The Transfiguration of Jesus is one of the five pivotal moments in the life of Jesus described in the in the New Testament.   The others are Baptism, Crucifixion, Resurrection and Ascension.   Unique among miracles as it happened to Jesus himself. 
Human nature meets God, and Jesus is the link. 
Identified for Peter,  James and John Jesus as the Son of God and when they hear the voice saying Hear Him, it identified Jesus, as it were, as the mouthpiece of God on earth.   Superior to Elijah and Moses.
But Elijah and Moses now live in the presence of God emphasising that all who have faith can do the same. 
So what Jesus is doing is showing his most intimate friends, Peter James and John a secret place on the mountain where the Transfiguration takes place. 
We all have secret places. 
Did you ever have a favourite place as a child?  A den. A magical place, where everything was possible? A place where you could hide from grown-ups who did not have the eyes to see or the ears to hear? Maybe a small spot in the garden. Maybe a clearing in the woods, a tree house.  

If you grew up in a town, as I did, maybe your special place was in the attic where I could be alone: only yourself - and God and in my case with apples laid out on the wooden floor.  

HH Munro caught this feeling of wonder and mystery and children.  The Lumber Room and Shrednivashtar .

The lonely hours, where make my own company. Friends step out of fairy stories or off the pages of history. Sometimes, a doll or a teddy bear is the only one who listens to your secret thoughts. Your toys listen, but God hears. In those secret moments, in that special place, a veil is lifted. Things are not as they appear. You catch a vision that no one else can see. 

At most, only two or three of your closest friends can ever enter the sacred space. You glimpse what life truly is, in a place where you are free to be yourself.

When you grow up, however, you forget your special place.  When I was a child, I spake As a child, I understood as a child  I thought as a child, but when I became a man I put away childish things.  They shame you, twist and mould your heart where everything once was possible - until, at last, you fit in to what society calls 'real' life. Your horizon recedes. We learn how to make our way in society. Life becomes conventional and respectable. Go to school, then on to university and when you get out - then what? A job, a partner, children and a house with a mortgage. 

We tend to live in a little box that our society assigns us. But there is for many people that something inside that still whispers: 'there is more to life than this!' 

What did you give up in fitting in? Your sense of wonder. You let go the adventure; you forgot the vision. A still, small voice that once whispered to you in the attic. The voice of God that spoke to you in your special place - in words that only you, and perhaps two or three friends, could hear. You learned to adjust to what they call 'real' life, where there is no place for wonder  -  and too often no place for God.

'Surely', they will tell you, 'there's a place for God. It's called "church". You don't have to see visions to go to church. Hymns, organ music, the well known beautiful ritual of the Prayer Book: isn't that enough "God" for you?'  'Going to church can help teach children our values'.  

Values! So that's what we mean by 'God'. Now that the old dogmas and rituals are thrown out, we have 'values'. Hard work, clean living. That is what Christianity is all about. You do not need visions, just plain common sense. A practical Gospel, well within the reach of the most ordinary person. What need for candles, vestments, incense, monasteries? Tell those monks and nuns to go out and get real jobs! 

Some of us refuse to fit in.  The box we are in is not necessarily real life at all. It may not be life at all - if you forget the vision. When you were alone with yourself ... and God.

Today, we remember how our Lord Jesus Christ goes to his special place. To the top of a mountain, 'apart', away from the crowds. Away from jobs and family and little boxes and 'real' life. Only his three closest friends: Peter, James, John.   An ordinary person has no eyes to see what he has in store. In his special place, he lifts the veil. The veil of Jesus, the carpenter's son. He shows them who he truly is. His face shines.  His garments, as white as the light. On either side, Moses the law-giver and Elijah the prophet bow down to him. 'No one down below will believe it', Peter thinks. 'Better capture the vision: build a little box for each of them'. Just as he is thinking practically, a bright cloud overshadows him. A voice speaks in words that only the three disciples hear: 'This is no ordinary man. This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased. Listen to him'. 


Although Jesus told them not to speak of what they had sen until h Son of Man had risen from the dead  -  something they did not understand at the time, but were shortly to understand.  

I believe by showing what he did on Mount Tabor or wherever it took place, God intended to inspire the three disciples, and through them the wider world eventually, to follow his teachings and proclaim them. 

Which brings me to a looming opportunity to do so with the start of Lent next week. 

 











