Our Turn To Be Transfigured
2019년 3월 16일Jesus took Peter, James and John up a mountain for a private retreat. No other disciples. No crowds. No one in need of healing or exorcism. They no doubt prayed and perhaps discussed the Scriptures. Suddenly, without outside distractions, Jesus transformed before their eyes. His face shone, and his clothes became dazzlingly white. As if that weren’t amazing enough, suddenly Moses and Elijah appeared. The Law and the Prophets foretold the kind of death Jesus, the Messiah, would undergo. Then things really got weird. A cloud covered them all and from the cloud came the voice of God: “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.”
Jesus was trying to prepare them for the most traumatic experience of their lives: his arrest, torture, and execution by crucifixion as an enemy of the state. He tried to show them that these events were not only foretold, but they were necessary for him in order to establish the kingdom of God on earth by overthrowing the reign of sin and death.
Christianity is a transformational religion. It changes things. It changes us. A Virgin becomes a mother. Water becomes wine. Bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ. And the Eucharist becomes us —so that we might become him. Jesus shows us the only way to life is through death. There is no way around it. But if we face it in faith, die to our ego, love others, including our enemies, we will transform the world by transforming ourselves.