Transfigured Reality for Today

Reflection on how the transfiguration might help us navigate tense times.

Yesterday was, once again, The Feast of the Transfiguration. Which is my favorite liturgical feast of the year! Throughout the day I found myself thinking about the implications of the transfiguration. Sure, there are theological and eschatological implications that are fascinating. There are also implications for our daily life that are equally fascinating and possibly more important.

What does the transfiguration have to say about our spiritual formation and daily living?

This is something I’m particularly curious about and find myself fleshing out in some of my writing these days. I’m sure I’ll share bits of that along the way. For today, here are a couple bits of my writing that I keep trying to hone in, and then a final paragraph that I wrote yesterday with this question in mind…

How might the transfiguration form and inform our engagement in such a tense and divisive season of life in our world and in our country?

So here are my thoughts on our participation in a transfigured reality.

The revelation we are given in the transfiguration narrative is that of a transfigured reality; everything is caught up in the uncreated light. At that moment, all of creation participates in both the divine and material, the transcendent and immanent, in the already and not yet. This scene is one of apocalyptic beauty; which is to say it is an unmasking (apocalypse) of the transcendental attribute of beauty, as found in Jesus, correlating to his glory and reflected in his good creation. It is Jesus who participates perfectly in this transcendent moment on the mountain, and it is Jesus who shows that humanity is also invited to participate. The apocalyptic slant and realized eschatology of the scriptures are important and compelling attributes of the sacred text, tantalizing the imagination and deepening mystery and wonder.

And so it is revealed in the transfiguration narrative that we, like the disciples, are given eyes to see present realities, not just of evil and corruption, but of the kingdom that has come and is always present, even if often just beyond our sight. To an extent, fear and confusion keep the disciples from always living into and according to this revelation they have been given. However, in their continued pursuit of Jesus, they have an awareness that there is more going on than their eyes can see, even in their most terrifying and confusing moments. This apocalyptic slant is present in Mark’s agenda from the beginning: “the kingdom of God is at hand” (Mark 1:15). This notion of the kingdom is about seeing that which has come, specifically Jesus who embodies the kingdom and gives access to it. Though the kingdom is not completely manifest or accessible in its totality and fullness, the kingdom of God is nonetheless present in a radical way. When we embrace our participation in this transfigured reality we begin to see not simply with our eyes but with a spiritual awareness that has been activated in those who encountered Christ and been sent into the world to live with this apocalyptic awareness of the kingdom in mind.

This transfigured reality is something we would all do well to embrace in this season of tension and division. As we get worked up, often rightly so, by all that we see on the TV or read in the newspaper (let’s not even mention X / formally known as Twitter), let us remember that there is a reality we participate in that is unseen, yet it is meant to be the primary location adn guiding way of God’s people. This reality is the kingdom of God and the abiding presence of King Jesus. This way is the Kingdom Way! The kingdom of God is at hand friends! Let the way of the kingdom, the ethics and politics, the values and virtues of the kingdom be the dominant reality in our lives, the guiding infrastructure of our daily engagement and interaction. It’s not a means of disengagement in “the world” but it is a call to engage in a particular way, in the way of Jesus and his kingdom. This way is marked by both truth telling and gentleness, honesty and love, clarity and joy, sober judgment and peace, activism and patience, confrontation and kindness, goodness, faithfulness, self-control, and the like. In our pursuit of justice, and at times a call to the prophetic we can’t leave behind the fruit of the spirit. Honestly, I don’t often know how to do this well but I’m confident that if I live and am led by this unseen transfigured reality I will find help along the way.

So as we think about this transfigured reality, may we commit to participate as those transfigured but his love, living in his kingdom, and those daily led by his grace and goodness!