Feast of the Transfiguration of the
Lord
Cycle
A
August
6, 2017
4:00pm
at Saint Margaret Parish, Bel Air
9:30
and 11:15am at Saint Mary Parish, Pylesville
The Message: Beloved
The
message today is clearly about Jesus himself.
But, of
course, this focus always leads to us. So
there is also a message about us.
Jesus: Beloved
The
gospel passage says that Jesus is “transfigured.”
He
himself doesn’t change but his appearance changes. Peter, James and John see him differently.
Now,
these disciples are probably aware of the description of “the Ancient One” – that’s the expression used in the Book of
Daniel, our first reading. Daniel has
this vision of “the Ancient One” –
God the Father.
He sees
light and brightness surrounding the Father.
“His clothing was bright as snow,
and his hair white as light.”
In a
similar way, the disciples see Jesus’ “face
shining like the sun and his clothes as white as light.” So, they must have made the connection with “the Ancient One.”
They
now know that Jesus has a unique relationship with God. Then a voice from a cloud really nails it down
for the disciples.
“This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well
pleased.”
“This is my beloved Son.”
These
words confirm what the disciples are seeing.
This man whom they have been following, Jesus, is the Son of God.
We: Beloved
One of our Catholic
theologians takes the words spoken from the cloud a step farther.
He says that God
is saying the same words to us. “You are my beloved daughter. You are my beloved son.”
God is speaking these
same words to all of us who are connected with Jesus through baptism. And God is speaking these words to all human
beings because all are connected to the Father in the very act of creation.
So, “You are my beloved daughter. You are my beloved son.”
These powerful
words form the foundation of our self-worth.
They give us a strong basis for our self-esteem.
So, maybe each day
it would be good to prayerfully remember God speaking these words to us. They give us a footing for the day – to live
out of that sense of self-worth.
And maybe we can
especially hear God saying these words when we feel down or put down, when we
feel failure and when we feel left out.
If we recall these words in those moments, we can continue to live out
of our inherent worth as persons.
This will help us
not to give up on life and not to strike back at others. We will know intuitively that we are okay and
worthy no matter what is going on.
Others: Beloved
Now there is one
more message here about Jesus and about us.
The passage says
that Moses and Elijah appear with Jesus.
Moses is the giver
of the Law and Jesus says that he comes to fulfill the Law. The Law says that we are not to kill, and now
Jesus says that we are not to act out of any kind of destructive anger.
Elijah is the last
great prophet and Jesus says that he comes to fulfill the prophets. The prophets tell us to care for the poor,
and now Jesus says that when we care for those in need, we are actually caring
for him.
So Jesus respects
Moses and Elijah, accepts what they say and then takes it farther. He doesn’t bash or trash them as a way to
assert himself and his teaching.
The message for us
is that we also are not to bash and trash.
We are not to shame and humiliate others.
We are not to do
this in our one-on-one relationships. And
we are not to do this in any group or public setting.
We don’t have to
do this to feel worthwhile and good about ourselves because our self-worth
comes from God. We are God’s beloved
sons and daughters.
And we don’t this
to others because they also are God’s sons and daughters. We just need to recall those words from the
cloud.
Conclusion
So, quite a
passage of Scripture this morning.
A great statement
about Jesus and who he is. And a great
statement about who we are and how we are to live.
