Today is the feast day of the transfiguration, on which we mark the moment when God revealed the divinity of Jesus to the disciples. The scene is filled with symbolism. Moses represents Exodus, the period in which God redeemed the Hebrew people and led them out of Egypt. Elijah, who was sent to convince the Israelites to return to God, represents the end times, not because he predicted it but because scripture says that he will return in then, presumably to continue his work. One could argue that the appearance of Moses and Elijah on that mountain top is a sign that the mission of Jesus is to continue the redemptive work of God, that began with Exodus and that will continue until the end of time.

Jefferey Tribble Sr., a professor at Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur GA, says “As we exercise spiritual discernment and social analysis of our present situations, our theology of mission must be informed by visions of the future reign of God. Professing faith in Christ is one thing, but living our Christian faith requires greater depth and breadth in our spiritual formation.” The transfiguration is not something that needed to happen in order for Jesus to continue his mission, but it was necessary for the disciples to do theirs and subsequently for us to do ours.

The transfiguration was the revealing of a truth. It revealed that Jesus was truly Emmanuel, God with us. God chose to reveal this truth so that the disciples would understand that their faith and hope for the future did not rest on the shoulders of a man, but on the shoulders of God. The consistent problem facing humanity throughout the Hebrew scriptures, as well as today, is our inability to maintain focus on spiritual matters. We get wrapped up in ritual and other concrete and tangible things, such as buildings. Notice that Peter wanted to build a house for Jesus, Moses, and Elijah to mark the spot they appeared together as if that was the only spot it would be possible to encounter God. Though that brings to mind the question of whether that is any different than constructing a giant stone building and calling it a church. While this is a place we encounter the divine, it is not the only place we do so?

In our fast-paced and noisy world, it can be challenging to listen to Christ amid the distractions and perhaps that is why we tend to focus on experiencing God in this setting. The Transfiguration reminds us that Jesus is the ultimate authority and the embodiment of truth and to fully understand we must seek to listen to Christ through the reading of scripture and prayerful discernment. Our faith journey is not just about rituals and buildings, it is about being in communion with the living God so that their redemptive work can continue and to be in communion with God requires the breadth and depth in spiritual formation that Jeffrey Tribble was speaking of. If we do not seek to expand our understanding of God and what it means for Jesus to be the embodiment of God then it will not be possible for us to live the life God calls us to. God’s redemption of creation is ongoing, but our understanding of it is superficial at best and will remain so unless we change how we think about what it means to live a Christian life. Our understanding of our call to mission needs to include an acknowledgment that God’s vision for kingdom living may not look anything like our current experience of it. This does not mean that what we are doing is wrong, it does not mean that God is not present in our lives, nor does it mean that we need to drop to our knees and beg for forgiveness; what it means is that when the opportunity presents itself to stretch our understanding of who Jesus was and what it means to be his follower. I do not believe that God wishes for us to be anything other than who and what we are, God will find ways to reach the us and the world no matter what we do, but if we have a desire to meet the challenges of this world head-on, to fulfill our baptismal vow of treating all people with dignity and respect then I can’t help but think that we need to spend more time thinking about how our understanding of God’s vision of the future needs to affect the decisions we make in the present.