Transfiguration

A Reflection on the Gospel for March 13th, 2022:
Second Sunday of Lent

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Luke
9.28b-36

Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white.

Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to Jesus. They appeared in glory and were speaking of his exodus, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.

Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep; but since they had stayed awake, they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him.

Just as they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah,” but Peter did not know what he said.

While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were terrified as they entered the cloud. Then from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!” When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone.

And the disciples kept silent and in those days told no one any of the things they had seen.
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“And while He was praying, the appearance of His face changed … Peter said to Jesus, ‘Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.’”


Mountain top experiences. Some occur, literally, on top of a mountain: the Ten Commandments, the Sermon on the Mount, and (the subject of this Sunday’s Gospel) the Transfiguration. Others happen elsewhere: in a quiet wood, in a birthing room, in a moment of profound forgiveness.


My mountain top experiences tend to parallel loosely the experience of the apostles in the Gospel of Luke. I am journeying with Jesus when, in an extraordinary moment of grace, I find myself on holy ground. A door in the mind opens, and I glimpse Jesus as He really is — a King, the Chosen One. I am overwhelmed with awe and such deep joy that my heart cries out, “It is good to be here! Let’s live in this moment forever!” Then, the moment evaporates, life returns to normal, and Jesus is as He was before.


Mountain top experiences are fleeting. They are just for visiting; we cannot build a house in them and live out our lives there, but we can allow them to work a permanent change in us. If we embrace what the mountain top offers us, we will come down a different person from who we were on the way up.


I believe with all my heart that what happens in these mountain top moments is not a transfiguration of Jesus but a transfiguration of us. Jesus was and is and ever shall be God. It is we who are changed, we who are made brilliant by a vision of God, we who experience a new way of seeing, we who feel the “Aha!” resounding in the depths of our soul.


After moments like these, we have a choice to make. We can allow ourselves to doubt and then forget the awe of the holy ground and the ringing in our soul, or we can dare to believe for the rest of our lives that the mountain top experience was Truth as we have never encountered it before and cling to it. Why choose the world, when we can choose Heaven?  




​Donna Davis
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