t to be beautiful in itself but to reflect another beauty, Christian spirituality and the church’s life need not be extraordinary or remarkable in and of themselves. Rather, our life and ministry are an angled mirror for the word to see the reflection of another beauty, the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
Christian life and faith are not only about holding on to those rare and wonderful moments when you sense God’s presence in a profound and personal way. Though it is that. And to be fair, we could all use more stillness, more time in the presence of God’s transforming and transfiguring grace, especially when, like Elijah, we’re ready to give up. Who wouldn’t want to hold on to the moment when, in a unique and clear way, we see and know the fullness of God in Jesus for us? Yet the experience God’s revelation leads to our vocation. As we look at the beauty of Jesus, we see not only the glory of God for our life, but also the direction and guidance of God in and through our life, down the mountain and into the valley, even the Red River Valley. “We do not proclaim ourselves; we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as servants for Jesus’ sake.”
Set up as an angled mirror to reflect the glory of Jesus to people around us and the world back to God, there is also the biblical promise that we will be changed and made new. Paul says that very thing in the larger section around today’s second reading. “Beholding the glory of the Lord, we ourselves are being transfigured into the same image of Christ from one degree of glory to another.” We ourselves are being transfigured. What happened to Christ in his transfiguration is, in small measure, happening to us—God transforming us—so that others will get hints and glimpses of God’s glory and grace reflected out from us. We are transfigured by God’s mercy and grace, transformed by a beauty not our own, renewed in Jesus Christ.
The voice that spoke the Ten Commandments to Moses and the still, small voice that whispered to Elijah, now speaks of Jesus as the fullness of God, the center of our life, the center of all life. “This is my Son, the Beloved, listen to him!” And we do. God’s revelation shapes our vocation so that—if just for this morning before we’re back down to daily life—the veil of the ordinary is drawn back. And we are caught up in the steadfast love and radiance of God.
Write a comment: