TRANSFIGURATION

My son, the minister-to-be, is a sharer. He’s also a thinker, the type that reads then rereads specific Bible texts, to squeeze out one more revelation. A benefit of living in Washington DC and so close to the National Cathedral, my son also goes to Eucharist about three times a week, walking at least part of the way. Upon the convergence of these events, he often calls me so he can unpack his latest revelation.

This morning’s revelation was about the Transfiguration (Luke 9:28-14:25, Matthew 17:1-8.1), the event that Christians see as proof that this human Jesus was also the Son of God. Somehow man but somehow God, too. No longer Prophet but Divine.

 

Dan reminded me of the essential elements of the passage – Jesus, Moses and Elijah on a mountain. Peter, James and John nearby, weary and sleepy, suddenly awake to the brightness, the glow surrounding Jesus which enfolds Moses and Elijah as well. Peter, Jesus’ official Doer, immediately suggesting that the three disciples start building shelters for the Prophets and Jesus. Suddenly, while Peter is still speaking, God’s booming voice is heard, saying this Man they have known is truly his Son. Then God’s voice says “Listen to him.”

Up to his last reading of these passages, Dan has focused, like so many before him, on God’s first words. “This is my Son of who I am well-pleased.” This time, his reading provided different insights. Both Matthew and Luke’s passages relate that God interrupted Peter, a nonverbal instruction to “shush” which God reinforces with the command “Listen to Him.”

Dan was particularly excited about his insight that God had specifically instructed Peter, Jesus’s Doer, to listen. To stop doing and start listening, Dan believes, is powerful lesson for Peter as he begins Jesus’ assignment to build his church. Listen, God instructed. For Dan, this insight was rife with possible sermons. Me, a Taoist - I concentrated on how much God’s instruction sounded like meditating.

Meditating is central to Taoism because staying in the Tao requires a constant examination of one’s actions and thoughts to see if one is moving further away or closer to the Tao. Being with Tao is an almost impossible task unless you are a yogi sitting on a mountain doing nothing but meditating. When people are involved, you can bet there is quite a bit of movement away from Tao. But Taoist have to figure out for themselves if their interactions are moving them closer or further away from Tao and this clarification is often most available through meditation.

It seems to me that God’s commandment to Peter, the ‘doingest’ of the Disciples, is both a blueprint for pondering the imponderable fact of Jesus’ death plus a reassurance that Jesus would continue to speak to Peter even though Jesus was on his way to the Christian equivalent of Valhalla. No small reassurance since Peter would soon have to rally the troops and implement the next steps of Jesus’ instructions at the Last Supper.

Peter’s mind must have been wildly wandering as he contemplated his next tasks. As a doer, he was better suited to making lists than ‘coaxing his mind’ from its wondering what to do next. Stephen Mitchell’s interpretation of Verse 10 of the Te Ching offers advice not dissimilar to God’s, “Can you coax your mind from its wandering and keep to the original oneness? …Can you cleanse your inner vision until you see nothing but the light?”  And surely, Peter’s attention was held by this ‘Shining Light’ named Jesus.

When I seek the essence of the Tao, I find it very useful to clear my monkey mind and envision a candlelight or glowing ball in order to open my mind to knowing the essence of Tao. I think this is much the same task God asks of Peter on the mountain and much the way Peter would have understood that God’s command was no longer of  an earthly realm but rather one of Spirit. The intersections of different faith traditions always interests me and the question of how to follow God’s instructions to Peter or to find the essence of Tao do not seem to be too different. 

Honestly, it really does sound like listening is the answer.