Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord

Dear Friends,

In our Gospel this week, Peter, James, and John get a momentary glimpse of Jesus in all of his divine glory, radiantly transfigured into the God that he is. After years of talking to Jesus as a friend, eating with him, camping with him, seeing him at work in his humanity, they suddenly catch sight of his brilliant divinity unveiled. Understandably, they cower in the face of this awesome appearance. I don’t know about you, but in my own relationship with Jesus I sometimes find myself in a mountaintop experience that stops me in my tracks and reminds me exactly who he is. It can be easy, after years of walking with Jesus, to forget that he is more than just my kind and cozy friend; that he is actually the God of the universe who holds me in existence. Sometimes on a retreat or in a deep moment of prayer, the truth of God’s glory and immensity will crash over me again, and like Peter I find myself scrambling to compute and to respond.

But Jesus doesn’t bring about these mountaintop moments just to startle us and flex his power. His transfiguration is an act of profound love and generosity. At this moment in the gospels, Jesus is well into his public ministry, and he has started to warn his disciples that they are on the road to Calvary where he must suffer and die. He knows that the events of his Passion will scatter and devastate his apostles. And so, shortly before they must go into Jerusalem, he reveals to Peter, James, and John, a glimpse of his divinity. Although his Transfiguration is a powerful shock, it is also a moment that edifies and fortifies them in the knowledge that he is the Messiah they think he is. This moment must have served as such a source of hope and courage for these three as they passed through the pain of Jesus’s suffering and death. Similarly for us, even though it can be overwhelming to ponder Jesus in all of his godly glory, it can also be a profound source of comfort. He isn’t just our nice friend or wise companion. He is a king, a God of miracles, a radiant light when all else goes dark. I don’t know about you, but I need to be reminded of that, and it thrills me with awe and hope for Jesus’s resurrection and my own.

Jule Coppa, Penn Campus Minister