One of those moments

 ‘… When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent..’ (Luke 9:36)

Luke 9:28-36 (Year C: Lent 2)

                                                        http://www.biblewalks.com/Sites/tabor.html

 (The choice of Gospel reading for this Sunday – 21^st February 2016 – is aligned with the cycle of readings used in the Roman Catholic church. It is the story of the Transfiguration. Last year it was the turn of Mark to tell the Transfiguration story (Basking in the Sunshine or should we say Sonshine?!).  This year it is the turn of Luke. The choice of reading, here, differs from other cycles such as the Revised Common Lectionary where the story of the Transfiguration is told on the Sunday before Lent.  To paraphrase Winston Churchill the only thing that divides us now is the English language and the cycle of Sunday readings once or twice a year!).

Standing back from it all

Every now and again we need to be taken out of our routine comfort zones and be surprised by joy.  This happened to Peter, John and James on a mountain top where Jesus took them. Mountains were always favourite places for dreamers, poets and wise persons.  The Irish landscape is dotted with stone arrangements on hill tops showing us that our ancestors had a special connection with these places and what lies beyond (or below). In some parts of the world it has been customary for monastic communities to pitch their ‘tent’ on high ground. Indeed, the site of the story of the transfiguration is believed to be Mount Tabor – a two hour walk from Jesus’ home village of Nazareth and about 25 kilometres from the southern shores of Lake Galilee which lay to the East of Mount Tabor. No doubt Jesus had been there many times before and beheld the beauty of the surrounding countryside as he marked out with his eye the places where he grew up.  In all likelihood Jesus and his three friends made the ascent early in the morning before the heat of noonday and on a good day with a blue sky as one does in such warm and exposed climates.

And taking time out

Above it all whether on Cave Hill in Belfast or Killakee in Dublin people can look down on the city and spot their dwelling, place of work or some other landmark.  There is a peace in looking at a city where 100,000s go about their busy lives. The gentle hum of traffic in the distance only adds to a sense of peace. Sundays can be a good day to take off for high ground especially if it is dry and sunny which it can happen at least two to three weekends a year in Ireland! There you will find the serious walking club folk, the odd couple arguing about finances and children or something else, the other odd couple debating the general election, the overseas visitor marvelling at forty shades of green, the boisterous troop of scouts and the loner in search of peace.

We don’t need to travel alone

Jesus needed a break in the midst of a busy ministry in Galilee. He had a strong sense that his time of extreme tribulation was nearing and he had warned his friends about this just before the mountain experience. He needed to draw apart for a little while and pray – with three chosen disciples (might there be a theological significance in bringing three to what was to be revealed?).  So, Jesus went up the mountain to pray – for his disciples and everyone else. There, a response was given to the witnessing disciples: ‘Listen to him!’ (v.35). We don’t need to climb mountains alone or keep those glory moments to ourselves. The Christ’s religion is a community religion. We travel with others and never alone.

Comfort religion?

Key to understanding the Transfiguration is what happens just before it. Some eight days before (to quote Luke) Jesus has a very frank conversation with his friends. Not only was Jesus himself faced with death and rising again but, he went on to tell them

‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.' (Luke 9:23)

We may note that in the Transfiguration the highly significant persons of Moses and Elijah and appear and disappear to leave the disciples standing with Jesus, alone.  Readers of Luke in around 80 A.D. would not have missed the point that the old order or religion is giving way to a new deal – one in which the Messiah has come and it is to his voice that we now listen for that life that surpasses our greatest dreams.  Moses and Elijah are not cancelled out; rather their ministry is now done and taken up into the work of Jesus, the Son of God. The transfiguration story reaches back in time to the ‘exodus’ of the chosen people (the Greek word for ‘departure’ cited in verse 31 – ‘They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem’) and it reaches forward to a new covenant between the nations of the world and the Messiah.  But, first there must be a time of great suffering and passing from the old to the new order. The disciples Peter, James and John have been warned already before ascending the mountain that they, too, would suffer like Jesus.  But, this does not stop Peter proposing the erection of three ‘tents’ (this links to the Jewish festival of Tabernacles recalling the time when the Hebrews wandered for 40 years in the desert).  But, clinging to Moses and Elijah (the good old order) as well as clinging to that extraordinary and glorious scene on the top of this mountain will not do. The point of the story is that we only have Jesus to cling to now and Moses and Elijah, for the benefits of Luke’s readers in the 80’s, confirm this. Put another way, the Transfiguration offers little by way of ‘comfort religion’ either then or now.

From glory to agony and back again

The story of the transfiguration is also a story about journeys.  To climb a mountain with one’s friends and experience, there, the mysteries of God’s glory is one thing. To come down from that mountain and face certain death is another. This is the point of the story.  We need moments of ‘glory’ and deep, replenishing joy. Deep joy. This is our food and our strength for the journey that lies ahead. The transfiguration was a dress rehearsal for the Agony in the Garden on the eve of Jesus’ crucifixion (Luke 22:39-46).  We note the strong parallels: a mountain; Jesus with the very same Peter, James and John; people sleeping while another prays; conversation; foreboding and heavenly comfort. Life has a funny habit of repeating itself.

But, what if we are stuck in a cloud on the top of the mountain (a particularly frequent occurrence on Irish mountains where all three and a half seasons can happen in the space of a few hours!).?  We stay put and listen.  In another story that has strong parallels to the transfiguration we read that (Exodus 40:34-38):

 Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.  Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled upon it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Whenever the cloud was taken up from the tabernacle, the Israelites would set out on each stage of their journey; but if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not set out until the day that it was taken up. For the cloud of the Lord was on the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud by night, before the eyes of all the house of Israel at each stage of their journey.

Into the cloud of unknowing

The cloud represents the presence of God. But, very often in our lives we are stuck in a ‘cloud of unknowing’ (also the title of a work of an English mystic in the late 14^th century and which should be read by everyone at least once in a lifetime). Ours is a state of not knowing what next or who or where. The temptation is to try to remain fixed or fixated in a moment of glory and consolation. Some seek solace in narcotics, food, etc. Others seek solace in ‘religion’ and ‘spirituality’. Each is understandable. We are only human. But, the real deal is not this or that thing or person or relationship: it is the love of God that speaks to us in silence in the depths of our hearts in this cloud of unknowing. And when the cloud lifts we move on.

The reality is that we may find ourselves alone and confused in a cloud of unknowing but it is only afterwards we see that we were not alone. There is a lesson here each time. At the time of unknowing we were greatly afraid just like the disciples. Then we saw back like on CCTV that there was nothing to be afraid of.  We should savour and recall such moments of realisation and insight afterwards but not cling on to them. These moments enable us to move on and embrace what lies ahead. 

(could we also name Transfiguration Sunday Fortification Sunday. God knows we need it)

Postscript

Did that ‘man with a mission’, Pádraig Pearse, get inspiration from Sunday walks in Killakee above Scoil Éanna where he taught when he penned the line ‘this road ahead of me’.? Or, indeed, did that other Dublin ‘man with a mission’ of ‘who shall separate us fame’, Edward Carson, draw inspiration from the Dublin mountains overlooking Wesley College where he went to school? We will never know. Beware of ‘men with a mission’!