Transfiguration and eternal resolve

There are transformative moments in all our lives which forever change us and how we view the world around us. These moments are milestones by which we measure periods of time. This time we live in is a universal transformative period which will be known as the pandemic period. This and other transformative events mark times of joy and moments of great sadness.

When we graduate from high school, we know that we are truly seen as an adult. When we enter into Christian marriage, we commit ourselves fully to our husband or wife; we are no longer living only for ourselves but also for our spouse. The same can be said when we celebrate the birth of our children; we are called to love unconditionally as God loves. It is when we have children that we come to genuinely love unconditionally. We now understand how our Lord could give his life for our salvation, because we would give our life for our child. This love is so great it knows no limits.  

There are also transformative moments that change our perspective on life and how we relate to the world around us. These moments even affect our relationships with the people we love. The crisis moments — such as the pandemic we are living through — can leave us fearful and numb. These moments of sorrow and pain are overwhelmingly transformative because our lives are so fundamentally changed. The losing of a loved one, especially the loss of a child, not only transforms our lives it fundamentally changes our lives beyond all recognition. We cannot even put into words the depth of despair and how that despair causes us to feel we also have died.

How do we overcome such despair? Despair must be transformed into a resolve. This resolve comes from a deeper transformation which is eternal. We find hope in this resolve and it brings us to a place that transfigures our pain and suffering into walking with the Lord in the land of the living. (Psalm 116: 10-19) We die to self and rise to new life in these transformative moments, and we are truly transfigured in the glory of God. Abraham himself had to come to terms with the unconditional love of his son and the unconditional love he was to have for God and God for him. “Take your son Isaac, your only, whom you love, and go to the Land of Moriah. There you shall offer him up as a holocaust.” (Genesis 22: 1-2) God’s own love is unconditional, that rather than Abraham sacrificing his son, Isaac, God would give his own son on the cross as a once-and-for-all sacrifice.

This glory of the transfiguration is a foreshadowing sign of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. The transfiguration of our Lord was about filling the Apostles Peter, James and John with an eternal resolve. When Jesus takes Peter, James and John to the top of that high mountain, he does so to give them hope and strength for the future. They will need that hope and strength to be filled with an unshakeable resolve in their faith in Jesus Christ during his passion and death on the cross. “He was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white.” (Mark 9:2-10)

When Jesus is transfigured with Moses and Elijah, they are given a glimpse of the promise of the resurrection. The reason being so they would have the knowledge of knowing that after the crucifixion, when they are filled with such profound sorrow and pain, they will have the resolve to withstand the doubt and the fear of the death of Jesus Christ. Their joy would return in three days with the empty tomb. But just like the Apostles, we all must live through Calvary so we can experience the resurrection. The transformative moments of our lives are punctuated by the suffering, death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, which helps us to celebrate more joyfully the milestones of great happiness and endure the times of great sorrow and pain. We have been given the glory of the transfiguration to sustain us for the moments of Calvary in our lives to enable us to have the resolve to hold onto the promise of the resurrection.