What We Shall Become
The Transfiguration of Our Lord, Year A (06/08/2023)
(Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14; Psalm 97:1-2, 5-6, 9; 2 Peter 1:16-19; Matthew 17:1-9)
Fr. Samuel Odeh
“.. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable nature must put on the imperishable…” (1 Corinthians 15:52-53).
Today we celebrate The Transfiguration of our Lord. What was it and what lessons can we draw from it? Our Lord Jesus, on Mount Tabor, for a moment, gave a glimpse, a show of his glorified self, his victorious person to his apostles Peter, James, and John. This event was very important in the life of Jesus and took place right after Peter had declared that Jesus was the Christ, the Messiah. Peter is rebuked when he tried to persuade Jesus not to accept the mission of being rejected, suffering, and dying even as the Messiah. Jesus then gave a lesson on the cost of discipleship. According to the report of the evangelist, the Transfiguration of Jesus took place six days after.
Of all that happened on that mountain that day, the most important was the voice of God which the apostles heard declaring Jesus to be Son and commanding that we listen to him. This is also attested to in today’s second reading from the second letter of Peter: “For when he received honor and glory from God the Father and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” we heard this voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain” (2 Peter 1:17-18). It was as if Jesus were about to take us on a journey that could radically change us. Coming down the mountain Jesus charged the three apostles not to disclose this event until after he had been raised from the dead. They had no way of understanding what he meant until after his resurrection.
The Transfiguration shows us who Jesus always was by giving us a picture of his resurrected self beforehand and of his Heavenly presence before time. We are also meant to understand that the carrying of the Cross that Jesus undertook on our behalves did not diminish his glory or take away from his identity. He did it entirely out of love for us so that he could win for us the same glory in ourselves which he showed on that mountain. This is a challenge to us, today’s disciples of Jesus, to imitate his ways that we may also share his victory. Bearing our crosses in the loving manner of Jesus leads us to true glory and does not diminish us but affirms our true identity as children of God through Christ. The Transfiguration is, therefore, God’s promise to Christian believers of the future that awaits us while we live this earthly life: resurrection, eternal life, immortality. May God strengthen our resolve and determination to follow in the footsteps of Christ that we may gain the prize that he, God the Father, has prepared for us. Amen.
