About sixty years ago in Los Angeles there was a famous murder trial. Counsel for the defendant in closing argument tried an amazing new tactic to boost his chance of winning. The barrister reminded jurors that a verdict of guilty requires conviction beyond a reasonable doubt. Then he proceeded to tell them that in a moment the true murderer would be walking into the courtroom! Of course, that didn't happen, but the jurors' eyes were glued on the door for a time. Then counsel asked the judge hearing the case to grant a directed verdict. When the judge refused, the barrister argued that the reactions of the jurors showed they had a reasonable doubt as they were all looking towards the door. The judge said indeed they were, but the defendant wasn't. He knew he was guilty. The motion for directed verdict was denied, the jury deliberated and they found him guilty as charged.
In today's gospel reading [Lk 9: 28-36] the star witness does appear, Jesus himself. Transfiguration is the fifty-cent word we used to describe the change in his appearance during this apostolic vision, but the phenomenon is in fact well-known in Scripture generally. Moses was transfigured after his own mountaintop encounter with God. (Interesting side story: the great scholar Saint Jerome translated the Bible into Latin -- the language God speaks. 😃 When he got to this story about Moses on the mountain, he mistranslated karan, shining, for keren, horns. So mediaeval art depicting the scene shows Moses coming down with the Tablets and sporting horns!) Like us, the people in the desert could be their own worst enemy, hankering after false gods. They needed a leader to show them the way to be the "drafted people" called to be Light to the Nations. Here in our story, Jesus himself is transfigured and the Executive Committee - Peter, James, and John -- have a vision in which they witness a glowing Lord, a receding Moses and Elijah, and a voice of divine endorsement. Jesus offers a new way open to all, not displacing, but moving beyond, Law and Prophecy.. They will envision a more excellent way and follow.
The core conviction here is that these apostles' perception of Jesus changed; they got it! To see God is to be changed forever and in turn become an agent of change in the world. Pope Benedict XVI once wrote that when you and I have a God-moment, we are having the same encounter as Peter and his colleagues experienced in our story. Do we allow ourselves to be vulnerable enough to have that encounter with the Divine? That is my hope, and that it comes through the Christ we come to see in others. Saint Paul says ours is the ministry of reconciliation. And one cannot be a reconciler without reaching out. Two relatively-progressive Southern Baptist congregations in Tulsa -- Antioch and Southern Hills -- decided to start meeting regularly to get to know one another as people and fellow siblings in Christ. Fifty-sixth street south met fifty-sixth street north! Neither congregation has been the same since. Other religious communities have begun to establish contact with Latinos. Dare we ask ourselves how well we are doing in the core ministry of reconciliation? Reconciliation must begin inside the home and neighbourhood, but then it must reach beyond into the wider world.
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