Feast of the Transfiguration - Homily 1

Homily 1 - 2017 

“As they came down the mountain Jesus gave them this order, ‘Tell no one about the vision until the Son of Man has risen from the dead’.” So we are dealing with a vision, which is not less real, but more real –an insight into a whole other level of reality, a more significant level of reality, which we can access only through faith.

The disciples saw another dimension of Jesus – “transfigured”, “his face shining like the sun”. What message was that conveying? Their Scriptures spoke of Moses like that whenever he went off alone to converse with God.

And then came “a bright cloud”, paradoxically covering them “in shadow”. Again, their Scriptures spoke of God taking up residence among their fleeing ancestors in the desert of Sinai by filling the Tent of Meeting with dense cloud.

Matthew went on, “Then from the cloud came a voice…” No prize for guessing whose voice – God’s voice. And the voice said to them, “This is my Son, the Beloved; he enjoys my favour. Listen to him.” Or as we might say, “We’ve got the same genes. I love him. I spoil him [or something like that – my sister does the same to me!].

I wonder how clear the voice was. When, centuries beforehand, God appeared before Elijah at the mount of Horeb, the author put it this way: Elijah heard “the sound of silence”. Can you hold them together, the sound of silence? Is that the way God usually speaks – if we are astute enough to listen.

Then the voice from the cloud added a final message, “Listen to him”. In the preceding chapter of the Gospel, containing the series of parables about the Kingdom, Jesus had lamented about the crowds, “their ears are dull of hearing, and they have shut their eyes, for fear they should see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their heart, and be converted and be healed by me.”

Between that observation and this vision, Jesus had been quietly instructing the disciples that he would be killed, crucified. Crucifixion was not just an incredibly painful physical torture but, more importantly, the most public degrading, dehumanizing torture so far devised. Peter could not take it, and immediately tried to cheer Jesus up – until Jesus replied to him, “Get behind me, Satan!” It was not just the crowds who could not hear – Peter could not either. And it did not help when Jesus went on to promise that all who accepted becoming followers of his could well face similar humiliation. No wonder that, after the voice from the cloud had said, “Listen to him”, Matthew added, “When they heard this, the disciples fell on their faces, overcome with fear.”

I love the way the event winds up, “Jesus came up and touched them. ‘Stand up,’ he said, ‘do not be afraid.’ And when they raised their eyes they saw no one but only Jesus.” Only Jesus! Jesus went on, “Tell no one about the vision until the Son of Man has risen from the dead”. Would that help much? According to the resurrection stories, the risen Jesus still appeared pretty much “only Jesus” – no fireworks!

What was Matthew’s point in including the vision in his Gospel narrative? For me, right now, the significant issue is God’s recommendation, “Listen to him”. But listen so as “to hear with my ears, see with my eyes, understand with my heart, and be converted and be healed”. I don’t like the current experience of humiliation and prospect of more of it, anymore than Peter and the disciples did, anymore than Jesus himself did. The temptation is there to stick out the chest and fight them.

The catch is that God’s voice too often comes across like Elijah’s “sound of silence”; and even God’s presence is too often like a “cloud that covers with shadow”. There seems to be no alternative but to learn the language of silence, and to be content to sit surrounded in cloud. If they lead to conversion and to healing, the time spent is worth it.