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. So eventually he joined us and began chatting. He told us he 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, ‘You are right, 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 in
general is the idea that Jesus is another one of the enlightened
masters, like the Buddha, or Gandhi, or others like that. 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 a human being, 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.
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 the Son of
God becomes present in the form of bread and wine. In a way it is no
wonder that many other religions think what we do is completely
crazy. It is hard to blame them. But Jesus himself claimed he
was the Son of God. Either Jesus 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. Once was when he brought back to life the 12 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 in 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 one seen in blinding glory, but 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 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. Elijah represented the Prophets. The
prophets were the ones 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.
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 through
what Jesus has done for us. He is the new path to heaven, the
fulfilment of the Law and the Prophets.
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 daft to
believe in these things. But that is why God granted them this vision
of Jesus in his glory, which must have been quite terrifying at the
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 this is to remind us that this is how we
will see him when we die.
We
too need the same strength and courage, especially when we are all
the time being told of 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 wrong, in fact it would be 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 as this
except God? No human would try to convince other humans of something
so outrageous. Jesus told us to repeat this ritual this ritual in his
memory and so we do, so that we could have him with us continually in
a beautiful way, where we can actually receive him into our own
bodies. We did not make it up.
In
spite of 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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