Transfiguration

And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them. And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus. And Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” For he did not know what to say, for they were terrified. And a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, “This is my beloved Son; listen to him.” And suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them but Jesus only. (Mark 9:2-8 ESV). The Transfiguration of Jesus is one of the most spectacular events recorded in the Gospels. The word transfiguration really means metamorphosis. It is about change! The times of change in our lives are often difficult and always stressful. A few years ago, I took a little test at a workshop about the various things that had been happening in my life. Some of them were positive, like receiving an award; others were not so positive, like the loss of a relative or other difficult changes. When the workshop participants had completed the test, numbers were given to each of the items we had checked and we were asked to total our scores. If we had scored above 150, we learned that we were experiencing a lot of stress in our lives. I won’t disclose my score, but I can tell you it indicated there were a lot of changes going on in my life that year! The positive things that happen in our life – positive changes – provide stress as well as the negative things. I had never suspected that. But it makes sense. All change provides some sort of stress. Even the positive things that happen in our lives do. There are so many changes, so many adjustments that we are called on to make in our lives. At times, it seems overwhelming and difficult. However, life is about “transfiguration.” There are new friends, new experiences, and new challenges with each new day. So many of the experiences are wonderful. Some are difficult. All are stressful. I have learned, through all the changes of life, the important lesson that it is not necessary to go through any stressful change alone. For people of faith, there are spiritual resources through prayer and meditation that provide a sense of a shared journey with God. For Christians, there is a very real sense that Jesus has gone before us in all the things that we face, and that our trust in him assures us that we, too, can prevail over any obstacle. That’s the message in our reading this morning: “This is my beloved Son. Listen to Him.” As wonderful as it was to see Moses and Elijah, they were merely secondary to Jesus! There is no need to be alone. Ever!