Peter is terrified (maybe better, overwhelmed) at meeting the reality of God in dialogue with his history. Understandably, he wants to domesticate the experience – to preserve it physically, stay where he is, and pickle the memory forever.
God, however, isn’t going to let him get away with that. While we are called to treasure
the memories of our encounters with God, we can’t hide in the structures we build to contain them. God also won’t let us exchange merely human structures for the reality of encounter. Once the experience of God becomes frozen and static, it stops being an experience of God and becomes a human substitute. The whole point of Jesus meeting up with our history is to transform it, to make it ever new and ever-present.
The memory of
Jesus’ transfiguration and encounter with our past and present will be preserved (in the Gospel). Still, it is a memory that shows God as wonder – to be encountered afresh, repeatedly, on the mountaintop but more in our daily lives. These ever-growing temples are the true structures we build for Jesus, Moses and Elijah.
Walk through the building of your life. What are its foundations, and what are its walls? Is it a place of
airiness, of light or life? Does it glorify God, or could it use a lick of paint and a bit of reinforcement here and there? What are your renovation plans this Lent?
Reflections by Fr Justin Glyn
SJ
