A
few years ago I was out with some friends having a drink. There was
an American tourist there, a man about my own age, and he was on his
own. Eventually he joined us and began chatting. He told us a
bit about himself and his wife and children at home. Then he asked me
if I had any children. So I said ‘No, I am a priest.’ He was not
expecting that reply, but then he said, ‘Yes, Jesus was a good
man.’ I was thinking to myself, ‘Yest, Jesus was a good
man, but he was also much more than that: he was and is the Son of
God.’ That makes a big difference.
Something
that you will come across quite often in discussions on religion, is the idea that Jesus is another one of the enlightened
masters, like the Buddha, or Gandhi. You will
come across this in what is generally called New Age thinking as
well. He is a prophet and a great teacher and spiritual leader, but
that is it. However, for us it can not stop there. We believe that he
is fully human, yes, but also fully divine. He is God, revealed to
us in human flesh. If this is not true, then we should not be here in this church.
And if this is not true then what we do here in the mass is idolatry,
because it would mean that we claim that this same Jesus, becomes present in the form of bread and wine. It is no
wonder that many other religions think what we do is completely
crazy. It is hard to blame them. Jesus himself claimed he was the Son
of God. Either he was a liar, he was mad, or what he said was
true. We believe that what he said was true, that he is the Son of
God, fully human and fully divine.
This
vision that the three Apostles Peter, James and John, were granted on
the mountain tells us a lot. These three Apostles seem to have been
given a more intense training than the others. The Gospels tell us
that on three different occasions Jesus allowed only them to go with
him. One time was when he brought back to life the twelve-year-old
girl, Jairus’ daughter. He only allowed her parents and Peter,
James and John to be there. The other time was in the Garden of
Gethsemane when he allowed them to see up close, the fear and terror
that he went through, knowing what was about to happen to him. He
sweated blood, which is a real medical condition called Hematidrosis,
caused by extreme stress.
Why
were they given this vision? It was for their benefit, to leave them
in no doubt that Jesus was not just another prophet, even if a great
prophet. He was the Son of God and then they heard
this voice from the cloud saying ‘This is my Son the beloved...
listen to him.’ It was another way of telling them, ‘Do not be in
any doubt as to who he is. Listen to him.’ He is the only one whose
voice we need to listen to. We are constantly being called in
different directions. Different voices tell us what to believe, where
to go. ‘Don’t listen to the Church because it is corrupt. The
teachings of Christ are not real’, etc. But God the Father says,
‘Listen to him’.
Why
did these other two men, Moses and Elijah, appear with Jesus? Moses
represented the Ten Commandments, which were known as the Law. This
was the law they were to follow, which would lead them to God. Elijah
represented the Prophets. The prophets were the people whom God sent
to point people back in the right direction. The Jewish people
believed that if they followed the teachings of the Law and the
Prophets, that was their path to heaven. That is why they were so
keen to keep the law as perfectly as possible. Now Moses and Elijah
appear with Jesus, which was a sign that Jesus was now the new path
to heaven. All of us will go to heaven because of what Jesus has done
for us. He is the new path to heaven, the fulfilment of the Law and
the Prophets. ‘I am the Way, the truth and the life’ (John 14:6).
Peter,
James and John were also being strengthened for the passion which was
to happen right after this event and in spite of being granted this
vision, they fled when Jesus was tortured and killed. If it was that
difficult for them, it is not surprising that we can find it
difficult too and that we doubt and wonder are we all crazy to
believe in these things. But that is why God granted them this vision
of Jesus in his glory, which must have been both wonderful and terrifying at the same time. God allowed them to see this so that afterwards they would
regain their strength and courage. They saw Jesus in glory, to show
them who he was/is and also to remind us that this is how we will see
him when we die. Years later, Peter writes about this event in one of
his letters:
For
He received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came
to Him from the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in
whom I am well pleased.” And we
ourselves heard this voice from heaven when we were with Him on the
holy mountain. (1 Pet 1:17)
We
too need the same strength and courage, especially when we are all
the time being told how foolish it is to believe all this stuff and
that we should really get with the times. The Church is out of date,
corrupt, etc. If Jesus is just a man, or a prophet, then what we do
here is idolatry and indeed blasphemy. But if Jesus is the Son of
God, which we believe he is, then what happens in each mass is the
most extraordinary miracle in the world and it is also the most
incredible privilege for us to be able to receive his body and blood
in each mass. Who could even think up such an idea except God? No
human would try to convince other humans of something so outrageous.
Jesus told us to repeat this ritual in his memory and so we do, so
that we can have him with us continually in a beautiful way, where we
can actually receive him into our own bodies.
Despite
the difficulty at times to believe and all the confusion that is
around us, remember this event on the mountain and the voice that the
Apostles heard:
This is my Son the
Beloved... listen to him.
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