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Transfiguration.

Yeah.  What did you think I was going to talk about?  Wasn't the title totes clear enough?

It's time once again to talk about the other kind of trans, and that is transfiguration.  It only comes up once a year, right before lent, where we get to see Christ in his infinite majesty, with the veil of his humanity ever so coquettishly pulled aside (can't believe I just wrote that sentence).  You see, up on the mount of transfiguration, Jesus was transformed before the eyes of the disciples, his clothes becoming brilliantly white, his face shining like the sun, all that.  And there were Moses and Elijah with him, discussing the hot topic of the day.

The Transfiguration

²⁸ About eight days after Jesus said this, he took Peter, John and James with him and went up onto a mountain to pray. ²⁹ As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. ³⁰ Two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus. ³¹ They spoke about his departure,^[a] which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem. ³² Peter and his companions were very sleepy, but when they became fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him. ³³ As the men were leaving Jesus, Peter said to him, “Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” (He did not know what he was saying.)
³⁴ While he was speaking, a cloud appeared and covered them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. ³⁵ A voice came from the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him.” ³⁶ When the voice had spoken, they found that Jesus was alone. The disciples kept this to themselves and did not tell anyone at that time what they had seen.

Luke 9:28-36

 Ah, Peter.  Thank you for being the everyman in these situations.  We may feel a certain sense of attachment towards Peter, primarily because he is such a dope.  If you look at statues of Peter, on some he has the Keys, some he has an upside down cross, and on some he has a Rooster.  To signify the times that he denied Christ before the next day began. Peter's assessment of the situation is notable in being what we feel about the interaction between Jesus, Moses and Elijah.  He looks at what is happening on the mount of Transfiguration, and says that this is so great, and so neat, that they should stay up there for all time.

He looks at what is happening.

You see, we see Jesus all the time.  We see him in tortillas, we see him on toast, we see him in windows and in ads, we see him in water stains and in whorls of wood on the floor. We see him everywhere.  But what are we asked to do in the Bible vis-à-vis Jesus?  Or God? 

The funny thing about all this happening, is that Jesus is not only God in the flesh, he's not only the son of God, he's the word of God.  The word made flesh.  This is of such catastrophic importance that I can't possibly overstate it.  You see, the vital nature of Christ is that he should be heard. The whole notion of looking upon Jesus, of recognizing him in ads or stains, is ultimately flawed, because we don't know what he looked like... at all.  He could be a nice looking white guy with a beard and blue eyes, but he probably wasn't. He probably looked a whole lot more middle eastern.  But you know what?  It wouldn't matter anyway. 

People spend far too much time looking at Jesus, far too much observing him, looking at statues, looking at websites full of guys who 'look like Jesus', and so little time listening to him.  It's funny, because we have zero pictures of him, none.  Not a photograph, not a painting, not a sketch, not an oil painting, nothing like that.  We have no clear images of him whatsoever, but we do have a whole bunch of stuff that he said recorded. 

It's an amazing gift, to have the actual words of the word made flesh in our homes.  Do you have a Bible?  You almost certainly do, if you live in North America.  If you don't, you're one iphone app away from having one.  If you have a Bible, then you have the recorded words of Christ.  They may very well be in red.  Remember, he's the word made flesh, and knowing that he's got some important stuff to say.  Heck, even if you don't believe that he's the son of God, assume that he's got some important stuff to say, and it might be worth listening to.  Some of it is self evident.  Some of it less so.  But let's agree for a second that his words are important, and that he said what he said for a reason.

As the voice from the cloud said, this is my son, in whom I am well pleased.  Listen to him.

Strangely enough, happy lent.  No, scratch that.  A deep, meaningful, passionate lent.  Let it be a time of spiritual growth for you.

PJ.