Faith Matters: Day of Transfiguration
This week, many in the Christian faith will be celebrating the day of Transfiguration. And while many will be commemorating this day, many who have arrived to worship that day online or in a pew may not have thought, “How great! It’s Transfiguration Sunday!” the way we might hear some talk about Easter, Pentecost, or All Saints Sunday. It is a day that the church has been celebrating for centuries and still many of us don’t quite know what to do with it, how to feel about it, or even what it is - pastors included.
It is a day when we hear that Jesus, Peter, James and John ascend a mountain and when they reach the top, Jesus is “transfigured”. His form changes and his clothes become bright white. In some accounts, he himself begins to shine as well. Elijah and Moses appear there too and the three of them talk while the disciples watch on in bewilderment. In trying to make sense of what he is seeing, Peter suggests making three dwellings or booths for the prophets and for Jesus. It is a tradition he is familiar with in the Jewish Festival of Tabernacles. It is also a way to signify and honor the presence of God with the people of Israel. Peter was seeing something new and different and shocking and, in trying to make sense of it, offers up the closest thing he could think of. As many of us do when we are scared and unsure, we look for clear and direct answers.
It turns out to not be what Jesus needed at that moment though, because what we learn from Transfiguration is that God is doing something new, in a new way, in a way we haven’t yet thought of, as God has been doing from the beginning of time. In Christ, God is fulfilling promises of transformative love made long before they ascended this mountain. In Christ, God is inviting those of us who believe in him to be transformed as well.
On this day, we commemorate the physical transfiguration of Jesus that was a sign pointing to the overwhelmingly transformative power of Christ. This day is in invitation into mystery and a reminder that it is ok that we don’t know the answers. In a moment of anxiety and fear as Peter tries to make sense of what he is seeing, God descends in clouds and speaks to the disciples, “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him.” God speaks directly to these disciples to reassure them and remind them that in Jesus, God is doing something new. In following Jesus, in living a life of service, in striving to heal and feed and comfort those with whom they share the world, the disciples, and those of us who have inherited this tradition, are invited to be transfigured and transformed as well. Those of us who are Christian are being invited to not always have the answers, but to respond with love anyway. Those of us for whom Jesus is our Word, everyday we arise, we are being invited into something new, into a different way of being. Transfiguration is another chance in the church year to remember that the anxiety of the world, earthly powers, and social structures, do not have to have authority over our lives. God is doing a new thing. There is another way to live out our lives, and today we are reminded that it’s ok to not get it. Instead, embrace the divine mystery and see how you might be transformed.
Pastor Sharayah Robinson Kathryn - NomeFingal Joint Lutheran Parishes, Messiah Lutheran, St. Paul’s Lutheran, St. Petri Lutheran and Waldheim Lutheran Churches