Transfigured

There once was a little boy who decided he wanted to go find God. He knew it would probably be a long trip to find God, so he decided to pack a lunch, two bags of chips and two cans of root beer. He set out on his journey and went a few blocks until he came to a park. In this park on a bench, sat an old woman looking at the pigeons. The little boy sat down beside her and he watched the pigeons too.

After a while he grew hungry and so he pulled out some chips. He noticed the woman watching him, so he offered her some. She gratefully accepted it and smiled at him. There was something about her smile that fascinated the boy. He thought it was the most beautiful smile he had ever seen, and he wanted to see it again. So he brought out the cans of root beer, opened one and offered her the other one. Once again she smiled that beautiful smile.

For a long time the two sat on that park bench, eating chips, drinking root beer, smiling at each other, and watching the pigeons. But neither said a word. Finally, the little boy realized that it was getting and late and that it was time to go home. He started to leave, took a few steps, then turned back and gave the woman a big hug. Her smile was brighter than ever before. When he arrived back home, his mother noticed that he was happy, yet somehow strangely quiet.

“What did you do today?” she asked, trying to figure out what was going on.

“Oh, I had lunch in the park with God,” he said. Before his mother could reply he added, “You know she has the most beautiful smile I have ever seen.”

Meanwhile the woman had left the park and returned to her home. Her son noticed something different about her. “What did you do today, Mom?” he asked.

“Oh, I ate chips and drank root beer in the park with God,” she said. And before her son could say anything, she added. “You know he is a lot younger than I had imagined.”

This is a story about revelation –or discovery. An aha! Sometimes, when you actually go looking for a revelation from God, what is revealed to you is God's silence, God's absence. It can feel disappointing.

Your prayers seem to rise no higher than the ceiling of the room, and it feels as though you are left on your own, feeling something of the forsakenness of Jesus on the cross.

There’s a song by a Canadian singer songwriter named Jon Bryant. One of his recent songs is called The Best Part, and a couple of lines go:

If God is really with me, why do I feel so alone?

Every time I pray I get another busy tone.

(Therapy Notes, 2025)

But sometimes - the opposite happens to you - maybe in some large event, or in some small event, like a shared contemplation on a park bench, or over a shared meal, you get an experience of the depth and beauty of things, and you come to a new understanding of life. It’s a moment of transformation.

If I were to ask you if you had ever had a revelation from God, some people here would answer with a definite "Yes", but some would say, "Me? No way! I've never seen any flashing lights or heard any voices in the night."

But if I were to ask, "have you ever had a time in your life when you saw through the surface of everyday events and somehow found a new depth of meaning or understanding?" There would probably be a lot more positive answers.

For the impetuous and impulsive Peter, and for James and John, the Sons of Thunder, the experience of knowing came in a dramatic fashion high up on Mount Hermon. It was seen as a sacred mountain long before Moses and still is, although now there is a military presence guarding it as it is at the border of Syria, Lebanon and the Golan Heights. The story is called The Transfiguration. It’s found in Matthew’s gospel and is also found in the gospels of Mark and Luke, and is referred to in 2nd Peter.

When Moses had been in God's presence, on Mount Sinai, he was changed. His face shone so much that when he went back down to tell everyone about God's commandments to them, he had to cover his face with a veil. It was too bright, too glowing to look at.

Like Moses, that we read about in Exodus, Jesus' face shone with the glory of the presence of God, and his clothes shone like an angel's robes. All three versions telling of this event describe how Jesus’ clothes became a dazzling white. And standing with Him were Moses, the great law-giver, and Elijah - the principal prophet, whom according to legend, had escaped death and was taken directly to heaven in a chariot of fire.

The meaning was clear - all of the greatness of the history of God's dealing with His people, Israel, now stood with Christ enveloped in God's presence. Moses was the one who received and declared the law of God. Elijah was the prophet of God who interpreted and reinforced the law in concrete living situations.

And there, on Mount Hermon, Peter, James and John and Jesus were overshadowed by a luminous cloud, the shekinah, the sign of God's holy presence or glory, and the voice said, "This is my son, my Chosen, listen to Him," and the disciples clung to the ground in terror covering their eyes.

What the disciples came to see later, after the resurrection, was that in this event they had had a precursor, a taste, of the glory of Jesus. I think the significance of the event was not so much that Jesus became someone or something new before them, but that they had a glimpse of the glory that had been in him all along, but had remained hidden from them. And they had a glimpse of eternity.

If this story were only about Jesus, that would be enough. But it wasn't long until Christians began to see that this glory of Christ was a glory that was their destiny in him as well.

St. Paul talks about new life in Christ with these words: "And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.”

First of all, the Transfiguration is about Jesus. But then, following on that, it's also about us, as we live in Him.

The scriptures insist that we are essentially spiritual beings, you and I, we are built for an eternity. II Corinthians chapter 4 – says "We do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away,

our inner nature is being renewed day by day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure, because we look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen; for what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal."

We are being transformed - from one degree of glory to another - we too are Beloved.

The scriptures insist that we are essentially spiritual beings, you and I. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations - these are mortal. But it is immortals whom we joke with, talk with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit and love.

CS Lewis said: Next to the Blessed Sacrament (the communion elements) itself, your neighbour is the holiest object presented to your senses. If he is your Christian neighbour, he is holy in almost the same way, for in him also Christ truly lives - the glorifier and the glorified, Glory Himself, is truly hidden.”

Rabbi Joshua ben Levi was a Palestinian sage who lived in the 3rd century. He is quoted as saying,

“In front of every person goes a procession of ten thousand angels who sing and declare: “Make way! Make way for the image of God!” Hold that image in your mind.

I may have shared this before, but I’ll share it again. When I was a chaplain at the Children’s hospital in Ottawa, I got talking to a young boy who was a refugee from Lebanon. I asked him - what do you think God is like? Without hesitation he said: God is loving, smart and very handsome. God is intertwined - in all of life and is present in us. Since we have such dazzling hope, we are called to live with boldness and love.

And now, Beloved, May the vision of the Glory of God strengthen, and transform each one of us from one degree of Glory to another, that we may be faithful followers of Jesus.