Eade’s Bedes
August 2009
Feast of the Transfiguration
Sometimes it is hard to remember that important things can happen in August. For us in the northern hemisphere it is almost universally hot and a time to get away. But one of modern history’s important dates is August 6. Remember the significance? It’s the date in 1945 when the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. It’s a memory of mixed blessings.
August 6th should have a greater and truly important place in the memory and observance of Christians. It is the day tradition sets as the date for the Transfiguration of Jesus. He took with him Peter and James and John and ascended a mountaintop where Moses and Elijah joined him. The voice of God proclaimed him the Son of God and then only Jesus was seen.
Moses and Elijah were the greatest prophets of the Old Testament. Moses gave the law. Elijah represented the prophetic call to repentance and return to the ways of God. Together they were the personification of “The Law and the Prophets.” Jesus stands between them, and then it is he alone. He is being shown to embody both “The Law and the Prophets” and is now to be understood to be the full revelation of God’s message.
Jesus is not just a giver of laws nor is he just an interpreter of law, but he reveals the full intent of God: Love. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son so that all who believe in him may have everlasting life.” (John 3:16) It goes beyond all that had been before. Moses and Elijah told what should be done. Jesus does it for us, despite and failings we might have.
After the Transfiguration, Jesus turns from his earthly ministry, which had taken some three years; from then on he was set on the pathway that would lead to Jerusalem, his arrest and crucifixion. Some call it the small epiphany as the voice of God was first heard speaking at his baptism. Because of this, it is generally reconded as one of the great Holy days of our Lord along with Christmas, Epiphany, Easter, and Pentecost. Hence, along with All Saints’ Day and Jesus naming day (January 1), it is one of the five days the Prayer Book declares as the most appropriate for the celebration of Baptism. For all us it is a good time to make special prayer in remembrance of the life Jesus gave us.
