Last Sunday we heard the story of the mountain-top transfiguration scene where Jesus is in the company of Moses and Elijah. It’s a kind of re-coronation scene where Jesus’ identity as “Son of God”, already established at his baptism by John in the Jordan, is confirmed. The blinding light of the scene is a kind of fusion where the great tradition of the people of Israel represented by Moses and Elijah (Law and Prophets) is seen to be part of the identity of Jesus. They fade into the background, but are not rejected. The transfiguration scene is a turning point where Jesus is portrayed as taking forward the tradition into a ground-breaking new chapter.
Today’s short passage also concerns light and is from the first letter of John, chapter 1, verse 5:
This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all.
Sometimes that light might seem far from us, but what an affirmation that the identity and personality of God is about light rather than darkness. Today, I invite you to look at this image of light and listen to the music of Transfigured Night, by Schoenberg. God is light and wants to bring that to whatever darkness is in our lives.
Place of Wondering 