I had a late night. Maybe not the latest kind of night. Some nights never end. Still, I’m tired, and I get tired of this kind of thing, putting God in the clouds with dead people appearing out of nowhere. Not to mention lighting up Jesus in the middle of it. Transfiguration you call it. Put a big term on it and call it glory. Give it a rest, please.

Let’s say this as lovingly as one can. (In other words, some frustration has to be swallowed for this to come out right.) A few weeks ago, the nation and beyond watched what is billed as the biggest night of football and maybe America. Anyone driving down a street saw in windows that weird light emanating from big screens. You won’t find anything else this year with more hype and spin. But tell a story about a revelation of God, and you get tired?

Sorry. Accept my apology please. It’s just that so many want a big show, a few feel good moments in song and commercials, spectacular halftimes, and hard-fought competition. There’s nothing so bad in any of that, but still, when it’s over, does it get you through the next day, week, life? Has it helped enrich and sustain your relationships? In the long run, is the world getting better because of it?

You see, what happened that day was more than a show of the spectacular. Only a few best friends got to experience it. Peter, James, and John were brought along for a trek up a mountain. Once they reached the top, it wasn’t panoramic views that held them in awe. Something both strange and wonderful happened to Jesus as he prayed. Suddenly, he wasn’t the man they had known and followed.

In a Flash

That’s the point. His humanity fell away. Jesus changed into something they may have sensed, even struggled to believe about him. He became not just the Son of Man, but the Son of God. Dazzling, luminous, blinding, fully overpowering light came from him and shone on him, a source that both generated from him and projected upon him.

What’s more, two figures join him, two who are recognized as among the most influential prophets God had ever produced, Moses and Elijah. Note the past tense. What was before is now with what is present. All of God’s plan seemed complete.

Peter, James and John were very sleepy, maybe even in a spiritual trance. Coming out of it, Peter wanted it never to end. But it had, gone in the same flash in which it had come. He wants to build some kind of shrine for each of them. Honestly, he likely didn’t know what he was saying, except that he was afraid both of the power displayed as well as afraid it would not last.

Glory Upon Glory

A cloud of light moved in. Fear froze the three witnesses. A voice from the cloud, an unmistakable thought, maybe even knowledge beyond thought, spoke. “This is my Son, my Chosen One. Listen to him.”

With that, everything changed to how it was before. Only Jesus alone, just Jesus, was there. They started down the mountainside. No one speaks of this for a long time.

Any who have ever had a mountaintop experience will tell you, it’s nothing that can be planned, arranged, or scheduled. Spiritual encounters come out of the blue, filled with insights, revelations not previously perceived but somehow needed and relevant to a moment or period of life. And they never last. If anything, they serve as touchstones reminding of the source of that power, power greater than oneself in God who was, is and will always be.

Can’t Stay in the Clouds

Yet, that’s not the most significant part of the mountaintop. The path always leads down again to where the ground is level, the road of living and journey before you. The experience never gives all the answers complete and packaged up for reference. Still, it does gives direction.

All these men had was a glimpse, a short-lived moment. It flashes out as does the sun rising over the horizon taking away breath and raising fervent desire it would stay just there. It does, but only for the time it takes to realize its full luminance, then mellows into the morning and day. It’s not gone, but not seen in the same way.

This moment was just that kind of glimpse, a flash of clear vision into God’s vision or point of view. It’s not for everyone, at least not in the same way. But it does overcome the common, everyday plodding through life whenever Jesus is seen or realized in a new light. It floods the mind and soul. Love is known in clearer, fuller ways.

Listen to him, the Voice had said. Listen to the words of Jesus, learn from him, get totally behind him.  In the low days and high mountains of life, through the valley and its shadows, follow him. When nights are dark and days threaten, or should the sun shine with blessing, listen to him.

Follow that flash of light given to you.

Luke 9:28-36

The Trouble with Jesus: Considerations Before You Walk Away by Constance Hastings

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