In the Transfiguration humanity is adopted by God so that we understand more our identity as children of God. The voice of God the father confirms the identity of Christ before his disciples saying, “This is my beloved Son, listen to him.” God the Father preaching the Good News to the disciples and to us. Believing that Jesus is the Son of God and listening to him is what God wants, His will.
Throughout his life, Jesus preached the Good News both in words and actions. At this very moment, Peter, James, and John were given the opportunity to know the source of all the actions of their master, his relationship with the Father. The voice of God the Father on the mountain reminds us of the voice of Mary mother of Jesus at Cana in Galilee. She said to the servants: “Do whatever he tells you.” She knows perfectly well his Son more than any other human being. Because she has experienced what it means to listen to the voice of God at the Annunciation, she talks from her personal experience. The miracle of water becoming wine points at one important truth about our faith: obeying God, doing what he tells us is always a source of joy and fecundity.
God revealed as love
Today’s reading reminds us also of the importance of faith experience. By experiencing Jesus transfigured, the disciples probably had a glimpse of his divinity but also of the glory they were to share with God at the end of their earthly pilgrimage. Between Mount Tabor of the Transfiguration and Mount Calvary of the Passion and death of Jesus, it is God revealing himself as Love. A God whose power is love.
Although Peter, James and John did not understand immediately their experience on the Mount, later and gradually the eyes of their heart were opened to the intelligence and knowledge of the word of God. They could not understand what “rising from the dead” meant until years later. This experience of the Transfiguration will not prevent Peter from denying Jesus during his passion. But it will undoubtedly help him to rise again. It is also what will give him the strength to undergo his martyrdom, because he has the certainty that his sufferings lead to Life.
In times of uncertainty aroused by this pandemic and the present war in Ukraine of which we still do not know how and when it will end, the text of Transfiguration comes to remind us that sufferings will not have the last word; that only Love will save this world.
An Encounter with God’s love
We can also understand the Eucharist in the light of the Transfiguration. Because in the Eucharist God reveals to us His unfathomable Love he has for us in Christ, with eyes of faith that we can see the meaning of the mystery that we celebrate. In the same manner that Peter, James, and John were invited in Mount Tabor to go beyond their human perception of Jesus (Trans-Figuration), to go beyond appearance and see his glory, his divinity, we also are called to do the same in the Eucharist. We learn to see beyond “host and wine” the manifestation of Divine Love and Glory. The Eucharistic encounter is something extraordinary because it gives direction to our lives. Like the disciples who had to go down from the mountain to the valley and testify of their experience with Jesus, may we learn to listen to God’s message. Recognize Jesus, unite with him in his sufferings and share in His Glory!
