When Will We?
In the midst of unfolding war, we are reminded of the
Primacy of Love. The story of the Transfiguration[i]
ends, “And all were astounded at the greatness of God.” What does that tell us
about the Transfiguration of Jesus? His appearance changes. Three witnesses, as
unreliable as they may be, see him talking with Moses and Elijah. Moses
represents the spiritual formation of God’s people in the long and difficult
wilderness experience. Elijah is perhaps the earliest of God’s appointed
prophets sent to speak truth to power – to chastise and call Israel’s leadership
to return really to the Way of God. They are discussing Jesus’s exodos, his
Exodus, his departure that is to be accomplished in Jerusalem – the power hub
for Israel, the Temple and Rome to which Jesus has been sent by God to speak
truth to power.
Peter, James and John hear a voice from a cloud: “This is my
Son, my Chosen, my Beloved. Listen to him!” So far, the question in Luke has
been, “Who is this Jesus from Nazareth?” After all, isn’t the expected and
desired anointed one of God supposed to come from Bethlehem, the City of David?
Nevertheless, Moses and Elijah are the archetypal consultants for anyone who is
anointed, christos, by God to speak Truth to Power. It is no wonder
Peter wants to build them some dwellings to keep them around for a while.
This is the second time the voice has spoken. We heard it at
his baptism by John. This Jesus is sent to be God’s expression of the Primacy
of Love in God’s Creation, now transfigured as Love incarnate. His first act
after being transfigured is restore a convulsing young man, dismissing an unclean
spirit, and the crowd who has been hanging around for at least two chapters, like
a Greek chorus proclaim, “Look at the greatness of God!” They look at
transfigured Jesus and see God.
They all see the God who is merciful and gracious, slow to
anger and abounding in steadfast love. Transfiguration appears to be the very
moment in the story that the young man from a backwater village in the hills of
Galilee embodies the very image and power of God. Which image and power is Love.
This is no doubt why Moses and Elijah show up in the midst
of his prayer time, his quiet time to get away from the crowds and all their
demands and all their speculations and all their neediness. Moses and Elijah
both see that this is God, this is Love, this is the Love of God incarnate, love
become flesh and blood to reveal the Love that is baked into our DNA from
before the beginning of time. Little wonder his face and raiments radiate a brightness
only Love can shine into this world.
The great Franciscan priest and scholar, John Dun Scotus
says that sin is not the reason for Christ, love is. For all eternity God
willed to love a creature to grace and glory. Before the stars were born,
Christ was in the heart of God, “hidden from the foundation of the world”
(Colossians 1:26).[ii]
In her book, The Primacy of Love, Ilia Delio writes, “God is
most deeply actualized not in individual beings, but in the multitude of love
they exist to enact. Albert Nolan posits that it is better to say that the
mystery we call God is personal rather than a person. In this sense, God does
not exist as an absolute being in love with a separate existence, but rather
God loves in and through our love for one another.”[iii]
Which Jesus makes clear is to include love for our enemies.
Given the current state of affairs vis a vis the crisis in
the Ukraine, such love is challenging to say the least. We allow such crises to
divide us rather than unite us – which undoubtedly is what Vladimir Putin and
his like intend to do by such heinous and tragic actions. These divisions
deeply sadden to the point of breaking the heart and the love of God.
Another Franciscan, Bonaventure in reflecting on the
resurrection says this about transfiguration:
“Christ shares existence with each and every thing: with the
stones he shares existence, with the plants he shares life, with the animals,
sensation … all things are said to be transformed in Christ since in his human
nature he embraces something of every creature in himself when he was
transfigured.”[iv]
That’s what was happening up on the mountain – Jesus the
Christ was revealed as he embraces something of every creature and everything
in himself! This is the Greatness of God the people at the base of the mountain
call us all to see. Look at the transfigured Jesus, they say; see that God
lives in and through our love for one another – including our enemies. Sadly,
there are those like Vladimir Putin who resist being embraced and transfigured
by the Love of God in Christ.
Sin is not the reason for Christ, love is. God loves in and
through our love for one another. When Christ was revealed, when Christ was
transfigured, when Christ sent away the unclean spirit from the young lad at
the foot of the mountain, it was another moment of the transfiguration of us
all as the Love that God wills to exist through all creation – through all
creatures. Yes, sin, and its notorious twin, evil, has entered the world, and
persists. Unclean spirits seek to convulse and divide us while Christ continues
to seek to unite us. This most mysterious of all episodes in the Bible begs the
question, ‘When will we?’ When will we allow ourselves, all of us, everyone, to
be embraced by God’s mercy and steadfast Love? When will we show forth this
transfigured love in all that we say and all that we do, all of the time? When
will we? If not now, when? Amen.
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