Dear Lovelies,
Lent begins this month with Ash Wednesday on March 5, but just prior to Lent is Transfiguration Sunday. Just what is the Transfiguration about? There is the Bible story, of course. Jesus goes up on a high mountain with only three of the disciples, Peter, James, and John. There Jesus is transfigured – his clothes becoming dazzling white. I tend to think of Jesus as glowing, like that story in Exodus where Moses glowed after being in the presence of God. I like to tell kids that Jesus is 100% human and 100% divine – which makes for a fun, mysterious math problem, by the way – and this is one of the stories that illustrates Jesus’s divinity. So, in addition to the glowing Jesus, Elijah and Moses show up to have a chat. Why Elijah and Moses? Maybe because folks (Jews) expected Elijah to show up again before a messiah came and were also looking for a prophet like Moses to appear. (Personally, I’ve always wondered how the disciples knew who they were, considering they probably weren’t wearing name tags, and there was no family album reference.) The disciples, just as we would be, are completely bewildered. So befuddled that they offer to construct dwellings for Elijah, Moses, and Jesus out of a want for something to do. Moving right along… then comes a huge climax, a cloud overshadows the scene and a voice booms “This is my Son, the Beloved, listen to him!” Finally, almost like the Galadriel scene in Lord of the Rings, the supernatural suddenly dies down, and we’re back to the beginning with just the disciples and Jesus.
Again, what is Transfiguration about? To me, it is an amazing display of Jesus’s divinity: Jesus as God – and claimed as God’s son – similar to Jesus’s baptism, the voice of God claims Jesus and endorses him. On the church calendar, Transfiguration Sunday always precedes Lent, in a way reminding us of Jesus as Lord before we journey through Lent to the cross, arguably Jesus’s biggest act of humanity, where he suffers horribly and dies a gruesome death. In full circle, we then celebrate Jesus’s resurrection at Easter – back to an amazing display of divinity. Isn’t God great?
Happy Day!
Traci Billman, Director of Christian Education
Last modified: February 24, 2025