Lightness Of Being

" After six days, Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John the brother of James, and led them up to a high mountain by themselves. There, He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became white as the light. Just then, there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus. Peter said, to Jesus, 'Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters -- one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.'  While he was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, 'This is My Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased. Listen to Him!' "- [Matthew 17: 1-5].


Jesus' Transfiguration is a prefiguration of His Glory at the right hand of God. I think of it as one of God's most dazzling signs of both His own authority, and of His Son's -- both in the Kingdom of Heaven AND in the here and now.

How often do we humans draw closer to God and His Son, only during times of trouble? When life is going well,  do we almost forget about God and how much we need Him?

I had grown up in a home where I was baptized, Confirmed, then received my First Communion, only to be told, 'We don't go to church anymore. We don't believe in "that stuff" anymore.'  My family shifted 180 degrees, and they began mocking people who believed in God.

Then, when I hit a rough patch in my adult life, I found myself becoming closer to a co-worker, who spoke a lot of God. She would tell me things like, 'You are never going to get yourself out of life's trouble spots without God in your heart.'

Talk about confusing. The messages I had received at age 14 from my parents, about God being "an opiate for the masses, being a sorry crutch for people who were such failures, that they could not achieve anything in life by their own wits -- these beliefs were smashing up against my co-worker's Faith in God.

At one point, she invited me to her church, to a series of evening programs for women. The program was about Grace. We women read Scripture, prayed together, sang hymns and discussed the meaning of the Biblical passages.

Along the way, I met an older lady named Mae. She was not beautiful like a model-- let's face it, who amongst us ordinary mortals IS? She was no longer young. Her face was lined with wrinkles. Her figure was "mature". She dressed modestly. She even told me about the many hardships in her life.

But, I was captivated by her for one simple reason. She positively glowed. There was a definite "aura" about her.

I told my co-worker, "Whatever she has, I want some of THAT"!!

I have lost track of Mae since those days many years ago.  But, I think of her often. And I will never forget her.

Her unforgettable Light is really what launched me on my spiritual journey to become closer to God, and to seek Jesus.

All of which raises the question-- can ordinary people become "transfigured with Light", like Jesus?

Yes, they can. And they DO.  I think of Moses, an ordinary man, in the Old Testament.  Exodus 34: 29-34 says, "When Moses came down from Mt. Sinai with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant, because he had spoken with the Lord. . . And when he came out and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, they saw that his face was radiant."

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary says, " Near and spiritual communion with God, serious godliness puts a luster upon a man's countenance."   Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary says, "The sight of the glory of Jehovah, though only the reflection of it, produced such an effect upon Moses' face, that the skin of it shone."

Paul says in 2 Cor. 3:18, "And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into His likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit."

I have learned, through various tough times in my life, to draw ever closer to God and to Jesus. I have learned that my wits alone are not enough to sustain me and to get me through ll the ups and downs of Life.

These days, people say they see a radiance about me that they have never seen in me before. I cannot take credit for it, though.

For, this radiance, this Light, is not ME -- but it IS my God.

[Related Postings: "Transfiguration of Christ",  March 5, 2012 ].

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