The Transfiguration Teaches How God Thinks

Every Lent, the Church includes the story of the Transfiguration of Jesus. The story is documented in each of the synoptic Gospels because of its importance. A general rule of thumb is that any story included in more than one Gospel is a message that should be listened to well.

Such is the case with the Transfiguration; it was such a powerful event that St. Peter recalled his experience years later. “This is my Son, my beloved, with whom I am well pleased. We ourselves heard this voice come from heaven while we were with him on the holy mountain.”    

Before taking his disciples up Mount Tabor, Jesus predicted to them that the Son of Man must suffer and die, and after three days, he would rise from the dead. Immediately, Peter objected, and Jesus strongly rebuked him by saying, “Get behind me, Satan. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.” Jesus then said that those who wish to follow him must deny himself and pick up their crosses.

When Jesus was Transfigured and his glory was shown, along with him was the prophet Elijah and Moses, who had long been deceased. These two figures represented the continuity between the old and new covenants. The law was given to Moses on Mount Sinai, and Elijah received the revelation of God while also on a mountaintop.  With Moses and Elijah present with Jesus, the law and the prophets of old gave testimony that the Passion leads to the glory of the Resurrection.  

The Transfiguration can only be understood if the backdrop of the Passion is considered. Without faith, the concept of suffering and death preceding glorification is counterintuitive. If Jesus is only seen as a political Messiah, then suffering and death would be an end to his power. Jesus did not come to overthrow governments and seize earthly power, for his mission was far more significant. His mission was to transform humanity into sons and daughters of God.  The transformation can only occur when a disciple thinks as God does by picking up his cross, denying himself, and following Jesus. 

This is the trap St. Peter initially fell into. His human thinking is the tendency we all have to focus on our temporal lives while overlooking the needs of our spiritual dimension. The never-ending search for financial security often obscures the fact that someday, suffering will come, and earthly death will soon follow.  Even with this certainty, some continue to put all their efforts into what is fleeting without concern for what will come. These types are thinking as humans do, not as God.

Those who believe in salvation and the importance of the spiritual life shed their human thinking and attempt to follow the pattern of Jesus, who suffered, died, and rose on the third day.  The season of Lent is when we put our lives in perspective. It demands that we deny ourselves pleasurable things to assimilate into the pattern established by God to look past our temporary existence with a greater desire for a life that will never end.

Thinking like God means we embrace Jesus’ cross as the means to our salvation. The glorification of our bodies and spirits, culminating as saints in Christ, must first experience our denial of our unhealthy inclinations by picking up our crosses in union with Christ. 

Sometimes, we falter but have the courage to try again. Go back to your acts of self-denial, and if you have failed, there is still plenty of time this Lent to pick up your small cross again and follow him.  Each small cross we pick up during Lent and throughout our life gets us closer to knowing what God thinks. The closer we get to knowing what God thinks, the closer we come to life eternal.