Change as the Process of Spiritual Metamorphosis

Last Epiphany A      February 23,2020

Ex.24:12,15-18,      Ps.99        

2 Peter 1:16-21  Matt. 17:1-9

Lectionary Link

Today in our Collect, the prayer for today, we asked that we might be changed into the likeness of Christ, from glory to glory as we behold the light of his countenance.

One of the basic requirements of human life is to learn how to deal with change.  To be human is to become aware of the passage of time.  And in our aging, we know ourselves as appearing to be different in time, even as we try to cover up the aging process cosmetically.  In our physical, lives we experience entropy, the running out of energy because the end of our physical lives is death.  But we encounter in our lives a counter force to the forces of entropy; we experience in our inner lives the optimism of assuming that some part of us will live forever.  We ponder the possibility that we will recognize ourselves as ourselves in the afterlife in a continuity with who we have been in this life.

In our lives of change how do we live toward the person that we might continue to be, rather than toward our physical homes, our bodies, which are in decline?

The word for transfiguration in Greek might be better translated metamorphosis and all of learn about this in elementary school science class as we were taught to observe the changes in the life cycles of butterflies.  And the church is so fascinated with butterflies, that the butterfly hatching out of a dead looking cocoon has become an oft used metaphor for the resurrection of Christ.

What insights can we gain from the metamorphosis of Jesus Christ event on the Mount of his special Epiphany, called the Transfiguration?

First, we know that the writers of the Gospels revisited themes from Hebrew Scripture to show the surpassing greatness of Jesus.  The event of the Transfiguration was presented to be akin to the event of Mount Sinai.  Moses had a shiny face in his encounter with God; the face of Jesus shone on the Mount of the Transfiguration.  The clouds and the elevation are in keeping with the traditions of describing significant manifestation of the divine.  In biblical symbology, cloud, elevation and light signify mystery, closeness to the divine presence of elevated realm and enlightenment through divine encounter.  Biblical landscape corresponds to personal inscape in the spiritual metamorphosis of those baptized and on the mystical path.

The chief gift of the former covenant was the Law.  The gift of the New Covenant is the person of Jesus Christ.  This contrast is presented in the description of the Transfiguration.

The apparitional appearances of Moses and Elijah meant that followers of Jesus believed him to be in continuity and in succession with the great traditions of the Hebrew Scriptures.  Moses and Elijah were mountain men; Moses saw God on Mount Sinai.  Elijah heard the still small voice of God in a mountain cave.  Elijah called down fire from heaven on the altar on Mount Carmel as he confronted the prophets of Baal.  To the members of the Judaic faith, the poignant references of Moses and Elijah on the Messianic resume of Jesus were important.  How can you go wrong in following Jesus if Moses and Elijah followed and affirmed him in their afterlife appearances?

The Transfiguration event stands between the baptism of Jesus and his resurrection.  The heavenly voice is heard again, like at his baptism, to proclaim Jesus as God beloved Son.  The lit face of Jesus is like a preview of what his appearances will be like in his resurrection.

Further, the Transfiguration visionary event allowed the friends of Jesus to witness a special experience of Jesus, Moses and Elijah.  Jesus invited his willing friend to climb the mountain with him to receive epiphany insights.

The sharing of the visionary event with his friends, is also an invitation for us to embrace the metamorphosis of the presence of the Risen Christ in our paths of mystical transformation.  Since change is inevitable in life, how do we embrace, and process change in the best possible way?  We do it in spiritual metamorphosis with the Risen Christ.

One of the natural tendencies of spiritual metamorphosis is our resistance to change and, in such resistance, we interpret the apparent absence of Christ as the real absence of Christ.  In spiritual metamorphosis, we prefer certain spiritual states over others.

We all perhaps prefer butterflies to cocoons, even as we know that there is not butterfly without the cocoon and the life of the cocoon is equal from the life of the butterfly, equal but different.  In faith, we have to learn how to accept the equal presence of the Risen Christ within the different phases of spiritual metamorphosis.

The mystics have written about the apparent states of deprivation in their mystical journey, as caught in the cloud of unknowing, or the dark night of the soul, or the state of purgation.  When Jesus said on the cross, "My God, why have you forsaken me," is this not the state of the apparent absence of God?

When Peter was on the Mount of the Transfiguration, he wanted to build tents or shrines for the three heroes to have permanent dwelling places.  This meant that he could try to retain endlessly a particular "butterfly" state of Jesus Christ.  Peter, like us, wanted to live on the mountain top; he did not want to descend to the demon possessed valley anymore.

Spiritual metamorphosis is learning to embrace dynamic change.  It is learning to have faith that the same presence of the Risen Christ is with us whether in the dark valley of human loss or on the mountain top of such apparent presence when faith is easy.  

We can be like Peter too in our spiritual lives.  We want to build a permanent dwelling place at the place of our significant spiritual break through.  We try to build rituals, readings, practice and songs around those breakthrough events.  And the assumption is that our spiritual growth has reached it height.  One of the pitfalls of trying to retain the states of our significant spiritual break throughs, is that we make them final and we can judge as lacking people who have not had that same superior experience that we had when we went on retreat.

Yes, we retain the insights of our mountain top experiences; but in spiritual metamorphosis, we are given a mountain top experience, only to see higher mountains which remain for us to climb, and to get there, we must go through valley, desert, storm, cloud and darkness and the exertion of another ascent.

The event of the Transfiguration is presented to us as we prepare for the ordeal of the forty days of Lent.  The church calendar is program which presents to us the rhythm of the life of spiritual metamorphosis.

Today, let us be reminded that we are dealing with change gracefully by accepting the path of spiritual metamorphosis as the Risen Christ asks us to identify with him as he works the process of transformation in our lives.

Enjoy the mountain top!  Enjoy the butterfly events!  But in faith let us also know that Christ is equally present in the valley, in times of loss, times of sin, times of failure and times of disappointment.  In the times when we seem deprived of the apparent presence of Christ, we need to recall the mountain top experience as a reminder to keep on, keeping on because we are in spiritual metamorphosis.

I wish for you many mountain top experiences and from them I pray that you will have the faith to celebrate the equal presence of the Risen Christ in all phases of our spiritual metamorphosis.  Amen.