How do you get yourself ready for a journey? I guess the most obvious answer is ‘it depends’. Before you start planning, you have to know a few basic facts, like where you’re going, for how long, what the purpose of your trip is, and who you’re going with… Only then can you start thinking about bookings, means of travel, and things you need to take with you. If you’re going to a new destination, you probably try to find some useful or practical bits of information. It’s much harder to get yourself prepared for a journey, the basic details of which remain unknown. That’s the situation in today’s first reading: “The Lord said to Abram: ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.’” The destination remained unknown to Abram, so he didn’t know how long it would take to reach it, and consequently, there was very little he could plan ahead. When I was moving over to Scotland, I knew precious little besides my flight’s final destination: Aberdeen. Most of what I had thought I knew turned out to be off the mark, like the assumption that the locals speak English…
If the Lord’s call of Abram, opening the first reading, was astonishingly thin on details, the closing sentence was even more astonishing: “Abram went, as the Lord had told him.” Behind this seemingly dry statement is hidden a breathtaking attitude shown by Abram. It’s not recklessness, nor is it temerity or stupidity. He trusted God’s promises attached to the call. Abram left his comfort zone because he believed that God would fulfil them. Abram listened to the voice of the Lord and acted upon it. That’s the connection between the first reading and today’s gospel.
It’s a spectacularly glorious but short-lived vision of Jesus’ glory, witnessed by three of his disciples chosen to accompany him. But to fully grasp the meaning and significance of this event, we have to look at it through the eyes of a devoted Jew because it’s full of symbolism and references to the Jewish holy scriptures. We can try to do it now, though rather superficially, due to the lack of time. Firstly, Jesus took Peter, James and John to the top of a mountain. Hillwalking and climbing are modern inventions; in ancient times, mountains were the dominion and dwelling of gods and deities. In the Bible, mountains are places where God meets man. The most obvious is Mount Horeb, where Moses received the Ten Commandments and the Law from God. That leads us to another significant symbol in today’s gospel. Jesus spoke with Moses, who represented the Law, and Elijah, who represented the Prophets; two branches of the Jewish Holy Scripture and tradition. Then the cloud shrouded the top of the mountain, and a voice was heard from it. This is another very strong reference to the Jewish tradition. A cloud is a symbol of God’s presence. A pillar of cloud accompanied the people of Israel during their exodus from Egypt and subsequent wanderings through the wilderness. Mount Horeb was covered with a thick cloud when God revealed himself to Israel. And here’s another reference I want to draw your attention to. On Mount Horeb, God talked with Moses from that thick cloud, and the people of Israel witnessed that. The spectacle was so powerful that the people were filled with fear, just as Peter, James, and John were. Jesus calmed their fear in the same way Moses had done on Mount Horeb: “Do not be afraid.”
This entire glorious vision of Jesus served two important purposes. The first one was to show Jesus’ disciples that he was a continuation of God’s plan of salvation; in Jesus, all Old Testamental symbols found their full meaning and prophecies their fulfilment. Secondly, Peter, James and John were called to listen to Jesus. It wasn’t just a call to hear what Jesus says, but to accept it, trust his words, and put that trust into action. That trust would soon be challenged when everything seemed to fall to pieces as they watched Jesus being tortured and then crucified. Perhaps recalling those calming words, “do not be afraid”, kept their hopes alive when everything around them seemed to collapse.
That call to trust God and his promises wasn’t exclusively given to Abram, or Peter, or James or John. “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him” is a call that applies to each one of us. But how can we listen to him if we don’t hear his voice? Let me turn that question on its head: how can we hear Jesus if we do not listen to him? Perhaps we have given up trying too easily. Let me give you a practical example. I mentioned earlier that I first arrived in Scotland, assuming the locals spoke English. On my very first day, I despaired because what I heard barely resembled that language. My English had admittedly been quite rudimentary, but it couldn’t have been that bad. After my initial frustration, I persevered, and the more I listened to people and talked to them, the more I understood their language and them too. Now I can quite easily converse with people in the northeast of Scotland, missing very little. It’s something very similar to listening to Jesus. The more you do, the more your heart and mind attune to his gentle voice. And so you learn to trust him, that whatever happens with you and around you will eventually make sense. And even when nothing seems to make sense, you can hear Jesus telling you, “Do not be afraid.”
