Οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ Υἱός μου, ὁ ἀγαπητός, ἐν ᾧ εὐδόκησα, ἀκούετε αὐτοῦ. This is my Son, the beloved, in whom I have delight, listen to him.[1]
These beautiful powerful words have rung out across the ages, echoing those uttered at the baptism of the beloved Son in the Jordan, as the only utterance that God the Father is ever recorded as saying in the New Testament. They correspond with the assertion of St John of the Cross that “the Father only spoke but once; it was his Word. He spoke it eternally and in eternal silence”. They are mirrored in the prologue to St John’s gospel: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God …. in Him was life and the life was the Light of mankind …. And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us: and we saw his glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father.[2]
The three synoptic gospels and the second epistle of St Peter faithfully record this episode that took place on a high mountain, Mt Tabor, soon after naming Simon bar Jonah, Cephas (the Rock), and assigning him the responsibility of the keys, of binding and loosing. No sooner had Peter been given this privileged office that he became “satanic”. In the words of St Matthew, “Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders, chief priests and scribes and be killed and on the third day be raised”. The newly promoted Peter unthinkingly decided to “better” his Master and remonstrated with him. “Having taken him aside, he began to rebuke him, saying, ‘God forbid, Lord, never shall this happen to you!’[3].” Though he had received the keys of the kingdom, he did not yet habitually think as one on the side of God.[4] Jesus’ response is scathing: “get behind me, Satan, you are a stumbling block (skandalon) to me, for your thoughts are not of the things of God, but the things of men”. This must have cut Peter to the bone, to be a scandal, a pawn of Satan, yet St Augustine with spiritual insight perceived how the Beloved Son was drawing Peter and his other disciples to recognise the reality of what being his chosen ones means:
Impelled by perfect love, Peter ended his life dying for the name of Christ, with whom, he had earlier vowed, he wanted to die, but under the prompting of a disordered haste. Made strong by the Lord’s Resurrection, he will indeed accomplish what he had prematurely vowed when he was still weak.[5] So there in the following verses Jesus makes it explicit. “If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. Whoever desires to save his life will lose it; however, anyone who might lose his life anyhow, on account of me, will find it.”[6]
This, then, is the prelude to the Transfiguration. Jesus selects Peter, the rock who had become the stumbling block, together with James and his brother John and draws them (παραλαμβάνει) with him to Mt Tabor, putting into effect the words of the psalmist paraphrased by St Thomas More: Trahe me post te. In chamo et freno maxillas meas constringe quum non approximo ad te. “Draw me after You. With bit and bridle bind fast my jaws when I do not come near to You.[7] Once atop the mountain Jesus was transfigured (μετεμορφώθη) such that “his face shone like the sun” and his garments became white as the light. At that moment the three disciples were privileged see Jesus in his intimate relation to his Father, while he is transformed through prayer. This metamorphosis revealed the divine nature in the humanity of the beloved Son. It was a glimpse that terrified them with holy awe. Their reaction could only be to prostrate as they beheld the “face” of the Son of God in all its radiant glory. The Word was now evident as Person, as Light that shines in the darkness, that darkness cannot overpower. “Listen to Him” would now be etched in their memories forever as they were overwhelmed by the radiance of that vision.
Peter recalled this moment after Pentecost and recorded it in his second epistle spelling out the deepest meaning of the transfiguration:
“We were not inventing cleverly devised myths, when we preached to you the power and presence of our Lord Jesus Christ; we had been eyewitnesses of his exaltation. Such honour, such glory was bestowed on him by God the Father that a voice came to him out of the splendour that dazzles human eyes; ‘This’, it said, ‘is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; listen, then, to him.’ We, his companions on the holy mountain, heard that voice coming from heaven, and now the word of the prophets gives us more confidence than ever. With good reason you pay so much attention to that word; it will continue to shine in a dark place, until the day dawns, and the daystar arises in your hearts.”[8] The three disciples had to accompany Jesus back down the mountain and never fail to “listen to him.” If one encounters God’s word and in all humility listens to it, there is an impulse to press further. After having heard, the heart wants to see. Attentiveness to the voice that calls will eventually draw the listener nearer to the one calling. In the words of St Bernard, “You want to see? Then listen first. Hearing is a step towards seeing.” It is not easy to hear well from afar, the closer one moves towards the One who is calling, the clearer the voice and the surer the encounter. For this reason, the scriptures are the foundation of the sacred liturgy. This is how God speaks and invites us to listen to him. One endeavours to listen to him with an open heart to “see him as he really is”. Lectio divina, the practice of attentive reading and savouring the Word of God, draws one to a richer and deeper awareness of the identity of the divine Son whose form becomes clearer and increasingly radiant. Across the ages, in the introductory prayer of each Mass, the priest prays in the words of the psalmist for light and truth, that will “lead him out and up to your holy mountain and into your tent of dwelling and enter into the altar of God”.[9] It unfolds the revelation of God’s mystery in his Eucharistic face, disclosing the heavenly banquet and future glory. “How lovely are your tents of dwelling, Lord of hosts! My soul is longing and pining for the courts of the Lord.”[10]
PMW
[1] Mt 17: 5. See also Mk 9: 7, Lk 9: 35; 2 Pet 1: 17. [2] Jn 1: I et seq. [3] Mt 16: 22. Ἵλεώς σοι, Κύριε, οὐ μὴ ἔσται σοι τοῦτο [4] This presages the fact that the Petrine office does not always guarantee thinking on the side of God: φρονεῖς τὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ. [5] Augustine, Sermons: 143: 4. [6] Mt 16: 24-5. [7] Cant 1: 3; Ps 31: 9 [8] 2 Pet 1: 14-19. [9] Emitte lucem tuam, et veritatem tuam: ipsa me deduxerunt , et adduxerunt in montem sanctum tuum et in tabernacula tua, et introibo ad altare Dei… Ps. 42: 3-4. [10] Ps. 83:2-3; Introit of the Mass for the feast of the Transfiguration.
