Feast of the
Transfiguration of the Lord
(Daniel 7:9-10.13-14; II Peter 1:16-19; Matthew 17:1-9)
Some people may feel confused about Christopher
Columbus. As little children, they were
taught that he was a hero bravely sailing into the unknown for the purpose of
discovery. But as the 500th
anniversary of his historic voyage approached, they were told that their
history lessons were a whitewash and that in truth he was a marauder and even a
fool thinking he reached China. Recently
a historian from Stanford University studied the pertinent documents of the
times and Columbus’ personal papers. She
gives objective testimony that he was indeed a great man with sensitivity
toward the people he encountered in his journeys. The Transfiguration provides similar
testimony for, at least, Peter, James, and John who had been puzzled about
Jesus.
Although Peter has already acknowledged Jesus as the
Messiah and Son of God, neither he nor the others had a proper concept of what
the terms mean. Peter in fact was
unwilling to accept that being God’s anointed entails undergoing suffering and
rejection for the sake of the people. With
the Transfiguration on the mountain the three disciples receive more insight
into Jesus’ divine mission. Peter’s
desire to build three booths is not a wild gesture, but an understanding that
the Messiah has indeed arrived as it was understood that the people would live
in tents upon his coming as they had done during the forty year sojourn in
Sinai. True the three descend the
mountain wondering what Jesus means by saying that he will rise from the dead,
but they no longer refute him when he speaks of dying.
Living in a secular age we sometimes feel the ground of our
faith swerving beneath us. Yet there are
moments in all of our lives when we feel the solidity of our beliefs like
mountain boulders. These are
Transfiguration experiences, and we must hold on to them and indeed tell others
about them. They will assist us in being
faithful to the Lord who gave himself entirely for our salvation.
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