Who Do You Listen Too?

The Transfiguration

About eight days after saying this, he climbed the mountain to pray, taking Peter, John, and James along. While he was in prayer, the appearance of his face changed and his clothes became blinding white. At once two men were there talking with him. They turned out to be Moses and Elijah—and what a glorious appearance they made! They talked over his exodus, the one Jesus was about to complete in Jerusalem.

Meanwhile, Peter and those with him were slumped over in sleep. When they came to, rubbing their eyes, they saw Jesus in his glory and the two men standing with him. When Moses and Elijah had left, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, this is a great moment! Let’s build three memorials: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” He blurted this out without thinking.

While he was babbling on like this, a light-radiant cloud enveloped them. As they found themselves buried in the cloud, they became deeply aware of God. Then there was a voice out of the cloud: “This is my Son, the Chosen! Listen to him.”- Luke 9:28-35 The Message

The picture we see:

Jesus transfigured – every pore of his body emanating the Divine source of his life in the form of pure white light.

it is the picture of full divinity in human flesh.

On either side of him appeared Moses and Elijah – the primary authorities of the Jewish mind.

Moses represents the Law – commandment and judgment – the Ten Commandments

Isaiah, the Prophets, the voice of God calling his people to live just and faithful lives.

What are the Law and Prophets- the sources of authority  -in our lives?

Are there any images we know of that would compare?

I would suggest two:

The First image:

The Mushroom cloud – from Aug. 6, 1945

A later new report described it thus:

"For those who lived to describe it, the first millisecond was pure light, blinding, intense, but of awesome beauty and variety. One witness described a flash that turned from white to pink then blue as it rose and blossomed.

“…the initial blast spawned a succession of calamities. First came heat. It lasted only an instant, but was so intense it melted roof tiles, fused the quartz crystals in granite blocks, charred the exposed sides of telephone poles for almost two miles, and destroyed nearby humans so thoroughly that nothing remained except the outline of their shadows, burned into asphalt pavement and stone walls.”

“Two powerful shock waves rock the Enola Gay as she climbs away from the blast. Co-pilot Robert Lewis exclaims, ‘My God, what have we done?’”

This is our contemporary image of law – commandment and judgment.

The Second image –

From July 20, 1969 an image – like the assignation of JFK -etched on our collective memories.

How many of you can remember that hour when our television sets brought us those images through 238,000 miles of empty space, of Neil Armstrong’s boot coming down to leave the first imprint of life on Lunar soil?

And then for the first time we saw it: Earthrise- the image of our planet rising above a barren lunar landscape, as the lunar astronauts observed: “…like an oasis in the desert of infinite space.”

“… the one oasis in all space, an extraordinary kind of sacred grove…set apart for the rituals of life… a set apart blessed place.”

 – Joseph Campbell

“All humanity is about to be born into an entirely new relationship to the universe.” – Buckminster Fuller

This is our prophet – giving us a picture of who we are collectively, telling us what we may become.

These two images have dominated contemporary imagination.

Sharon Dalz Parks, a senior research fellow in leadership and ethics at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government wrote the book “The Critical years: Young Adults and the Search for Meaning, Faith and Commitment.”

She observed:

The mushroom cloud is a triumph of our scientific and political imagination…This image also serves as a metaphor for an ethic of control, an ethic centered in the illusion of individual national dominance.

The image of Earth as seen from space – also a “triumph” of the scientific and political imagination – compels us to recognize a necessary ethic of interdependence, responsibility, vulnerability and risk.

What are the authorities in your life?

The story tells us disciples’ response.

At first they are overwhelmed by the vision before them. Here they were having literally “a mountain top” experience; literally a ”peak” spiritual experience. They want to hold onto it, but they don’t know how.

Like a child delighted and amazed by the mystery of a soap bubble, who reaches out to catch it, and in doing so bursts it, Peter blurts out. “Let’s make this thing concrete- tangible so we can hang on to it. Let's build a memorial”

And suddenly, there was a bright cloud that overwhelmed them and a voice that said; “Listen”

“The ideal disposition for the divine encounter is the gathering together of one’s whole being into silence and alert attentiveness. The practice of interior silence produces gradually what the voice in the vision produced instantly: the capacity to listen.” – Fr. Thomas Keating

Where do we see ourselves in this picture?

Who are we listing too? What are the authorities that dominate our lives?

Do we see ourselves as the disciples, eager to set up some material structure that we can hold on too?

Can we see ourselves as spiritual beings, living in human flesh? 

Can we imagine ourselves transfigured – transformed into the likeness of Christ?

What would that look like?