Sunday Next Before Lent

2 Corinthians 4.3-6; Mark 9.2-9

These few weeks between the end of Epiphany and the beginning of Lent can be seen as a short preparation for Lent. The readings help us to re-orientate our mind and heart away from Christmas (if we haven't already done that) towards the next and most important festival in our Christian year, the resurrection of Jesus.

Last week we considered how Jesus is God and the consequences of that for our day to day life. And this week we have that wonderful reading in St. Mark's gospel this year of Jesus's Transfiguration. There's some very significant symbolism in the account of the Transfiguration that it's interesting to take note of. The dazzling whiteness of Jesus's garments represent the light and the glory of God in Jesus, God's uncreated energy, showing that Jesus is God. The voice from heaven is heard to say that 'this is my Son, the Beloved'. This is affirmation that Jesus is of God and is eternal. In the cloud that comes and overshadows them all, we see a reference to the cloud that hid the glory of God in the Old Testament, that went before the people of Israel in their wanderings. Moses represents the Law and Elijah the prophets and Jesus amongst them is the fulfilment of the Old Testament. And the presence of Moses and Elijah shows us the reality of the communion of saints.

This symbolic, and actual at the time, representation of Jesus as God is important for the Church and for our own sense of who Jesus is and where he fits into our history as God's people. And the revelation of him as God in this way to the three disciples makes it possible for us to believe in him as such. But having said all that, what can we make of this event as recorded in the gospels that takes us further than simply the underlining of what we say we believe about Jesus, that he is in fact God?

The three disciples, Peter, James and John, seemingly those closest to Jesus in some way, were invited by Jesus up the mountain, apparently for this revelation. However it worked, the event must have been a moment of deep insight, one of breathtaking proportions. And it would have been unexpected by the disciples. There will have been times in our lives when we have been, as it were, overwhelmed by some event or happening that transports us out of our present, mundane reality into another dimension of experience. It could be at one of those great life events, a birth or a death for example, or in listening to music or poetry or watching a film. And usually these events would take us by surprise, they sort of reach out to us rather than us going to look for them. In fact, it's usually impossible to have some transcendent event happen to you if you go seeking it. The disciples see Jesus in this sort of way, see that he is much more than they have experienced up to now. They see his holiness in fact, which up to now they may have, as it were, suspected because of what he'd said and done, but not seen in its depth and ultimate reality. This is Jesus in his essence, the real Jesus, if you like.

But still, what does that mean for us beyond confirming for us who Jesus is? Well, we are made in the image of God, or so we are told, by the Bible, by our Christian tradition, by the Church. We have something of God in us, because he created us. We are not him but we have something of him, and we reflect him in some respects. And because of that, we are holy, each one of us. And if we are like God in some respects, we have a likeness of Jesus Christ too. So, I wonder what you see when you look at other people? I wonder what other people see when they look at you? As I was thinking of this the time came to mind when Jesus asked the man possessed by many devils what their name was and they replied 'Legion'. And that came to mind because it occurred to me that there are as many of you as the people who look at you. Because you appear different through different pairs of eyes. And I don't mean from an optical point of view, I mean what people see of you 'under the skin', what they make of your character and personality, because of what you say and do. But God made only one of you. You are unique. So we can ask the question, when people look at you do they see the person who God made, in all your glory? Do they see the depth of you, do they see your holiness?

And you, when you look at someone else, do you see their glory? Do you see the depth of them, do you see their holiness? Do you see what God sees? Do you see what he created, or only what you've made your mind up he created?

And that's the point you see. Jesus was, in a way, saying to Peter, James and John, 'This is me, this is who you should be seeing.' And from that moment on, you can be sure that those disciples never spoke to or met with Jesus in the same way ever again, or if they did, they will surely have realised the consequences of that soon enough afterwards, as Peter did when the cock crowed. And so when we ask ourselves who it is we are speaking to, who are we dealing with, when we meet with another person, do we recognise the fact that that person is made in the image of God? Do we recognise that person's holiness? Do we see them in that transfigured way when we encounter them or do we forget all of that and treat them as though none of that is real or exists?

I suspect that if we did see people in such a 'transfigured' way, our dealings would be much more peaceable to say the very least.