They all decided that they needed a respite from Jesus’ intensive teaching schedule, going from synagogue to synagogue in town after town, and listening and discussing the meaning of the scriptures far into every night save on the Sabbath. So on a day with large puffy clouds meandering across the sky, Peter, James, John, and Jesus hiked up a small mountain to enjoy the view and have a picnic lunch.
Tired from their climb, Jesus went off to be alone, and the disciples took a nap. Peter had a strange dream. Moses and Elijah seemed to be reminiscing with Jesus. Jesus poked Moses in the arm, and Moses laughed, and Elijah’s sharp eyes sparkled with a smile. They were really enjoying each other’s company. Upon waking, Peter’s dream was so livid that he told it to his fellow disciples, and they, too, admitted that strangely enough they had had similar dreams. What did the dreams mean, they asked themselves.
Moses was Israel’s great leader who had led a group of dispirited and independent tribes out of slavery and had helped to form them into one people worshipping one God, and then on to be strong enough to settle a new land they could call their own. It wasn’t an easy task. Shortly after being liberated, the people had begun to complain. In Egypt they were not responsible for providing for their own food. Their masters did that, even if their masters provided a bitter and meager diet. Here in the wilderness, they became accountable for their own welfare. It was a challenge having to resolve disputes among themselves. No longer could they blame those who had enslaved them. Moses would lead them to a new land, but the people had plenty of anxious questions. It was difficult to imagine what the future would be like. During their episodes of fear, Moses had them recall the promise made to their ancestors Abraham and Sarah, that they would be a great people, as numerous as the grains of sand on the seashore and that through them all the nations of the earth would be blessed.
Elijah was one of the greatest prophets. He had condemned the corruption of the kings at a time when the royal family had begun to abandon the worship of God. Elijah gave courage to a remnant that would remain faithful to God, who would survive the apostasy of most of their leaders, and reconstitute the true Israel. Down through the ages Elijah’s example of courage and faithful, unrelenting witness in turn gave future generations hope to envision a future when Israel would remember that it was called to be a instrument of God’s blessing. Hence Elijah was seen as a harbinger of a new age, the age when the messiah, the anointed one from God, would be manifest. Therefore at every Passover, in good times and bad ones, Elijah’s spirit would be invoked.
The voice in the dream had said “This is my beloved son, listen to him” and then Moses and Elijah vanished and only Jesus was there. Could it be that Jesus, like Moses and Elijah, was sent to lead people into a very different reality than the disciples had ever imagined?
When the disciples first had started with Jesus, everywhere he went, he seemed to have attracted widespread popularity. Many were amazed at the gracious and wise words that came from his mouth. Recently, however, Jesus had begun to share with his close disciples that he would have to suffer and when he went to Jerusalem, things likely would get ugly. Jesus was beginning to lead them out of their comfort zone and into a new and unfamiliar territory. The disciples had lasting affection and attachment for Jesus’ ministry around the towns of Galilee, but the trip to Jerusalem presented unknown dangers. Peter was tempted to try to talk Jesus out of going.
As they were discussing the dream, Jesus returned to them and they all descended the mountain together. Peter held back, not so much because he wanted to stay on the mountaintop, but because he wanted life to go on and on as it had when Jesus first called them. There were so many things about Jesus that Peter dearly valued, and Peter didn’t want to lose them.
In the Gospels of Mark, Matthew, and Luke, the story of the Transfiguration is a major demarcation point, dividing Jesus’ ministry around Galilee from the decision to go to Jerusalem. From the Transfiguration on, predictions of the passion become more salient. Looking back on it years later, the disciples likely realized that the transfiguration disclosed to them that the boundaries of the Gospel had been extended, No longer was the Gospel just confined to the valley below the hills of the Golan Heights, but was now to be spread over all the mountains of the earth. God’s promise of blessing to Abraham and Sarah was being affirmed anew. At the time, the disciples could not have possibly articulated what lay ahead of them. Talk of resurrection would not have made any sense. It was only after Easter, that the transfiguration was seen as a critical dividing point. I wonder, as we begin the liturgical journey of Lent and traveling the road to Jerusalem, if the Transfiguration doesn’t encourage us to reflect on the dividing points in our lives: the last day of summer, the first day at college, the first day on a new job, buying a new house, the day after a funeral of a loved one. They all involve a loss, or a fear of the unknown, or a change that forces us to struggle to imagine what the future will be like.
Yet events like the Transfiguration push the fast forward button of our vision, taking us to where the air is clear, and shows us a world we could never picture on our own. The transfiguration tells us that the journeys we take to Jerusalem are worth it, that the glory of Easter overcomes all the valleys of shadows, and things that we value may be changed and transformed, but they may still live on, very much as part of our lives. It may seem like a dream, but the voice of God’s Holy Spirit still calls. Remember the vision given Moses; remember the persistent courage of Elijah. Know that Jesus is present among us as we stand here. Listen to him; follow him; trust the power of God’s grace and the strength of prayer, for God will lead us higher and higher.
