The Transfiguration
Thoughts on the Lectionary: Luke 9:28-36, (37-43a)
It is difficult to come up with something to write about every week. It is especially hard when we live in a season in which the news show how the world as we know it may be bordering collapse. The forces that move our culture hit with full force, and the body and soul suffers the pain of knowing that most humans are but only witnesses to the movements of the present era.
This seems to be a hopeless perspective. However, it is a point of view rooted in reality. We alone, as individuals, cannot change the system. And, if somebody is blessed with the burden to take on the system and change it, they may not see the results of what they would start. What we can do is to be transfigured into the fullness of our humanity in the midst of it all.
When somebody finds themselves caught in the sacrificial machinery of the world, it is a profoundly dehumanizing experience. It is even more complex when a person knows that their fate, future, plans, dreams, and opportunities are in the hands of another human being. Contemporary systems are made up by humans who submit themselves to the power of other humans who seem to be in control.
That is why, as we approach the season of lent, I have the sense that walking to the cross with Jesus is not with the purpose to die to our bad habits. It is to undergo a baptismal journey that reclaims our humanity as we die to the sacrificial systems that dehumanize us. This does not mean that the systems will cease to exist. Exclusion will continue. Hate will find a momentum of its own, and fear will grow its own developmental logic. however, our task as followers of Jesus is to invite each other into becoming more human by undergoing the possibility of believing in a God who is in rivalry with nobody and nothing, not even death.
In just a couple of weeks, Jesus will be tempted. The systems of this world will try bring him down to his knees (Luke 4:1-13). This week, however, Jesus is transfigured into the fullness of his humanity (Luke 9:28-36, (37-43a)):
Now about eight days after these sayings 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 as bright as a flash of lightning. Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. They appeared in glory and were speaking about his exodus, which he was about to fulfill in Jerusalem.
I believe that the transfiguration is about Jesus reaching the fullness of his humanity. He becomes more human because of his actions after the voice identifies him as the Son of God: “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!” Jesus cames down from the mountain to heal a young boy who had been excluded by the religious, political, and economic systems of his time. He restores the boy to the fullness of his humanity because, “The glory of God is humanity fully alive” (quote attributed to St. Irenaeus).
Perhaps, we can also be transfigured into the fullness of our own humanity. This happens when we refuse to be eaten by the systems that dehumanize us. When we open our hearts, homes, and families to those who are undergoing tremendous suffering and pain. We become more human as we hold each other’s hands and souls while the world falls apart around us. So, let’s transfigure one another into the image of Jesus, the revelation of a God in whom there is no violence.