For Sunday
Epiphany Last C
Collect
O God, who before the passion of your only begotten Son revealed his glory upon the holy mountain: Grant to us that we, beholding by faith the light of his countenance, may be strengthened to bear our cross, and be changed into his likeness from glory to glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
Reading
Reflection
The striking theme running through this gospel story we call the Transfiguration is one of fear and disappointment from Peter’s failure to understand the moment up the mountain to the rest of the disciples’ failure to heal the man’s child of an unclean spirit. As much as we see the glory of God through Jesus in dazzling white, the human mistakes threaten to overshadow the grace, contrasting glory with a seeming incompetence.
In the midst of this conflict and confusion, we have the voice of God offer a word of profound and prescient clarity: “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!”
It is easy to be overwhelmed by the enormity of it all; of the majestic, the frustrating, the confusing. Like Peter, we might not know what to do; worrying, frightened of making a mistake, or so desirous of doing “the right thing” that we stumble into planning when we ought to be listening. But this is our first work: listening to Jesus. Listening to his voice, his words, his actions, his teachings, his presence with us in the now and trusting that will reveal something like a response.