The Thin Place of the Transfiguration
The Thin Place of the Transfiguration.
“ The thin place is where the veil between this world and the next is so sheer that it is easy to step through.” (Barbara Brown Taylor, Home By Another Way).
This term from an ancient Celtic tradition has stood the test of time. The idea of a thin place between heaven and earth has captured our imaginations, and yet is not just a metaphor. Thin places are literal as well.
The traditional thin place as the Irish understood it has been described in many ways: where the veil between heaven and earth is so thin as to be porous, permeable, practically transparent; where the space between the diviner and the human has narrowed; where eternity and time intersect; where the boundary between heaven and earth has collapsed; where the wall between heaven and earth have become indistinguishable; where the doors between heaven and earth have cracked open enough to walk through, if only temporarily; the place where eternity and time seem to join together.
Those descriptions of thin places have recently been expanded to include… wherever God has chosen to reveal Himself and make Himself known with unusual intimacy; wherever the sacred interaction with God’s presence is more pronounced and accessible; wherever the Holy Spirit is released in a particularly powerful way; a physical space where one can more directly and intensely experience God’s presence. I like to think of a thin place as when the Spirit of God opens the skylight of the earth’s roof and helps us climb through it into the cellar of heaven.
“The disciples were terrified and fell face down on the ground. Then Jesus came over and touched them. ‘Get up!’, he said. ‘Don’t be afraid.’ And when they looked up, Moses and Elijah were gone, and they saw only Jesus.” (Matthew 17:6-8).
Mountains. Down through history people have assumed that since God is in His heavens, the closer one can get to God on high, the more spiritual enlightenment one can receive. There have been pagan shrines and mountaintop gurus as long as we can remember. People have always climbed to the “high places” for heavenly insight and personal contact with the gods, or with God. Irish Christians consider mountains to be one of those sacred “thin places” where the layer between heaven and earth is so thin that a believer can easily step from one to the other. As one person excitedly told Barbara Brown Taylor, “You’re sinners going up, but you’ll be saints going down!” People still refer to a special time with God as a “mountaintop experience.” Mountains are vital landmarks in the Word, and appear to be important to God himself. Mountains have been accepted as a sacred part of nature that consistently have been sites for powerful events and profound conversations between us mere mortals and the Almighty God. Let us rejoice and applaud the God who is the Rock, who has a glorious history of preferring His own mountaintop experiences with us.
Mt. Tabor. Mt. Tabor is also known as the traditionally accepted site of the Lord Jesus’ Transfiguration. Some say it might have been nearby on Mt. Hermon, but that seems to be doubtful. Mt. Tabor is a rather routine, dome-shaped mountain in the Jezreel Valley, about six miles from Nazareth and ten miles from the Sea of Galilee. Because the mount was settled on a very flat valley, it looked a lot higher than it actually was, the peak at 2,000 feet. So Mt. Tabor was a very familiar and much-used landmark through the history of Israel, including Jesus and His disciples. Because of its strategic location, Tabor and Jezreel Valley, also known as Megiddo, was the sight of many battles. Mt. Tabor is perhaps most famous for two monumental events in Israel’s history… The victory of Deborah during the time of the Judges, and the Transfiguration of Jesus.
Glory. “You are clothed with honor and majesty; you cover yourself with light as with a garment.” (Psalm 104:2). There was a time when Jesus told His disciples that some of them would be eyewitnesses to the glory of Christ in His Kingdom. (Matt. 16:28). Six days later His prediction came true as Jesus led Peter, James and John to a lonely mountaintop, probably Mt. Tabor. The three disciples were intently watching as Jesus’ appearance was transformed into pure radiance. His face shone brightly like the sun, and His clothes became luminescent, whitened by divine uncreated light. For the three disciples, the curtain between the two kingdoms was parted, and they were privileged to sneak a glimpse of the glorified Christ, the Christ who is full of light, surrounded by light, pulsing with light. To make matters more astounding and miraculous, they then witnessed Jesus having a conversation with Moses and Elijah, the two greatest prophets in Hebrew history, as if the three of them were long-lost friends.
The New Exodus. Here were three versions of the Word of God representing the living Word Jesus, the written Word (the Torah), and the prophetic Word. They appeared to be discussing the expected “exodus” (Luke 9:31) of Jesus from this world, Jesus’ coming Passion, His suffering and death. The topic of conversation was the redemptive deliverance of the Messiah Jesus. This makes sense, since Moses predicted the coming of the great divine Prophet in Deuteronomy 18, with the Messiah referred to as the New Moses. And too, an Elijah-like prophet, John the Baptist, was expected to announce the coming of the Messiah (Malachi 4:5, 6). These central biblical figures, one divine and two human, were talking about Jesus’ messianic mission yet to be completed.
Biblical Heroes. How did the disciples know that these two men who were speaking with Jesus were Moses and Elijah? We don’t know for sure. Maybe it was deduced by their conversation, or maybe the Holy Spirit simply revealed it to them there at the scene. And from where did Moses and Elijah make their sudden appearance? Maybe they had been recalled from the Kingdom, and then were sent back after the conversation. Or maybe they were raised bodily from the grave just for this special occasion, and then sent back to the grave to await the Great Day of Resurrection when Jesus returns. We just don’t know, but it is ironic that these two spiritual giants in particular appeared long after their supposed deaths, since the death of Moses was completely shrouded in mystery and Elijah never even died in the first place. Isn’t it thrilling to think that Moses finally got what he wished for so long ago, to see God face-to-face in the Person of Jesus?
Booths. Brash Peter impulsively blurts out that maybe he should build them three shelters, three booths celebrating the coming Kingdom in the Feast of the Tabernacles. Peter evidently knew that the coming of the messianic kingdom, the culminating event of the world as we know it, was prophesied in Zechariah 14:16-19. The Feast of Booths, or Shelters, will somehow accompany the arrival of the Final Kingdom in the spirit of thanksgiving, and gratitude for the final harvest of human souls. Peter might have thought that he was witnessing the new Kingdom coming then and there on the mountaintop with Jesus. It could be too that Peter desperately wanted to continue being in the presence of Moses and Elijah, that he wanted to engage them in conversation, and wanted them to remain and be comfortable as they continued this miraculous experience. Peter seemed to assume that Jesus, Moses and Elijah were three co-equals having a heavenly conversation, but he was straightened out later when the voice of the Father pointed out the divinity of Jesus.
The Cloud. Another astonishing miracle then took place. A bright cloud filled with light, as if the cloud was self-lit by some interior force, came out of nowhere and overshadowed them on the mountaintop. Peter, James and John were totally enveloped in this dazzling cloud of other-worldly light, and they were mystified and terrified. This cloud seemed to swallow them up, and they found themselves inside the radiance! One thinks of the divine cloud over Mt. Sinai, the cloud that guided the Israelites through the wilderness, the cloud that filled the Temple, the cloud that took Jesus up to heaven in the Ascension, and the cloud that will accompany Jesus returning to earth on that great Day of the Lord. All through Scripture, the divine cloud has remained a tangible sign of the presence of God.
The Father. And then, once the cloud appeared, a divine Voice spoke out of that cloud, and said, “This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy. Listen to Him.” (17:5). The Father’s voice quoted short phrases from three different passages in the Hebrew Bible… “My Son,” came from Psalm 2:7; “My chosen in whom I delight” came from Isaiah 42:1; “Listen to Him” came from Deuteronomy 18:15. SHEMA (sh’ma) is usually translated “hear,” but actually means hear and do, listen and obey, hear and respond, listen and take action, take heed; there is a traditional Jewish saying that “to hear God is to obey God, and to obey God is to hear God.” Hearing and doing are two sides of the same coin of faith, and is a vital aspect of biblical spirituality. Peter, James and John would have understood the Father’s command to “listen” in this light. Shema was deep in the consciousness of all the observant Jews. Listen and obey this Son of Mine, says the Lord. This is clearly a messianic fulfillment of Deuteronomy 18:15-18, in which the Lord said through Moses, “Adonai will raise up for you a prophet like me from among yourselves, from your own kinsmen. You are to pay attention to Him… I will put words in His mouth, and He will tell them everything I order Him.”
Divine Voices. This was the eternal voice of God, the voice of the Father, that Voice that both Moses and Elijah had listened to on Mt. Sinai. What did that Voice sound like? Was it even describable? The Father said essentially, Listen to Me as I tell you to keep listening to Him. Of course, we know that listening to Jesus is actually the same as listening to the Father. Everything Jesus said or did represented the Father, down to the tiniest detail. The human voice of the Son somehow mirrored the spiritual voice of the Father, and so the voice from the cloud there on Mt. Tabor must have reminded the disciples, even to a little degree, the voice of their friend Jesus. It is well beyond our imagination to consider what it must have been like to hear the voice of the Creator of the universe who declared “Let there be light!”
Fear Not. After witnessing this other-worldly spectacle, the disciples were beyond terrified. They fell down face first on the ground, maybe out of fright, maybe out of worship, probably a mixture of both. Then Jesus graciously touched them, once again performing his ongoing ministry of touch. And He told them to get up on their feet and fear not. Don’t be afraid, despite what you’ve seen. Have no fear, despite the fearsome glory of the Christ. And when they looked up, they saw only Jesus. Jesus only, our mode of operation, our style of life, our call to discipleship. Things seemed to go back to normal in no time, as if nothing had happened on the mountain. But then again, did life ever get back to normal for Peter, James and John after their unforgettable experience? Peter was moved much later to offer his eyewitness testimonial in his second letter: “We saw His majesty with our own eyes. For we were there when He received honor and glory from God the Father; and the voice came to Him from the grandeur of the Shekinah glory, saying, ‘This is my Son, whom I love; I am well pleased with Him!’ We heard this voice come out of heaven when we were there with Him on the holy mountain.” (2 Peter 1:16-18).
Just a Thought. What if Jesus didn’t change at all on Mt. Tabor? What if He always is wrapped in this other-worldly light, all the time? And so, then maybe it was the three disciples that were actually the ones to have changed on the mountaintop, not Jesus? Maybe the eyes of the disciples were opened for a time, to see what has always been true of Jesus and His heavenly light. Remember the servant of Elisha? When the Lord opened his eyes, the servant was allowed to see what had been there all along… heavenly horses and chariots of fire. Maybe the eyes of Peter, James and John were opened by God to see what is always there, the glory of Christ. Perhaps none of us can usually see that light because our eyes are not opened to heavenly realities like that. Could it be we just don’t have the eyes to see Jesus in all His glory?
The Point: Jesus Only. Perhaps this entire unforgettable experience was a call to action. Once the Voice said, “Keep listening to Him!”… Only then did the cloud drift away, as quickly as it came. Maybe the Father wanted to make sure the believers knew not to stop at Moses and the Law, or Elijah and the Prophets. Maybe God is saying here that Jesus is now the One we constantly listen to. He is the One with the full authority of heaven and earth. Jesus is not to be compared with the great saints of the past or future as if this was a matter of all things being equal. He is our Reference Point now. The saints are only the front steps to the Door. Everyone else in Scripture points to Jesus, the Summary of the Law and Prophets. We are to worship Jesus only. Not Jesus and the Law. Not Jesus and the Prophets. Not Jesus and the Temple. Not Jesus and good works. Not Jesus and miracles. Not Jesus and my favorite doctrine. Not Jesus and Buddha, or Mohammed, or any other religion. Not Jesus and anything. The Transfiguration of Jesus narrows down to one thing: Jesus Only.
Transformed. “Jesus was ‘transfigured’ before the disciples’ eyes. The transliteration of the Greek word into English is ‘metamorphosized.’ Elsewhere in the New Testament, it’s translated ‘transformed.’ In other words, the reality that was inside of Jesus got outside of Him so the disciples could see it. Not only was this true of Jesus, it’s true of you and me. Paul wrote about it in his letter to the Romans: ‘Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed’ (12:2) – Or, as I translated it, ‘be changed from the inside out.’ The same Greek word that’s used to describe Jesus’ transfiguration in Matthew is used in Romans to describe our transfiguration. What happens to Jesus happens to us. But it happens to us by the renewing of our minds. As we listen to Him, as we look at Him, as we linger with Him, a transformation occurs. And the beauty that is His becomes ours.” (Eugene Peterson, from a sermon).
The Icon of the Transfiguration of the Savior (youtube.com)