The Manual For Life
2023년 8월 6일The Manual For Life
< Solemnity of the Transfiguration >
In the late 1970s I was first introduced to the new world of computers. I had an absolutely terrible teacher. Every time I had a question, he’d answer, “Did you read the manual?” My thought, which I didn’t dare to say out loud, was: “If I could learn from a manual, why do I need you?” Truth be told I don’t learn well from books. I learn from life and living, and use the book to help me understand what I experienced. The same thing can be said of the Bible and life. Unless you’ve lived a little, you’ll have trouble understanding what the Bible is teaching. And without the Bible, you might not understand what you experienced.
In today’s gospel, Jesus takes Peter, James and John on a mini retreat up a mountain. Perhaps they were discussing the prophets and the Law and as they spoke, Moses and Elijah appeared as Jesus was transfigured in front of them. They had no idea what this wonderful and mystical experienced meant at the time, but in a few days, Jesus would suffer and die just like the Bible predicted. And a few days after that, Jesus would once more be transfigured into resurrected glory. Perhaps it was the memory of this Transfiguration that enabled the disciples to get through the terrible days of Jesus’ arrest and crucifixion. In the same way the Bible was written to help us understand the things that happen to us in life, the good as well as the bad, with the hope that in the end we, too, will be transfigured.