At the end of the Epiphany season we come to the Transfiguration. This is the event that changed Christ's course as he starts towards Jerusalem and the cross. It comes in our liturgical year just prior to Lent as we too move towards the events of Easter and the Cross. Christ is transfigured, not transformed and not changed as in a metamorphosis. His appearance reflects the presence on God in his own self. We too strive towards transfiguration so that we too like Moses and Christ may be transfigured to show the light of God's love shining from our own personas. So what is so special that we celebrate this and how do we normally react to such a development in our lives?
Our response is perhaps the easiest to detail as it is the response that the disciples give. It is the response that leaves us relying on what we have always done. The disciples only know one thing that is their response to anything that appears to be holy. Build a shrine and worship at the place were the miracle happened (Mark 9:5). This is our response even today, we fall back on what we know rather than embracing the change that transfiguration brings to our lives. A number of people have said on a numerous occasions that if we continue to do what we did in the past we will not gain or move any further but just repeat the mistakes of the past. There must be something that can be done to move us beyond our paucity of insight and inability to move into a new future brought about by the cross. In a manner of speaking the transfiguration that we celebrate today is as much of a crossroads and decision point for us as is the cross. It is at this point that Christ turns towards the cross and for us it is at this point that we turn towards the future.
We cannot rely on our past as Christ calls us into the future. It is at the point of the transfiguration that Christ turns to the future. He accepts the path and is acknowledged by God, no matter how painful this journey is it is our decision to make. Christ has taken this road. We are called to celebrate this turn towards the unknown, the probable pain and all that may come but we are also acknowledged by God in the moment of accepting the call. The moment of transfiguration is the moment Christ takes up the move towards the cross and is the moment prior, in our lives, to Lent and our journey towards the cross. It is decision point for us as we move towards Easter. It is the moment we are asked to listen to Christ.
Our decision is the same that Christ faced. Do we move in accordance with God's purposes or do we turn away from the hard journey into the future? Christ at the transfiguration turns to the prophets to find the answer. He knew the Scriptures and turned to Moses and Elijah, two figures from the past who have no record of their burial but rather an ascension. Here in the Christ's transfiguration these two prophets from of old figure prominently. It is their faithfulness to God that is the inspiration for Christ's move towards the cross. It is following their appearance that God announces his pleasure. Pleasure of the Christ's adherence to God's plan and God's wishes. The disciples on the other hand turn away from the journey. They remain rooted in the past and cannot see beyond that which they know; they cannot grasp the way forward as all they can see is pain and uncertainty.
In examining our own faith journey in the coming days of Lent we face the same question. Do we look forward to the cross and the burden of the future relying on God's presence in our lives to lead us into a newness of life that is beyond anything we know? or do we rely on the past and repeat those things that we always do expecting different results? It is a perennial question as we celebrate the decision Christ makes. Too often we respond with the past and have no wish to face the realities of the future.
No comments:
Post a Comment