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Transfiguration B (February 19, 2012) Mark 9:2-9, 2 Cor. 4:3-6)

Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up

a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them,

and his clothes became dazzling white, ... As they were coming down the mountain,

he ordered them to tell no one about what they had seen, until after the Son of Man

had risen from the dead. Mark 9:2-3a, 9

        And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing .....
        For it is the God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” who has shone
        in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
        of Jesus Christ.                                                                                            2 Cor: 4:3, 6

We're so familiar with the story of Jesus' transfiguration that it is very easy to see and hear only what we expect to hear. Thanks to a number of  www.textweek.com bloggers I have seen a whole new aspect of this story come to life. I pray it will for you as well!

On the mountain Jesus is transfigured. Transformed. Metamorpheo'd (the Greek root of our English metamophosis). He is 'changed' ... but is he made different than he had been? or is he simply revealed in all his glory -- glory that is of .God, divine glory, glory that has always been his and will be fully revealed .when the kingdom comes?

Rev. Mike Baughman, writing for Russell Rathbun's blog The Hardest Question this week, makes a distinction between transformation and transfiguration. The former, he says, does indeed involve change, "We treat new Christians, teenagers and ordination candidates (among others) like cancer patients who need to have unhealthy tumors removed and medicine injected. What if we sought to transfigure them instead? What if we were confident enough to assume that the full glory of God was already buried inside everyone? What if we believed that it isn’t our job to inject Jesus into them, but to draw Jesus out of them?"

Jesus is transfigured -- the fullness of divine glory is unleashed (-- not injected!) And then it is veiled once more.so he can return down the mountain. Back to the 'real' world of pain and hunger and illness. Back down to fulfill the purpose of his incarnation.

We have been created in God's image. Even the brokenness of the present world cannot destroy that. Even the god of this world cannot eradicate that from you. It is a bit of God's own likeness implanted within, and it can be clouded or covered over, but not destroyed.

What is it in the world that veils God's glory in you? Will you follow Jesus back down the mountain to listen and learn from him in order to allow him to peel that veil back, layer by layer, until God's glory radiates brilliantly from you?