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Matthew 17:1-9
After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus. Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” While he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!” When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown to the ground, terrified. But Jesus came and touched them. “Get up,” he said. “Don’t be afraid.” When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus. As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus instructed them, “Don’t tell anyone what you have seen, until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”

Continue scrolling to read reflection.

By: Deacon Renée Beyea (MDiv)

Eric Whitacre’s virtual choirs are YouTube sensations. His last project comprised 5,905 discrete voices from 101 countries digitally mastered into symphonic grandeur. Sometimes it feels as if we have as many voices speaking into our lives—voices of friends and family, of culture and careers, of past and present. Voices which are noble or false, murmuring or roaring, yet all competing for our attention. How often do we attempt to synthesize them into an impossible harmony, only to find ourselves stymied by the effort?

Then comes the surpassing Voice of Transfiguration Sunday. The Father’s proclamation, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased,” is the refrain of Epiphany, between which Jesus’ preaching and miracles are revealed. God thunders from the cloud-shrouded mountain the same approval as at his Son’s baptism, but with this coda: “Listen to him!” Peter and John lift heads bowed in fear to see Jesus alone. Only later will they understand how they need this word for the journey to the cross. We may learn from their hindsight.

Today, Christ stands on the mountain, revealed in dazzling splendor, and we behold only him. God thunders above the voices in our lives, “This is my beloved Son… Listen to him!” Oh, that His word would sustain us, that we would listen to Jesus always, from the high clear peaks to the deep shadowed valleys, in the quiet and the clamor. That we would listen when He asks us to stand for righteousness, to choose life, to trust him though the path leads to the very foot of the cross.