"You are the place where the gift is given, you are the place where the Light shines through, You are the place where the gift is given, I honour you. Ishq Allah Ma'bud Allah, Ishq Allah, Ishq Allah Ma'bud Allah, Ishq Allah." Sufi song
"Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. Then Peter said to Jesus, ‘Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three dwellings here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.’ While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud a voice said, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!’ When the disciples heard this, they fell to the ground and were overcome by fear. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, ‘Get up and do not be afraid.’ And when they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus himself alone. And as they were coming down the mountain, Jesus commanded them, “Tell no one the vision, until the Son of Man is raised from the dead."" Matthew 17:1-9
The Lutheran minister Nadia Bolz Weber, in a sermon about the transfiguration, wrote, “I want to be a people who are re-enchanted. Not ignorant. Not gullible. Not superstitious. But re-enchanted. I want some magic, don't you?” This is how the transfiguration story speaks to me too – it is a call to become re-enchanted with life.
I don't want to spoil the magic of the transfiguration story by pulling it apart too much, but perhaps it would be helpful to begin to give it a little bit of context, to explain some of the biblical symbolism it contains:
In the scriptures mountaintops are places where men commune with God. Incidentally, I note that, in the Bible, when God wants to speak to women, He comes to them where they are, but men, they have to go up a mountain! But perhaps that's a sermon for another day... Moses receives the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai and encounters the burning bush on Mount Horeb. Jesus' radiant face has a parallel in the story of Moses. In Exodus (34:29) we hear, “Moses came down from Mount Sinai. As he came down from the mountain with the two tablets of the covenant in his hand, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God.”
In the transfiguration story, Jesus is joined on the mountain by Moses and Elijah – the gospel writers are showing that Jesus is the fulfilment of the law (represented by Moses) and the prophets (represented by Elijah). The holy cloud is the sign of the presence of God in the Hebrew scriptures. The words the disciples hear from the cloud echo those spoken by God at Jesus' baptism, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:17) Now He adds, “Listen to him.”
Since the gospel writers recorded this story, Christian commentators through the centuries have added their own layers of interpretation – a common one has been to see the transfiguration as confirmation of Jesus' divinity. So I was pleasantly surprised to read this by Roman Catholic priest, Fr Alban McCoy, “By far the most common misunderstanding is to see the Transfiguration as a revelation of Jesus' divinity... the Transfiguration is … not divinity concealed by humanity, but divinity revealed in his and our humanity... It shows us the glory for which we were created and the way to that glory … being fully human, as He was, and accepting the consequences, as He did, is the only way to come alive, to come fully alive.”
The spiritual journey is all about being fully human and coming fully alive, all about following our hearts, wherever the fullness of our human experience leads us. Richard Rohr describes the disciples' transfiguration experience as a mini spiritual journey, in which they start by being afraid and confused, and then become fully focused on Jesus. But then, writes Rohr, “Jesus leads them down the mountain, back into the ordinary world to continue his labour of love, healing and non-violent protest against Empire. We can't stay on the mountaintop forever... we have to walk down the mountaintop into the ordinary world, on the path of love.”
For me, the transfiguration is primarily a record of a mystical experience – a glimpse into eternity and the true nature of things. These experiences are highly personal, and cannot be easily explained to others. Jesus tells the witnesses not to tell anyone about their experience. Religious experience has to be experienced first-hand, hearing about it from someone else is not the same. There are as many ways to experience the divine as there are human beings. And yet, we are all experiencing the same thing, in our different ways, we are all experiencing ONENESS.
“There is one Truth that shines through all of creation. Rivers and mountains, plants and animals, the sun, the moon and the stars, you and I—all are expressions of this one Reality. Many who have realised this truth through their own experience have walked on this earth, and many are yet to come,” said the Indian spiritual teacher Mātā Amrit-ananda-mayī Devi.
Those who have realised this truth are sometimes known as prophets – a prophet being not someone who sees the future, but someone who sees deeply into the present. We are all potential prophets – with the ability to see deeply into the present and discern the eternal truths abiding there.
In the transfiguration, God's presence is revealed in the human face of Jesus. This presence is of course always there – in Jesus, in the disciples, in all of us. We are all fully human and fully divine, but we do not always recognise that truth in ourselves or in others. The disciples experienced the Light of Truth shining through their normally clouded vision – for once, the inner reality and the outer appearance reflected one another – the radiant glory revealed was already there and is always there, but we do not always have eyes to see it.
One morning I was out walking the dog when I saw a man with a dog approaching us on the path. The man was muscly, with a skinhead and lots of tattoos all over his face and neck, and was scowling. The dog was one of those huge, scary-looking bull terriers. I don't mind admitting I felt quite intimidated and a little nervous as we drew closer to each other. And then the man broke into a broad grin and he greeted me with that classic Mancunian greeting, “Hiya-y'alright” (all one word). His face was completely transfigured and seemed to glow with an inner light. We had a lovely chat about the weather and our dogs. His was named Keano. “After Roy?” I asked. “Aye, love, 'ad to be done, 'ad to be done,” he replied with a twinkle in his eye. The dog turned out to be very gentle and very friendly too. As, I am sure, is his namesake, when you get to know him!
“You are the place where the gift is given, You are the place where the light shines through.”
“There is no creation that does not have a radiance, be it greenness or seed, blossom or beauty,” said Hildegard von Bingen. When we see with the eyes of the heart, we see the glory and splendour of all living beings. What would life be like if we always saw every living being in their true nature – beloved of God, sacred, divinity incarnate?
The Russian Orthodox theologian Nicola Berdyaev wrote, “The central idea of the Eastern fathers was that of theosis, the divination of all creatures, the transfiguration of the world, the idea of the cosmos and not the idea of personal salvation... The kingdom of God is the transfiguration of the world, universal resurrection, a new heaven and a new earth.”
For me, theosis is not just something coming in the future, but something happening now, if we have eyes to see. I experienced the transfiguration of the world in the present, a few days ago when I walking by the side of the canal, which was lined with meadowsweet and cow parsley. These plants are very familiar to me. I grew up with their scents lining the lanes of my childhood. They both have clusters of delicate white flowers, small and unspectacular. But then the sun came out and shone through them, as though lighting them up from within. In an instant, they became luminous and breath-takingly beautiful.
“You are the place where the gift is given, You are the place where the light shines through.”
“We do not see the Blinding One in black emptiness. He speaks to us gently in ten thousand things, in which His light is one fullness and one Wisdom. Thus He shines not on them but from within them,” said Thomas Merton in his poem Hagia Sophia.
To all the gentle skinheads and the Keanos, the meadowsweets and the cow parsleys – teachers one and all, thank you for your wisdom, thank you for teaching me that the transfiguration is indeed a story for every day.
On this precious spiritual journey of being fully human, may we remain open to change and growth, to the unexpected and the magical, to seeing things in a different light and changing our perceptions, and in doing so, may we come fully alive and know, deep in our hearts, the truth that, “we are place that the gift is given, we are the place where the light shines through.” May it be so.
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