Annually August 6
Daniel 7: 9-10, 13-14, 2 Peter 1: 16-19, Luke 9: 28-36
Today is the feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord. So we had two readings besides the Gospel and a Gloria and we’ll say the Creed in a few minutes. The feast today is all about who Jesus is. Each of the readings is emphasizing that Jesus is the Son of God or as it says in Daniel, the Son of Man. Jesus is the chosen one who literally makes God’s presence part of human history. That’s what we believe. God’s very self, we would say, the second person of the Trinity, became a human being and was revealed as such for all of humanity to know. The idea is to be big, bold and obvious about who Jesus is.
For some of us today, that might seem pretty obvious since all Christians believe that Jesus was God’s Son and is the person behind what being Catholic and Christian is all about. But I think it has become crucial to remember that it is a person who is the center of our faith. When 2nd Peter was written the author was warning his community that their faith was not based on “clever myths.” The prevailing religions of Romans and Greeks were elaborate stories of gods and goddesses written in their historical past. Today, we live in a society that is based on science and rational analysis. Ideas and theories are the key to intellectual integrity. That has resulted in people of faith trying to explain belief in God and religious practice in terms of concepts and outcomes. It means putting faith into contemporary terms, which is a good thing.
However, it can also mean that our faith can be reduced to simplistic concepts in an effort to get across the idea. Teenagers when asked, often say being a Catholic means, “being a good person.” The problem is that Christianity is not so much an idea as a trust in a person, actually the trust of a relationship. In other words, it is easy today to forget that faith is a relationship with Jesus, with God. Relationships are far more complicated and enriching that ideas and theories. It means remembering that being Catholic isn’t primarily a set of rules or a moral standard or a set of practices. Being Catholic is coming to know Jesus of Nazareth so we can be part of his life, which is why the Transfiguration is such a big deal. This part of the Gospel is telling us in no uncertain terms, “listen to him.” Why? Because “he is my chosen Son.” The transfiguration demonstrates to Peter, James and John and to us as well that Jesus is God present here and now for us. No long ago mythology, no theory of salvation nor concept of the divine but a live person who people talked to and who did things like heal the afflicted, fed the hungry and had meals with friends and enemies because to gather people together was to have a good time. Here on earth living with us was a person that Daniel understood would have the everlasting kingdom over all people for all time.
What’s crucial is that today while Jesus of Nazareth is no longer alive his Spirit is present and active with us every day. Our challenge is to come to accept that presence and trust in the possibilities of a divine friendship. Here we are with the same chance to be with God that Peter, James and John had and perhaps we have fallen asleep, as Luke said they did, right in the middle of the action. I suspect that the transfiguration was so beyond the human experience that the Apostles “didn’t know what they were saying” or what to do and certainly wouldn’t try to tell anyone since they probably didn’t understand what had happened until long after it was over.
We have the advantage of hindsight and a long tradition that helps us know that Jesus was and is God acting in human lives. The transfiguration should remind us who Jesus is and that our faith is above all a trusting relationship with him. My question is, have we gotten so tied up in the prayers we say each day, in the way we think about our Church, in the problems of religious leadership, in the issues around people’s behavior that we have forgotten to talk with our God, ask for God’s response to our concerns or simply sit in silence and be with the God who has tried so hard to tell us we are not alone?
