Luke 9:28-36 (NRSV Updated Edition)
Now about eight days after these sayings Jesus took with him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray. And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. They appeared in glory and were speaking about his exodus, which he was about to fulfill in Jerusalem. Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep, but as they awoke they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. Just as they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good for us to be here; let us set up three tents: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah,” not realizing what he was saying. While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them, and they were terrified as they entered the cloud. Then from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!” When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and in those days told no one any of the things they had seen.
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"Here is this wonderful moment, “the cloud came and overshadowed them.” This is exactly the word that is used at the very end of the book of Exodus, when the cloud overshadows the tabernacle. But there Moses can't go in. Moses can't go in when the cloud overshadows the tabernacle, he can only go in when it's lifted up and gone away. But here the cloud came and overshadowed them and they were terrified *as they entered the cloud*. In other words, with Jesus they are on the inside of the glory now. This is no longer something being waited or awaited from afar, something held off by death.Then from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!”
"Again, what happens at the fullness of theophany, what we'd seen already indicated at the baptism and thereafter, which is, God is going to speak only at the fraternal level, only at the level of a human among humans. No top-down God, now only sideways God. This is one of the great confirmations: this glory, this being with Jesus in the glory, is something which is going to come down upon everybody at Pentecost, we are going to be inside it. And it's going to work sideways, horizontally, not vertically as heretofore. The voice speaks, the 'bath qol', the “daughter of the voice” as in the Hebrew tradition, but it says, “This is the one, this is my Son, listen to him. He's the one I've chosen. All his words will be my words.”
"“When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and in those days told no one any of the things they had seen.” Well of course one wonders why not, one wonders whether it was because they couldn't really imagine there, weren't words for it, they were being given bits of a vision of what was going on around them that was far too great for them to be able to work out what was going on. Which is why they were planned witnesses. Which is why also they saw the next moment of the theophany at Gethsemane, and why thereafter they were witnesses when it came to choosing who to fulfill the role of the missing member of The Twelve. Jesus setting people up so that they could actually have an idea of the grandeur of what had been spoken amongst them, of what it was going to look like: God fulfilling his promise to Abraham. And that this, this that they had seen, this was what all the weight of glory looked like in their midst.
"And I think that this is a wonderful thing for us in our Lenten journey [Lent begins this Wednesday, Ash Wednesday], because often in lent we just get little hints of what is being done for us, just occasionally, we can't put it together. And i think that that's right. I think that our experience is closer to that of the disciples, the apostles, then we may think, that Luke is so good at giving us scenes that we think, “Oh it must have been a very spectacular thing,” but what he's doing is showing how something that can be described as very spectacular, if you unpick every detail turns into something which is actually the sort of thing that we are on the inside of as we prepare to see his glory."
- James Alison's, from video "Homily for the Second Sunday in Lent 2022 C" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uT5toq6NsYU)
[For further discussion and reflection on this week's lectionary texts: https://girardianlectionary.net/reflections/year-c/transfig_c/]
[Note that Transfiguration is celebrated on the Second Sunday in Lent in the Roman Catholic liturgical year. I highly recommend James Alison's video "Homily for the Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time 2022 C" which looks at Luke 6: 39-45 : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWdRkUs5ZY4]
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