The Gospel account of the Transfiguration is not the easiest of accounts to reconcile to modern life. On its face value the story is presented like a Greek myth, which automatically denies it a relevance today. However, the story is not that Jesus shone on a mountaintop - it is that the three apostles present suddenly realised who Jesus was.
The Transfiguration marks that point where Peter, James and John understood more fully who the man they were following was. They found themselves in a position where they realised that this man was more profound and important than they had ever realised before. Standing between Moses the Lawgiver and Elijah the Prophet these three hopeful Jews saw in Jesus the Christ that they, and all Israel, were waiting for. The Transfiguration is therefore a magnificent account of a triumph in human insight - the dawning realisation that they were in the presence of something more wonderful than they had ever imagined. As such, the Transfiguration gives us many things to reflect upon in our own time.
Every time we meet another person we discover something about them that we did not know before. Our encounters can range from meeting a charismatic character who later proves to be as deep as a puddle on a hill, to meeting the late, unassuming Basil Hume who was rather deeper than his initial appearance proclaimed. In every meeting we learn more and more about the person we are with. As we relate to that person we often reach a moment of transfiguration where we realise who the person is and we are either liberated or enthralled. Freed or enslaved, the moment of transfiguration always marks a positive step forward in our relationship to and our understanding of another person. The result of transfiguration is that we either divest ourselves of a tedious burden or gain a worthwhile friend, supporter or hero.
Quite often, we must venture outside our personal encounters to find people who represent what we believe in. The myriad publications that pry into the lives of the rich and famous are living proof of our interest in having heroes (and villains) among us to emulate and discuss. Our heroes give us something to believe in, something to hope for and somebody to love - in short, they fill the roles of the traditional religious values of faith, hope and charity. But these values are as fragile as a newborn child. Any rupture in the myth we create around these people can drive us over that fine line that separates loving them from hating them. The errant hero is rarely forgiven. Heroes are more often contrived than they occur, few of our heroes will ever stand the 2000-year test that Jesus of Nazareth has stood. The Transfiguration invites us to re-evaluate the place that Jesus occupies in each of our lives. Is he a hero with something to offer or can we find better elsewhere?
As we approach Easter there is another facet of the Transfiguration to consider. Leonard Cohen said: "There is a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in". There is a crack in everything, that is true, but the crack can be more than the crack that lets light in. Sometimes it lets that which is flawed in a person be exposed and sometimes it can let jealousy enter. The Transfiguration invites and challenges us to repair the destructive practices we have developed in the way we regard people who are trying their best. Should we be looking for the positive in people or should we spend our days seeking out their Achilles tendons? Do we not often invent their heroism to suit ourselves and then discard them when we are finished? If we were in the place of the apostles would we be delighting in the treasure we had found or would we be seeking the hiccup in his relationship to Mary Magdalene whereby we could destroy him?
When we attempt to understand how a hero like Jesus could end up crucified all we have to do is look at the way we treat our heroes now and we just might understand. The Jews of the first century were no worse than we are today. Is there some horrid part of human nature that delights in destroying the paragons we need? Successive generations have failed to dismantle the status that Jesus earned. His Transfiguration should challenge us to put an end to modern crucifixion and restore faith, hope and charity in the heroes we need today. Modern heroes might not be Jesus, but we need them and they still have a lot to offer.
FMacE