The Rev. Gabe Lamazares reads four haiku for Transfiguration Sunday.
Atop the mountain
What eyes see turns inside out
A bright sun unmasked
Change reveals the truth
Love unfolds his true glory
Their mouths hang open
We will be changed, too
As old palms change to ashes
ashes to new life
Change reveals the truth
As we are transformed by Love
we are truly seen
The Transfiguration, celebrated the last Sunday in Epiphany, is an event where Jesus becomes radiant with glory upon a mountaintop. When Jesus and three of his apostles go to a mountain to pray, Jesus suddenly begins shining with rays of light. Then Moses and Elijah appear, and the voice of God calls Jesus, “Son.”
Matthew 17:1-9
Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. Then Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three dwellings here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud a voice said, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!” When the disciples heard this, they fell to the ground and were overcome by fear. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Get up and do not be afraid.” And when they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus himself alone.
As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus ordered them, “Tell no one about the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”