A Season of Transformation
During Lent we pray, fast, and give of our gifts in order to turn our hearts more fully toward God, to experience a conversion, to be changed. But in this week's Gospel it is Jesus who is doing the changing, at least visually. In the story of the Transfiguration Peter, James, and John went up a tall mountain and experienced Jesus transformed in the presence of Moses and Elijah. They saw him in his radiant divinity and heard a voice from a cloud proclaiming that Jesus was his beloved son with whom he was pleased and instructing the three disciples to listen to him. Needless to say they were afraid and fell face down.
This made me think about times in my life when I have been afraid, unable to look up, to do the next right thing; afraid of what God might be calling me to do or how God might be wanting me to change. We all know that change can be hard and scary, but change is also necessary for growth. Though I have heard and read this story many times, there is a line that struck me differently when I read it on Wednesday:
"But Jesus came and touched them saying, 'Rise, and do not be afraid.' And when the disciples raised their eyes they saw no one else but Jesus alone."
I guess I had always thought that this just meant that the three no longer saw Moses and Elijah, but it occurred to me that, perhaps, after this experience, Peter, James and John were ALSO changed. Maybe now they more fully understood that they need to look to Jesus and listen to him, alone, to understand what life was truly about.
And so to for us, when we are afraid or confused or stuck in patterns, we need only to raise our eyes and look to Jesus alone. WE can be transformed and transfigured by letting go of our fears and self-centeredness and what the world tells us we need for a fulfilling life, by looking to the one who has the lasting and true words of life... Jesus alone.