Do you like Jigsaw puzzles? My sister
does. At one stage, it seemed the more pieces the better… 1000, 5000… and she
would sit patiently – I know difficult to believe we share the same genes (let
the hearer understand) – until the task was completed.
Birthdays and Christmas presents were
sorted as each year I would make the challenge harder. You know that I would.
And then adjacent to the jigsaw
corner, I saw as wasgij. The picture on the box is a clue to
picture that would be created.
It seems to me that is what the
Transfiguration is like. It is a bit like a wasgij. When we understand what is
happening. It points us to the possibility of discovering what Jesus is like.
Our Gospel writers were master story
tellers. Like any story teller they write with a purpose. Matthew is no
exception to this. Matthew’s aim was to ensure that his hearers were aware that
Jesus was the fulfilment of all that had been foretold and forth told by the
prophets and as a teacher they were hearing about someone who surpassed Moses
the lawgiver.
This reading takes place 6 days after
Peter has declared that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God. The confession
was immediately followed by Jesus beginning to teach his friends that he was to
suffer and die, and in which he made the connection between himself and the one
like a son of man spoken about in Daniel and Ezekiel, a figure whom many Jews
would have been familiar with as the whispers of redemption had been heard down
the centuries. Then Peter had been outraged by the idea of a suffering messiah,
and Jesus had rebuked him calling this disciple, the satan, the one who
opposes.
And now, Jesus and three of his
disciples go up a high mountain together. Deliberately written to remind his
hearers that the law had been given in such a place, Jesus is transfigured
before them. Whilst it is tempting for some preachers to make us smile by
comparing his radiant garments as Persil white (there are of course other
washing powders available). This misses what Matthew is alluding to. When we
come to Matthew, we are all ail iaith (second language) trying to learn his
language. Like all learners, we stumble at times, keep going and give up (at
the same time).
Matthew has Jesus’ clothes dazzle and
his face shine like the sun. His hearers would have gleaned that the Evangelist
was describing divinity.
Moses and Elijah are then said to be
alongside Jesus talking with him. We can be tempted to see in these figures the
fulfilment of the law and the prophets, but yet there is also a strong tradition
in Judaism that neither of these figures tasted death, with our Evangelist
pointing perhaps to the fact that Jesus too would not do so.
Peter then stumbles again. He is
coming to terms with a new situation. He is struggling to put into words who
Jesus is. He has one picture in front of him of what the Messiah is to be and
he is being pointed to another. It is tempting to think that he wants to stay
on the mountain enveloped as he was in a positive spiritual experience. Not many
of us like to move out of cosy places.
Peter offers to build a booth each
for Jesus, Elijah and Moses. For Matthew’s hearers, there is the echo of the
festival of booths (tabernacles) which celebrated God dwelling amongst the
people. Here of course before Peter’s eyes was Jesus, God in human form. Clues all
around him, yet struggling to see what was going on before his eyes. How often
is my discipleship exactly the same?
And while this generous offer was
being made, the equivalent of a divine command to shut up is given. The cloud,
note again its brightness, surrounds them and the voice of affirmation and
command is given. This is my son, whom I love – echoes of the baptism; listen
to him.
And then they are left alone with
Jesus, as they have thrown themselves to the ground.
The transfiguration reveals to them
who Jesus is.
The transfiguration also marks another
staging post in their own transformation as disciples.
For encounters with God bring about
change in ourselves
As we prepare to enter the holy season
of Lent, we prepare ourselves not for works of self-sacrifice, important though
they are, but to worship God. In that worship we might be changed.
We are changed first by the encounter
with Jesus – and we continue to learn who he was and allow him to touch us and
whisper, do not be afraid.
There are times when we are afraid
Afraid because of what is going on
around us
Afraid because of what God might seem
to be saying
In all this we asked simply to be
with Jesus, and in this being with him, work alongside him to change our church
and our world.
Let us pray.
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