This week for our reflections, we are gifted with the narrative of the Transfiguration. The account is multi-layered. It is not
only a revelation and confirmation of the identity of Jesus as the Son of God but also a revelation of who we are intended to become.
Let’s start our week’s reflections with the experience of Jesus. He takes his inner
circle of disciples up a high mountain. According to the Gospel of Matthew, the mountain is an important place to encounter God. We remember significant meetings with God on mountains in the Old Testament.
At the top
of the mountain, the appearance of Jesus changes. His clothing becomes white, and his face shines with radiance. This moment evokes the image of Moses descending Mount Sinai with a shining face and the white robes of the righteous, found in the book of Revelation.
Moses and Elijah appear and speak with Jesus. Both had encountered God on the mountain of Sinai/Horeb and suffered while trying to bring God’s word to the people, as did Jesus. Their presence at this moment represents the continuity of God’s love and God’s promises. The fact that they are present reminds us that God has been faithful all along. God will continue to be faithful in the
future.
At this moment, Jesus is gifted with an experience of confirmation and assurance of his identity. He heard the same words of the Father affirming him at the Baptism when he started his mission. Now he hears them in an
experience which is a foretaste of the resurrection.
It is easy to forget that in his human life, when “the divinity was hidden”, Jesus would have struggled at times just as we do. He is now at the height of his public ministry,
preaching, teaching and healing. Peter has recently affirmed that he is the Messiah, the Son of God, and those closest to him are beginning to sense who he is. And yet, humanly speaking, how could he not struggle with self-doubt at times? Is he really the Messiah, the Son of God, or is he imagining it?
As he moves towards a time when resistance to his message of love will lead to passion and crucifixion, God graces him with the experience of his divinity shining through. And there are three of his closest companions who witness this moment and who hear these words.
I wonder what the experience was like for Jesus. On one level, we cannot begin to imagine. But surely it must have been an experience of wholeness, clarity and peace, unlike he had ever experienced. Union with the Father in both his divinity and his humanity. An experience that he surely drew on to sustain him
in the days of his passion.
Have a conversation with Jesus about his experience of the Transfiguration. What did that moment mean for him?
When in your own life do you struggle with self-doubt and long for a moment of clear assurance from God? Have there been times when God has assured you?
Reflections by Annemarie Paulin-Campbell
