Transfiguration
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Then from the cloud came a voice that said, ‘This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!’ -Luke 9:25
Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white. And suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him.
This was quite a vision that Peter, John and James had! Jesus, glowing like the sun, speaking with Moses and Elijah, the two foundational prophets who had died long ago. It was so awesome and out of the ordinary, that the three of them don’t really know what to do with themselves. Peter manages to stumble out a few words - um, Jesus, ah, maybe we should, ya’know, um, make three structures here - one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah! Luke mentions here that Peter didn’t really know what he was saying.
Have you ever been so bowled over by something that you didn’t know what to say? Didn’t know what to think? Peter seems always to have been ready with something to say in just about every situation. This time, though, he finds himself babbling the first thing that comes to mind - let’s build something here so that we always remember what happened! Let’s make a dwelling where your spirits can live and we can always come back and access and remember and worship this unbelievable experience! That’s how it is with us humans. We want to box things up and make them ours.
That’s when God intervenes. From the cloud came a voice that said, "This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!"
There is a word for creating something ourselves that we will treat as holy and worship. It’s an idol. God won’t have these three disciples building any idol monuments. Don’t you start making your plans to put Christ in a box. This. is. my. Son. Listen to HIM. Just him.
When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and in those days told no one any of the things they had seen. Even Peter had no words for what had happened. An experience of God is beyond words. It is more than we can grasp. Certainly nothing we can put in a box.
Our lives are shaped every day by familiar people, activities, objects, buildings, books. Our days are punctuated by the rising of the sun and its setting, and the seasons by the generally predictable changes in the weather. There is a lot about our lives that is assuring and somewhat predictable.
Following Jesus is not one of those things. Sure, we’ve made it a habit to come together once a week for Sunday worship. Sure, we have our daily prayer practices. But those things, as special as they are to us, are not the living Word. Even wonderful things we put into our lives are not God. They may help orient us toward God, the infinite mystery. But they are not God. Peter, James and John got an other-worldly taste of this on the mountain with Jesus that day.
There are many things we can listen to in this world, within us and around us. To live in Christ’s light, though, we need to listen to him.
