Transfigured
How the Glory of Jesus Transforms Living (or "A Nexus in Time and T. S. Eliot")
I was going to post this theological reflection about Jesus’ Transfiguration yesterday, viz., Transfiguration Sunday. But I couldn’t do it—not, I didn’t feel like it, or I decided to do otherwise. I was physically unable to finish my thoughts and write—no wonder I am not in a pulpit. I am once again reminded of the thorn that limits me, frustrates me, and, at times, when I am alert, reminds me that all acts of service in the Kingdom of God are gifts, not rights. Serving the Lord is not intended to be a narcissistic exercise in self-realization—anything but. Instead, we serve (and we all serve Him in one way or another) at the divine pleasure of God. It is not about me: simple concept, easily believed, constant battle to live. Well, I open with this because writing about the Transfiguration on the day after the Transfiguration Sunday is an unambiguous announcement that I am not yet transfigured. O, that I might just be transformed for now.
Without further tedious introspection, I share this with you and pray it blesses someone.
* * *
Christian communities around the earth remember the Transfiguration of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The Transfiguration is no mere milestone in Jesus’ life. It is more like a turning point in cosmic history. The Lord himself carefully orchestrates the moment and brings together the self-revelation of Jesus as Almighty God, his relationship with the ancient covenant of God with man, the continuity of God’s saving plan, and the blessing of the triune God on this incomprehensible and immutable moment in time.
Then, what do we have to say about the Transfiguration? How would we describe it? One commentator put it like this:
The Transfiguration was the glorification of the human body of Jesus. On this occasion, His body underwent a change in form, a metamorphosis, so that it shone as brightly as the sun. At the time of the Transfiguration, Jesus' earthly ministry was coming to a close. He had acknowledged that He was the Messiah and predicted His death and resurrection. Now He was to reveal, to a select few, His divine glory.[1]
Like most things, simple, they are profound. And the event of the Transfiguration is announced with simple elegance: “And he was transfigured before them; his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light” (Matthew 17:2). Very straightforward. An economy of words records the incomprehensible, immensity wrapped in stunned brevity. Poetry, rather than science, is our medium for expressing the inexpressible. T. S. Eliot wrote about the splendor we see in the Transfiguration:
But to apprehend The point of intersection of the timeless With time, is an occupation for the saint” (‘The Dry Salvages’).[2]
Our Lord’s Transfiguration lies at a sacred nexus of timelessness and time, eternity and seasons, earth-bound, and world without end. Amen. Jesus’ Transfiguration on the “high mountain” (Mount Hermon?) is an “occupation for the saint” because such a wonder is more than sufficient to fill a lifetime of reflection. And theological reflection—Christian meditation, if you prefer—is a worthy occupation with remuneration paying compounding interest. Adding wonder to living causes every cell in our being to come alive—the subatomic particles of soul and body, a veritable solar system unto itself, spin at a heightened rate and shoot stars in the subconscious world. The Transfiguration of our God and Savior Jesus Christ (and God He is) is our occupation because we are dying from want of wonder. We need the intersection of time and timelessness to remind us that life is more than what we can see. This is the vision that Jesus brought Peter, James, and John—and the Church, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. And that vision of God with us is transformative until, at length, it becomes transfigurative.
Adding wonder to living causes every cell in our being to come alive—the subatomic particles of soul and body, a veritable solar system unto itself, spin at a heightened rate and shoot stars in the subconscious world. — M. A. Milton, Transfigured, 2023
[1] Don Stewart. “What Was the Significance of Jesus’ Transfiguration?.” Blue Letter Bible. Last Modified 24 April 2007. https://www.blueletterbible.org/faq/donstewart/donstewart786.cfm
[2] “The Dry Salvages” in The Poems of T. S. Eliot, Vol. I: Collected and Uncollected Poems, ed. Christopher Ricks and Jim McCue (London 2015) p. 199.
Keywords: theological reflection, Jesus’ Transfiguration, Transfiguration Sunday, pulpit, thorn, limits, frustration, acts of service, Kingdom of God, gifts, divine pleasure, narcissistic exercise, self-realization, Christian communities, Lord and Savior, turning point, cosmic history, self-revelation, Almighty God, ancient covenant, God’s saving plan, triune God, moment in time, glorification, human body, change in form, metamorphosis, sunlight, straightforward, economy of words, poetry, T. S. Eliot, sacred nexus, timelessness, eternity, theological reflection, Christian meditation, wonder, vision, Peter, James, John, Church, Holy Spirit, transformative.