Embraced by Lent: A New Look at Life — Transfiguration, Wow!

(Click here for complete readings. Audio option. Courtesy, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.)

 

We’ve all seen them, perhaps in passing or for some it’s an ongoing love affair. I speak about the craze in television programs such as “The Biggest Loser,” “Extreme Makeover” (there are two versions, one dealing with humans and the other with homes). We are fascinated with such titles as “Pimp My Ride,” “Trick My Truck,” and “What Not to Wear.” Marketing strategies tell us that we’ll never be truly happy unless we wear the right clothes, drive the right cars, live in the best neighborhoods, and have the best of everything. Is this the direction we really want for ourselves and those we love?

 

“Jesus took Peter, James, and John and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves. And he was transfigured before them … then a cloud came, and casting a shadow over them; from the cloud came a voice, “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.” (Mark 9:2, 7)

 

Who was this extreme makeover, this transfiguration, really meant for? Jesus? The three disciples? Us? Perhaps the answer is all of the above.

 

As Jesus began his public ministry he certainly must have had moments of doubt, maybe not so much in what he was trying to instill in his listeners, but perhaps a sort of confusion and even disappointment that many of those who listened to him just didn’t get it. And even his closest disciples where among those who sometimes appeared not to “get it.” Perhaps the words that issued forth from the cloud were an affirmation, a shot in the arm, if you will, to let Jesus know that indeed, he was beloved by God.

 

The response of the disciples was to build three tents and stay there basking in the comfort and security of that place on Mount Tabor. Mark tells us that Peter “did not know what he was saying.”(Mark 9:6) Ah, perhaps on the other hand, he did. Peter knew, or at least suspected, what would await them when they went back down the mountain. I think I would have chosen the security of that mountaintop. What about you?

 

This story of the Transfiguration is a story that is filled with hope, not only for the disciples who would walk those final days with Jesus, but also for us, twenty centuries removed from the events of that day.

 

We too participate in the transfiguring moment. By our baptism, we too have been called into a relationship in which our loving God says to each one of us, “You are by beloved son, my beloved daughter.” This IS transformation at its best. That in spite of ourselves, in spite of the brokenness in each of our lives, we are called, invited into an intimate and personal relationship with God and with one another. Now talk about a reality show!