Daniel 7:9–10, 13–14
2 Peter 1:16–19
Mark 9:2–10
Here in eastern Nebraska it will be difficult to find a mountain to climb and so have a mountaintop experience. Instead, you have to use your imagination. To aid our imagination we have the Scriptures where mountaintop experiences are kept alive for us. Today we are looking in, as it were, on a mountaintop experience of Jesus with his chosen disciples. We are familiar with other mountain experiences like that of Moses and Elijah, who also appear with Jesus on the mountaintop.
Mountaintops are classically understood in religious systems as being places where we are close to God. God dwells on the mountain top. In fact, an old name for Mt Sinai given by the monks who lived at its foot was “The God-trodden Mount of Sinai.” On the mountain the air is thin. It is a thin place and this world easily opens to the unseen but real world. Jesus goes mountain climbing today with three disciples. On the top Jesus is drawn into the other world and for the first time, the disciples see the other side of Jesus. They find he is one with his ancestors and in the voice from the cloud, they hear his true identity as the Father’s Son. It is on the mountaintop that Jesus identity becomes clearer: he is one with the Law, he is one with the Prophets and he is one with his Father. The disciples are given a glimpse of the relationships that support Jesus and give him his mandate while he is walking the earth.
Jesus is changed in such a way that the inaccessible light of God affects him deeply, even his clothing becomes white like light. What we profess in our creed is given to us to see today: Jesus is light from light. In Jesus, the disciples for a moment have a glimpse of light come into the world. In the Byzantine icons of the transfiguration you will often see rays of light emanating from the central figure of Jesus. The light indicates the transforming process. We know that creation begins when light is placed first in the scheme of things.
The Father speaks today. And he identifies Jesus as Son. But he also speaks to us. The words are simple and uncomplicated: Listen to him. We are not brought to the mountaintop to simply gaze and Jesus and then fumble for words at seeing who he is. We are brought to the mountaintop so that we too are part of the vision, part of the change that we witness in Jesus. And how does this change or transformation come about in us? It happens in the process of listening to the Word that is Jesus.
If we wish a share in the transformation we witness on the mountain, then we desire a good thing; it can happen to us. In fact it almost seems mandated for us. The process of change, of conversion of putting on the mind of Christ will happen to the degree that we enter into the listening process. When we follow the Word that is Christ, attuned to it and remaining faithful to it, we will change. And in that process of listening we will find our true identity. Notice, in this case,it is not Jesus who gives us the direct command to listen, but God the Father. As he names Jesus his Son, so he gives us the way in which we too can enter into the relationship of being a child of God. We follow the Word.
This following takes a life time. It happens in slowly learning the art of listening and responding, first to the Word and then the way the word comes to us in various situations and people. Having an open ear is the beginning of a transformation of our hearts.
Remember that Jesus told his disciples they could not speak about what they had seen and heard until Jesus had risen. Why? Because then the process of transformation would be complete for him. He would have been a faithful Son to the end. With us also, we are in process. On the mountaintop, we had a glimpse of light transforming our inner and outer selves. We heard the command of our Father, “Listen to him.” With this vision and this word of the Father we descend the mountaintop enlightened and hopefully ready to make the journey of life together with the Father’s Son.
~Prior, Fr. Joel Macul, OSB