Metamorphosis

The scriptures referred to are Matthew 17:1-9.

Peter is one of the most relatable people in the New Testament. He runs the gamut of human responses. He is impulsive, quick to jump out of a boat and try to walk to Jesus on the water. (Matthew 14:22-33) He is brave, drawing one of the only two swords they had to defend Jesus from the troops sent to arrest him. (John 18:10-11) He is also a coward, denying Jesus 3 times when asked by those standing outside the high priest's house as Jesus was tried. (Mark 14:66-72) He is remorseful, going off and weeping immediately after his denials when he realized what he'd done. After the resurrection, he is back to form, jumping out of a boat to swim to Jesus. (John 21:1-7) He becomes the spokesman for the Twelve on Pentecost (Acts 2) and defies the authorities when told to stop proclaiming the gospel of Jesus (Acts 5:27-33) He at first reluctantly preaches to and then baptizes some Gentiles. (Acts 10). He then backs up Paul's ministry to the Gentiles (Acts 15) and yet he waffled when confronted by Jewish Christians. (Galatians 2:11-14) All of us contain contradictions but Peter seems to ricochet between his more than most.

And, knowing this, Jesus may have had Peter in mind especially when taking him, James and John up the mountain in today's gospel passage. Immediately before this, in the previous chapter of Matthew we are told, “When Jesus came to the area of Caesarea Phillipi, he asked his disciples, 'Who do people say that the Son of Man is?' They answered, 'Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.' He said to them, 'But who do you say that I am?' Simon Peter answered, 'You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.' And Jesus answered him, 'You are blessed, Simon son of Jonah, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father in heaven! And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of of Hades will not overpower it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever you release on earth will be released in heaven.” (Matthew 16:13-19) So that must have made Peter feel very good.

But then we are told: “From that time on Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests, and experts in the law, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. So Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him: 'God forbid, Lord! This must not happen to you!' But he turned and said to Peter, 'Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me, because you are not setting your mind on God's interests, but on man's.'” (Matthew 16:21-23) Peter pivots rather quickly from telling Jesus he is the Messiah to telling Jesus he is wrong. And Jesus goes from saying God revealed his identity to Peter to telling him that Satan is speaking through him. It must have left Peter shocked and confused.

Jesus knows that things are going to get a lot harder for him and for his disciples. How can the Messiah die? When the worst happens, it will be difficult for them to retain their faith in him. So Jesus takes the core group high up a mountain and there he is transfigured. The Greek word for this is the one from which we get the word “metamorphosis.” Its root means “changing form in keeping with inner reality.” So Jesus is showing the three disciples what he really is. Visually this translated into “his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white.”

Light is a common metaphor for God and for Jesus. In 1 John it says, “God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.” (1 John 1:5) In Revelation it says of the new Jerusalem, “The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp.” (Revelation 21:23) In the prologue to John's gospel it says, “In him was life and the life was the light of mankind.” (John 1:4) And Jesus says, “I am the light of the world.” (John 8:12) And here Jesus is making the metaphor visible to impress it upon his disciples.

Jesus always seeks to communicate the good news in the most effective way. He didn't merely preach that God's kingdom was present; he demonstrated it. By healing the sick. By feeding the hungry. By forgiving the sinful. By giving life to those considered beyond hope. Everything he thought, said and did shouted “This is what happens when God reigns.” People needed to hear that.

And I think at this moment, James, John and especially Peter needed to see Jesus as he really was, bursting with glory. They needed to see him visibly connected with the foremost representatives of the Law and the Prophets, Moses and Elijah. They needed to hear God call him his beloved son. They needed to see Jesus ablaze with divine light.

Because the dark times were coming. They would see Jesus betrayed and arrested and beaten and flogged and stumbling through the streets under the weight of the cross beam and hoisted onto the upright and nailed to the tree and bleeding and struggling for breath and pierced with a spear and cold and dead and wrapped up and laid in the tomb. The sun would hide itself and things would look dark indeed.

But after a flat and sullen Sabbath, at the first dawn of the week, when the women would come running from the tomb, crying and laughing and babbling about angels and a risen Jesus, they needed to remember that he was not merely flesh and blood, but the light of the world, who enlightens everyone, and whom the darkness could not overcome.

Peter needed a dramatic vision of who Jesus was to make it through the darkness he and the others would face that Passover. And after the resurrection of Jesus, Peter was not instantly perfect. He was still a mass of contradictions. But transformed by his experiences with Jesus, he became one of the leading lights of the early church.

So what does this have to do with us? Remember how the root of the Greek word for “transfigure” means to change form in keeping with inner reality. It is also the word used when we are told, “Do not be conformed to this present world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind...” (Romans 12:2) As followers of Jesus, filled with his Spirit, we are to let ourselves to be transfigured as well. Jesus said that we, like him, are to be the light of the world. “Let your light shine before people, so that they see your good deeds and give glory to your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16) People need to see Jesus at work in this world to get through the times of darkness. If we obey God, if we fully cooperate with his Spirit at work within us, we will glow with his glory and people will see his light and take hope that the reign of God is dawning.