Transfiguration

I believe it was St Augustine who said - show me what you love and I will show you where your heart is. I want to put a twist on this idea. Show me who you trust and I will show you what you believe.

It's all about trust, isn’t it? Everything that is relational is built on trust. The greater the trust the stronger the relationship. When we trust someone we tend to believe what that person tells us.

And believing, accepting with certainty, is a definition of faith. Trusting and believing, and to have faith are all acts of human freedom. In our daily lives we are asked to trust and believe others. Science, Culture, Politics all via for of belief. We are familiar with knowledge of the world (which reveal facts and ideas), but there is also divine revelation (which reveals Gods presence).

 The question today is who is worth trusting and why? The answer affects what we believe.

If the knowledge comes from the world we can weigh the facts, get a second opinion or open another book.  But, what if the knowledge comes from God? Can we judge Gods trustworthiness? Now where does our second opinion come from? Is acquiescing in blind faith, the same as believing?

 The story of Abram is just such as story. Abram, who will be renamed by God for his faith - Abraham, begins with an astonishing event - “The Lord speaks directly to Abram".

God's direct communication awakens a new inner light of human perception in Abram. He begins to see in the world what is otherwise is hidden. God revealed to Abram, not facts, but his very presence. And this revelation changes everything. For perceiving God’s presence, he begins to share in God's reality. And this reality is a plan that can only be accomplished if Abram chooses, in freedom, to believe in the plan. But, before Abram can believe the word of God, Abram must trust God. And, as odd as this sounds, God needed to show himself trustworthy.

 The long and involved story of Abram is the story of growing trust in God by man.

It begins with unbelievable words from God telling Abram to leave his country and his father's house and go to a land that God would show him and there he will be made a great nation.

So, in a growing, but tentative trust, Abram, at the age of 75, uproots his family and leaves the known for the unknown. And there was another problem. Abram and Sarah were older and had no children. How was he to be the father of a great nation?

  Abram turns to God, as one person to another, and asks for proof of this fantastic promise.

O Lord, what will you give me so I can believe, for I continue to be childless? God brings Abram out into the night and shows him the stars, glorious and uncountable, and says this is how numerous your descendent will be. I imagine God used the beauty and magnitude of the cosmos to convince Abram.  God was saying I can do this, I can do all things. I will do as I promise.  In the light of this compelling show of creative force, Abram is reassured and chooses again to trust in God. Abram believes God. Abram has Faith.
We know God, responded to this Faith by making a binding covenant, a physical sign of a supernatural promise made to Abram and his descendants.

 In the second reading we have another example of trust leading to faith. St Paul asks the Philippians to trust him and so believe the Good News he brings to them. Be imitators of me, because you trust me. Believe in what I tell you, not because of the words I use, but because you know me and trust me.  As he simply says elsewhere - I am what I am.

Why does Paul ask the Philippians to trust him? Because, passing on faith cannot happen any other way. This was his experience. Paul himself had to first trust someone, then believe that person, and grew in faith in that person. We know that someone was the Risen Lord, Jesus Christ.

 But, in today's Gospel, this is what the disciples were still struggling with. Who was Jesus?

The disciples were conflicted, Jesus has told them what they didn't want to hear, that he will suffer and be killed. And he told them something they can't understand, that on third day he will be raised!  He tells them the hard truth, you want to follow me take up the cross and deny yourself. The disciples struggled, all right.  How were they to believe? Earlier, Jesus had asked them, who do the people say I am? After varied answers Jesus goes right to the heart of the matter, fine, but who do you say I am? This is what the disciples must decide. It is what every person who encounters Jesus must decide. Can the disciples (can we) trust beyond reason and believe with transforming conviction, not an idea, but a person? Again and again the question - who do you say I am!

 In a rough sense this is what the transfiguration is about. Jesus wanted to shore up the disciples for what was ahead. He wanted to show them what was hidden from the world, who he is. At least he was showing James, John and Peter, who the others must trust to believe. We know story. It is clearly important to the early Church, it’s in Mark and Matthew, as well as, in Luke. Obviously, we all need reassuring, and shoring up. Jesus takes the three up the mountain.

And while Jesus is at prayer his appearance changes and it becomes dazzling white and glorious. A manifestation of his devine reality. Even Moses, the lawgiver and Elijah, the prophet appear and give testimony to Jesus’ trustworthiness.
Poor Peter, he wants to capture this moment. Freeze it in some sort of static permanence on the mountain. He wants to build tents for them, as if they would remain there forever.
Peter doesn’t realize that this is not the end, but the beginning. This devine encounter is not for those few on the mountain, but for the whole world. The transfiguration is not limited to that time, but encompasses all time. As they stand there, with thoughts racing through their heads. A cloud of revelation overshadows them. From the darkness of Holy Mystery, God communicates directly to those willing to hear.

Let's us go back to the beginning. Back to the idea that faith can only come from believing,

And believing, accepting with certainty what someone tells us, can only come from absolute trust in the person who tells us.

 The question is always – who do you think I am. And the unchanging answer for all time, comes from God’s own voice - this is my son, listen to him. The choice to trust is ours. The choice is ours to listen or not.  

 Scripture says Peter, James and John fell silent. No more racing thoughts, no more assumptions, opinions, and anxieties. At least, not till Jerusalem. But, on that day, on that mountain, they fell silent in the transforming certainly of him who speaks to us all.