Fr. Frank Majka, SJ – The Bridge

Transfiguration

The feast of the Transfiguration (August 6) commemorates when Christ’s appearance became radiant with the light of his divinity and when Peter, James and John heard God’s voice from a cloud telling them to listen to Jesus.

At first it may seem that this event was unique and unrepeatable; that’s not really so, however. For the disciples didn’t just see something; they were shown something. They didn’t just hear something; they were told something. They were shown a glimpse of Jesus’ identity and were told to listen to him. Don’t we grow in our Christian faith when we are shown a glimpse of who Jesus is and when we listen to what he says? I think the Transfiguration is an event that happens often, even daily.

Have you ever, at some particular moment or over a long period of time, realized in a new way that Jesus actually is God’s son, showing us what true divinity and true humanity are really like? Has an action of his shown you something about how God acts and who we can become? Has Jesus’ humanity and divinity become more real for you, even if they still remain a mystery? If so, then you have been shown something just as the disciples were.

Furthermore, countless voices say you must be popular or powerful, rich or famous, admired or praised. But if you’ve paid heed to a deeper voice saying you should listen to Christ who says, “Don’t be afraid. . .I will not leave you. . .Love one another. . .The last will be first, the first will be last. . .You are my friends,” then you have experienced what the disciples did when they heard God saying they should listen first and foremost to his beloved Son.

When we read the story of the Transfiguration in this light, then we realize it is very much about how we live our faith, expectantly looking for a deeper experience of who Jesus is and paying more careful attention to his words for us and for the world.

We might incorporate into our lives a simple prayer each morning that something might be shown to us this day about the grace and love of Christ and that we might be alert to what Christ could be saying to us. Similarly, at the end of the day we could ask if we have been shown anything about Christ or heard a word from him. If we do that, the story of the Transfiguration of Jesus then can become the story of our own continuing transformation now.

Tolerance

In the plans for putting up buildings, tolerances are included in order to allow for, as one article put it, “some necessary leeway for imperfections.” But when it comes to the spiritual life, isn’t tolerance for imperfections a bad thing? After all, Jesus said we should “be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5) But only a few chapters later (Matthew 13), Jesus told us we need to be tolerant of imperfection, using the parable of the weeds and the wheat to make the point.

In that story a master’s servants ask if they should get rid of the weeds growing in his field of wheat. We might expect the master to tell them to go ahead; but, surprisingly, he tells them to let both the wheat and the weeds grow together until the harvest when they could then be separated without risk to the wheat. If we take the parable to apply to us, then one of its lessons is clearly that we need to be patient enough to accept the imperfections in ourselves and in others for the time being.

But the story has another lesson, namely, a caution for us to be humble enough to recognize that we might not be very good at telling the difference between wheat and weeds. Scholars tell us that the weeds Jesus referred to looked very much like wheat, so deciding before the harvest what was wheat and what was weeds would take considerable skill and the wheat might be uprooted instead of the weeds. This second lesson, then, is that we shouldn’t be overly confident of our skill to accurately judge between wheat and weeds/good and bad lest we get things wrong, throwing out the good and keeping the bad.

In sum, it would seem that though it may be good to strive for perfection, we’ll have to accept the fact that until God’s kingdom has fully arrived (which we pray for every time we say the Lord’s Prayer), we need to do two things: first, be patient, and second, admit that we don’t always know what is best. In other words, we have to allow “some necessary leeway for imperfection” in ourselves and in other people. That will certainly take some pressure off of us and, most likely, off of the people we live and work with as well.

Lessons

In last Sunday’s gospel reading, Jesus tells people, “Come to me . . . Learn from me.” Most of us are familiar with education. We know how to study, take tests and do writing assignments. But Jesus is not talking about taking a course or reading a book, for the way he taught was through his life and death and rising, through the words he spoke, the deeds he did and the people he associated with. He invites us to learn from these things.

But we don’t all learn the same lessons at the same time or in the same way. Just as we each have a unique relationship with Jesus, his lessons for us are unique and personal. For instance, if you asked me what lesson he’s taught me, I’d say it’s to focus my attention more on God’s love and less on my own inadequacies. A close second would be to worry less about the future. I’m still learning that one.

What has Jesus taught you? What is he still teaching you? If you are willing, please write in a sentence or two what you have learned or are learning from Jesus. Then share them through the comments link that appears in the line just below the title of this post. I think that these comments will show how Jesus has been our teacher and continues to be.

(Note: If you want to comment and have received this post directly through email or it’s been forwarded to another location like Twitter or the Marquette High web page, you’ll need to access the entry “Lessons” on www.frankmajka.com and then enter your comments there. The “Lessons” posting will stay up permanently, so you can comment whenever you like and also read what others have learned or are presently learning from Jesus.)

Where Is the One We Seek: Seventh Week

One doesn’t have to be a scholar to profit from reading the Bible, but sometimes the work of scholars can deepen our appreciation of what we are reading. Take the concluding verses of Matthew’s gospel, where the disciples meet with Jesus for the last time.

Matthew’s audience consisted primarily of Jewish Christians, and their feeling of being at home with the gospel would’ve increased if they heard references and echoes from their own scriptures. In the concluding scene of Matthew’s gospel there are three echoes of things they would have been familiar with.

The first was the setting. The disciples met with Jesus on a mountain, just as Moses had met with God on Mount Sinai. Both meetings had great significance, for on Sinai God had delivered the Law to Moses whereas on Matthew’s mountain Jesus entrusted his gospel to the disciples.

The second was when Jesus said that all authority in heaven and earth had been given to him and that his followers would come from all nations. This echoed Psalm 2, in which God promised that his son would rule over all the kingdoms of the earth.

The last was Jesus’ promise that he would be with them always. A Jewish audience might recall that in the prophecies of Isaiah, the name of the child whose birth was a sign of God’s faithfulness was “Emmanu-El” or “God-With-Us.”

Such echoes helped those Jewish Christians find congruence between their tradition and the message about Jesus.

But, personally, I like it that Matthew began the concluding scene of his gospel by telling us that when the disciples came to the mountain they worshiped Jesus but at least some — if not all — doubted. This may not have been a reference to something in the Hebrew scriptures, but I’m glad that Matthew included it because it certainly echoes the faith experience of many people. The fact is that, though we have had almost two months to reflect on the Resurrection of Jesus and it’s meaning, we may still have our moments of doubt. And this tells us that Easter faith is, after all, still faith.

That’s how things often are when it comes to faith. Sometimes belief is easy and natural; at other times it is difficult and challenging; according to St. Paul, we walk by faith and not by sight. But even so, Matthew tells us that Jesus has given us the task of spreading the Good News of his life, death and Resurrection, even when that last part seems too far good to be true — but is true nonetheless.

Where Is the One We Seek: Sixth Week

“I am in the Father, you are in me and I am in you.” (John 14) No wonder John is known as the most mystical of the gospel writers. Here the Jesus whom John writes about tells his disciples: If you want to find me, you will find me not only in the Father, you will also find me in you (plural) who follow me and are my friends.

Notice the implication that those who seek Christ should be able to see him with and in us. Sadly, however, we know that as individuals and as churches we often make it hard for others and even ourselves to recognize Jesus in us because of our distrust, lack of mutual respect and unwillingness to forgive. The fact is, we often keep poorly Jesus’ commandment and expectation for us: Love each other.

That doesn’t take away the fact that Jesus is truly in us. We have his words to assure us that he is. But I think we will find that he’s not in us in a passive way. Rather, he is at work in us, helping us give up our suspicions and dislikes of each other and our lack of love. He works in us to free us from all those sins and failings which keep him and his message from being clearly visible in us.

And as his work in us continues, we can trust it will be easier for us to see that we truly are in him and he is in us — and easier for others to see it, too.