By chhotebhai

Kanpur, March 14, 2022: On March 13 the Church celebrated the feast of the Transfiguration. While the gospel was being read my thoughts raced ahead.

The three Synoptic Gospels refer to the Transfiguration (cf Mat 17:1-8, Mk 9:2-8, Lk 9:28-36). Peter, who was present then, also alludes to it (cf 2 Pet 1:16-18).Significantly, all three synoptic writers situate this event shortly after Jesus’ first prediction of his passion. Mathew and Mark place it at 6 days later, while Luke says 8 days. This minor anomaly further convinces us that such an event did indeed take place.

How do we view the Transfiguration? That would largely depend on how we view Jesus and our personal relationship with him. Since the New Testament was written in Greek the word used is metamorphosis. In Greek mythology this was an attribute of the gods, to change their appearance. This is also to be seen in the many avatars of Hindu deities that have various aakaars (shapes).

I believe that our personal perception of Jesus is also varied. I am not here referring to theological definitions taught in childhood catechism class – Jesus is the second person of the Holy Trinity, the Son of God, true God and true man etc. These are static beliefs. What I mean now are dynamic experiences that change, evolve, mutate, progress or even regress back into impersonal static beliefs.

The best scriptural example of an evolving personal relationship with Jesus is that of Peter himself. Some of the terms that he uses to address Jesus are – Sir, Teacher, Master and finally “the Christ. The Son of the Living God” (Mat 16:16). They were Kyrie in Greek for a respected person, Rabbi in Hebrew for one from whom one could learn; Master whose orders or bidding one would follow; and the final proclamation of faith. Peter is my favorite biblical persona. He is at once humanly frail and yet so strong in faith.

Let us examine how Peter, together with the other two witnesses to the Transfiguration, James and John, respond to the event. When they see Jesus transfigured and talking to Moses and Elijah they are amazed or awestruck. Before that they were in a hazy daze. They were asleep, as later in the Garden of Gethsemane. Some charitable commentators say that they were in a state of ecstatic vision. However, from Peter’s reaction I am inclined to believe that as in Gethsemane, what was happening was too much for them to comprehend, hence the withdrawal into slumber.

Peter’s reaction was typically human, just like a later reaction to use a sword to chop off the ear of the High Priest’s servant (cf Mat 26:51). So his human response was to suggest that they build three “shelters” there for Jesus, Moses and Elijah. “Shelter” is the word used in the New Jerusalem Bible that I use. The Revised Standard Version translates it as “booths”, while the King James Version uses the term “tabernacles”. Fr Bulcke’s Hindi translation has “tamboo”, that gets translated back to “tent”.

I am not going to quibble over words. Rather than seeming different these words all mean the same thing, “a dwelling place for the Divine to reside”. Tabernacle comes from the Latin word tabernaculum that literally means tent. The Hebrew word originally used in the Old Testament is miskan that means “dwelling.”

The implied meaning is “ohel mo-ed” that is “tent of meeting”. Simply put, it is a sacred place where God dwells and people encounter Him. Surely then, Jesus should have been pleased with Peter’s reaction. To the contrary, Jesus would have none of this glorification in the rarefied atmosphere of a mountain top, commonly believed to be Mt Tabor. Instead he chooses to bring them back to earth, to come down from the mountain and confront realty.

He warns them to not talk of the Transfiguration until his death and resurrection. He also leads them to an immediate response to peoples’ need, in the form of liberating and epileptic demoniac (cf Mat 17:14-21). Jesus’ messaging is clear – the Transfiguration is part of a pilgrim’s progress (journey of discipleship). It is not a place to tarry for erection of tents/ tabernacles!

Unfortunately, this is what the Catholic Church in particular seems to have done over the centuries. It has chosen to erect magnificent churches with ornate tabernacles and gilded monstrances for the Lord to “dwell”. Like a caged parrot we have confined the all pervasive presence of the Lord to the physical species of the consecrated host in the tabernacle.

This tabernaclisation of Jesus can also be seen in our discipleship. In like manner we have confined and restricted our experience of Jesus to the Eucharistic celebration and moreso, the sacred species. So we have holy hours of adoration before the Blessed Sacrament exposed, with a lot of incense, chanting and going down on both knees. This suits a highly clericalized church, where one cannot encounter Jesus without the priest, the minister of the sacraments.

What I am saying may sound sacrilegious to many devout Catholics because this is what we have been taught to believe as kids in catechism class. It is not wrong, but incomplete. Most of us haven’t had the opportunity to grow beyond that.

Let us look at several other ways/ circumstances where Jesus is actually present. He is present where two or three are gathered in his name (cf Mat 18:20). He is present when we serve the needy (cf Mat 25:31-46). He is present when we are attentive to the Holy Spirit (cf Jn 16:13-15). He is present when we pray in the silence of our hearts (cf Mat 6:6). He is present when we meditate on sacred scripture (DV No 25). He is present in our families and married life that Vatican Ii describes as the domestic church (LG No 11). So let us not tabernaclise Jesus just as he warned his disciples not to do at the Transfiguration.

If we do, it will be a case of Configuration; that is placing things in a fixed pattern as I have just indicated. Configuration is not just a physical state, but also a psychological one. It is a “pattern of perception” studied in Gestalt therapy, a branch of psychoanalysis. From soma (physical) and psycho (emotional/ mental) we can apply the same to the pneuma (spiritual) because we are all pneuma-psychosomatic beings, with a combination of physical, emotional, mental and spiritual faculties.

What I am now saying may not be easy to digest in a single reading for those not initiated in the spiritual life. It would require deeper and quiet reflection, meditation and even contemplation. If Jesus advocates our moving on and Vatican II describes the church as a pilgrim people (LG No 8) and not one that has arrived at its destination, then it is incumbent on us to follow this path of discipleship.

In the course of my own spiritual journey I have discovered four mountain tops (peaks) where we can encounter Jesus at different stages. They are Mt Horeb (Sinai) where Moses first encounters the living God. I call this Attraction, as he was drawn to the burning bush. The second is Mt Tabor of the Transfiguration, where we are Amazed or awestruck. The third is Mt Calvary where one experiences Annihilation, and the last is Mt Olives where one experiences the Ascension.

It is important for us to go through this progression of Attraction, Amazement, Annihilation and Ascension. This may not necessarily be a purely uni-directional linear progression. It could also be cyclic where we experience these stages with varying levels of intensity in our spiritual lives. If we get stuck at any one of these peaks it could result in Disfiguration, a gross distortion of our Christian discipleship.

Between the peaks there will also be the valleys of doubt, despair, and darkness. Despair, cynicism, unbridled anger and criticism, or other negative emotions can easily derail our quest for Christian discipleship. So let us keep our eyes on the Lord on these four mountain tops, moreso in this period of Lent (as individuals) and in synodal preparation (as a community of believers).

Let us pray and strive for a dynamic, evolving, adult faith as we journey onwards in our pilgrimage. We need to learn from the Transfiguration, and avoid the limitations of Configuration or the pitfalls of Disfiguration.

(The writer has authored books on spirituality including on the Trinity, Christology and Ecclesiology. He may be contacted at noronha.kp@gmail.com or 9415130822.)