Ways of Seeing the Transfiguration

Can an Ancient Story Speak to the Modern World?

Today, in much of the Western Christian Church, is the Sunday of the Transfiguration. A word that comes to us from the Greek word, metemorphothe. You’ll recognize it in the English word metamorphosis. (meta morphe essentially changed) It's a story often overlooked when reading the New Testament narratives. I think that's because Western rational-minded folks don't know what to do with it.

If you need a refresher, here is the version from the earliest of the four Gospels:

The Transfiguration

² Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, ³ and his clothes became dazzling bright, such as no one on earth could brighten them. ⁴ And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus. ⁵ Then Peter said to Jesus, "Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us set up three tents: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah." ⁶ He did not know what to say, for they were terrified. ⁷ Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud, there came a voice, "This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!" ⁸ Suddenly, when they looked around, they saw no one with them anymore, but only Jesus. – Mark 9:2-8

This reads like many mystical visions we are familiar with throughout history. Whether it be Mohammed, St Teresa of Avilla, Howard Thurman, or the man I met years ago on a Sunday morning who shared with me his mysterious encounter. As Howard Thurman has reminded us, "We are visited in ways that we can understand and in ways that are beyond our understanding…"

But the Transfiguration holds so much more than this. That's one of the reasons I reached out to Sarah Hinlicky Wilson for a conversation about her new book, Seven Ways of Looking at the Transfiguration. The audio is available on my podcast, but I've placed it here for your convenience.

Wilson does an excellent job of dissecting all this story's significant aspects and symbols. The mountain, the dazzling light, the figures of Elijah and Moses, the tents, and the voice from the cloud all get due in her upcoming book. Preachers will benefit from this resource for years to come. But what's also important is her understanding of the placement of this story in the whole narrative, from Jesus's baptism to the Resurrection and beyond.

The Transfiguration has gotten some attention from artists and poets throughout history. I've placed a few of those images in this essay. Leaning into the mysterious, I prefer images with poetic imagination rather than attempting to document the actual event as if one could do that.

The British poet and priest Malcolm Guite captured the essence of this story well in this sonnet. (If you click the title below, you can listen to Guite read the poem, which I recommend as it brings the poem to life)

Transfiguration

For that one moment, 'in and out of time,'
On that one mountain where all moments meet,
The daily veil that covers the sublime
In darkling glass fell dazzled at his feet.
There were no angels full of eyes and wings
I am just living glory full of truth and grace.
The Love that dances at the heart of things
Shone out upon us from a human face
And to that light the light in us leaped up,
We felt it quicken somewhere deep within,
A sudden blaze of long-extinguished hope
Trembled and tingled through the tender skin.
Nor can this blackened sky, this darkened scar
Eclipse that glimpse of how things really are.

But what or how could we bring all this into our daily lives? We are, after all, the Notebooks of Everyday Spirituality and Ordinary Mysteries.

In his weekly column, my colleague Bishop Nicholas Knisely of the Episcopal Diocese of Rhode Island writes a helpful application of this story: "In David Brooks' new book "How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen," he speaks about the process of illumination - how someone can so totally see another person so that the viewer glimpses the light that shines within the one at whom they are gazing. He talks too about people who are naturally or have learned to be "illuminators" who, by the ability to see the other, cause them to become greater than they were."

One way to bear witness to the dazzling light might just be engaging in a very human, down-to-earth practice of listening to another person. We've got an epidemic of loneliness out there. I can't help but wonder if one way to transfigure this world might be through listening ears and attentive eyes.

Until next time,

James Hazelwood, writer, bishop, and spiritual director, is the author of Weird Wisdom for the Second Half of Life and Everyday Spirituality: Discover a Life of Hope, Peace, and Meaning. He has a new book in process, Ordinary Mysteries: Reflections on Two Worlds of Life. It is due out in April. His website is www.jameshazelwood.net