Christian PERSPECTIVES

Transfiguration of Lord Jesus

Lenard R Mahaarachchi

The transfiguration of Jesus Christ is recalled twice during the liturgical year of the church. The major feat falls on the August 6, Anually while the gospel of the Sunday of second every Lent is based on this unique miracle of the Transfiguration.

We see a prototype of thiophene of Transfiguration in the Old Testament too, in the book of Daniel. (7/9 - 14). The incident occurred on the top of the mount of Tabor.

I had the privilege of seeing this mountain in my pilgrimage to Holy Land last year. (A pilgrimage to Israel makes the life of Jesus come alive, and I feel that like in Islam a visit there once in life should be made compulsory for those who can afford.)

The transfiguration takes an important place in the short life of Jesus on planet earth. It was the God wanted to show us a glimpse of His own glory via Christ.

Request

We may recall the in His last prayer, Jesus requests His Father, to glorify Him with the glory that was His, "when I was with you before the world was made. "(Jn 17/5) It was a glimpse of that glory that the three apostles saw on tabor that precious day.

This feast was introduced to the Christian world by His Holiness Pope Benedict 14 while later pope Gregory IX gave it much impetus. Was it that God the Father wanted to encourage and strengthen Jesus in the coming Passion & Death, that the occasion was timed for that day which was a few days before His Passion and death? Was it to prepare he apostles to understand His rising from the dead with a mystical body after an excruciating death of a cross? It could be both I reckon. "Let us make three tabernacles here and stay. "was the response of Peter after sighting the most spectacular sight in his life. (Mth 17/3)

But Jesus said that they must leave knowing fully well the fate tat awaited Him. "This is my beloved son in whom I am please, hear ye Him. "(see MK 9/2-9) The father spoke a second time confirming His sonship.

Episode

The episode made such an impact on the apostles that Peter, years later recalled the incident to say, "that voice came from heaven. "(2 Peter 1/16-19) while John was to write, "And we saw His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of God,....(Jn 1/14). "It is wonderful for us to be here. "that is how Luke sums up the wonder of the seers.(Lk 9/33).

The transfiguration is so important that all three synoptic have recorded it . Luke says that His face changed and his clothes became dazzling white. "see 9/23. Human weakness is such that a man like Peter who saw His glory could have the temerity to deny Him in a matter of days. Even James ran away from Gethzamane never to be sighted till after the Resurrection. He must have understood the Resurrection in terms of the glory that he saw on tabor.

We are not better than the threesome when it comes to witnessing to Jesus. We have the tendency to deny Him, with all the theology we know about Him.

Transfiguration

We can understand the Transfiguration when we contemplate that Jesus was God before He became man. Hi had divested His glory to tabernacle among us. It was the divested glory that the Father reinvested Him on the 3rd day after His humiliation demise on Calvary. It was a glimpse of the glory was seen on tabor.

The appearance of Moses and Elijah can be explained this way. The former was the great law giver. While the latter stood as the greatest of the prophets. We the people of god in the New Testament, can hope to see Jesus coming in glory at the end times, as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. this is the hopeful expectation that we need to live with as we say in the Eucharistic prayer.

The joyful expectation of His Second Coming, is the most looked forward to event this millennium. Are we ready to meet Him when He comes again? The theme of this coming has been toned down by the mainline church, while the so called mushroom denominations harp on it day in and day out. The church's primary task today is to prepare its faithful for this great manifestation, for which the first Christmas-which we celebrate with a gamut of irreligious rituals today-was only be a prelude.

Prayer

It is observed that the transfiguration of Jesus took place while He was at prayer on the mountain. The mountain is a favourite theme in the Bible and has a religious connotation, while prayer is our conversation with the Maker. It is prayer that should transform our lives to the extent we can savour the glory of the Almighty Father and His Only Begotten Son, Lord Jesus, who should be the Lord of our lives.

St James, near kinsman of Jesus Christ

J I Rosairo

A feast day of St James, called the Greater, to distinguish him from the other James, also an apostle of Jesus called the 'Less' or the 'Just', was celebrated by the Universal Church on July 26.

James was, to say, one of the 'triumvirate,' the other two being John the brother of James, (in all probability the Evangelist) and Peter who was to succeed Jesus as His first Successor.

James and John, the sons of Zebedee were poor, illiterate, innocent fishermen, but were no doubt ambitious.

They were called by Jesus to join Him at the commencement of His Ministry.

The story goes when they were mending their nets by the Sea of Galilee together with their father, Jesus comes and calls them by name. Immediately leaving father, boat and nets, they follow Jesus.

The Gospels list out both James and John, as being among the first four, the first two being Simon Peter and Andrew, his brother. They also followed Christ under similar situations. (Mark 4, 18-22).

James was indeed privileged and a popular person too, who was associated with both Peter and John at all important aspects of the life of Christ, such as at the Transfiguration on the mountain, a very important event in the life of Jesus, then at the healing of Peter's mother-in-law, the raising of the daughter of Jarius and finally at the Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus Himself invited Peter, James and John, to join Him in prayer, prior to His impending arrest, suffering and death.

But as weak men they succumbed to sleep for which Jesus rebuked them, "Could ye not watch one hour with me? Watch therefore and pray lest ye enter into temptation."

The spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is weak. (Matt. 26.40-41)

Salome, the mother of James and John, as recorded in the Gospels, wishing to receive some reward for her two sons who were in the Ministry, had one day come to Jesus, perhaps with her two sons and when Jesus inquired as to why she came, she responded saying, "Grant that these two sons of mine that they might sit one on your right hand and the other on your left in Your Kingdom! Jesus addressing said, "You do not know what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink? "They said, "We are able." to which Jesus replied. "You will indeed drink of the cup, but to sit one on my right hand and left is not mine to give you, but for those for whom it is prepared by My Father." (Matt. 20 20-23).

James and John are also specifically mentioned as being present at one of the post resurrection appearances of Jesus on the shores of lake Tiberius and again when they were gathered in the Upper Room after Jesus' ascension. (Acts 1-13).

James appears to have spent a number of years preaching in Spain before returning to Jerusalem and facing subsequent martyrdom at the hands of Herod Agrippa between (41-44 AD). "Now about this time Herod the King stretched out his hand to harass some from the Church.

Then he killed James, the brother of John with the sword. (Acts 12 1-2).

His shrine is at Santiago de Compostella in North Western Spain and his followers are believed to have carried his body down to the coast and placed it in a stone boat which was carried by angels to land on the Atlantic Coast of Northern Spain where the saint is supposed to be buried with two of his disciples, Athanasius and Theodore.

The site of the tomb was forgotten for some 800 years and during the early part of the 9th century, a hermit named Pelayo was led by a vision to the spot.

The tomb was rediscovered and the relics authenticated as those of St James by the local bishop. God has immensely blessed James for his unflinching faith in the Lord, so much as to lay down his life, as he during his lifetime pledged to drink of the cup with his Master and Lord.

James is nevertheless remembered by his one Epistle consisting of five chapters, written to the Twelve Tribes scattered abroad.

It is replete with admonitions, instructions and guidelines, all of an inspirational nature, not only for the twelve tribes, but for all peoples. Two gems culled from this Epistle are:-

Chap. 1 Vr. 19. So then my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak and slow to wrath.

Chap. 1 Vr. 26. If anyone among you thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one's religion is useless.

Story of Sts Joachim and Anna

The canonical Gospels of Mark, Matthew (Matt), Luke and John are silent about the infancy of Mary and so it is from Protevangelium (proto-gospel) of James that we learn the names of her parents as Joachim and Anna.

The Protevangelium is a non-canonical work, which survives today in Papyrus Bodmer V, one 3rd century Greek manuscript. It could probably have circulated by 150 AD and was copied and used in the Church through the centuries. It is pseudonymously attributed to the pen of St. James, for greater authority since he was a prominent New Testament personage and as 'brother of the Lord' he should reasonably have known the family history.

Why was this written? It is out of curiosity, as Raymond E. Brown suggests in The Birth of the Messiah. A Commentary on the Infancy Narratives in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke (ABRL 1; NY 1993) 28 "Christians wanted to know more about their master: his family, his ancestors, his birthplace." The author also seeks to fill in the lacunae of the canonical Gospels. In the language of W.S. Vorster, found in "The Annunciation of the Birth of Jesus in the Protevangelium of James," in A South African Perspective on the New Testament (Leiden 1986) 51; he also seeks "a retelling of the birth story of Jesus from the perspective of his mother."

How did the Protevangelium name the parents of Mary? We agree with Brown when he states in The Birth of the Messiah, 288. "We have no idea where the Protevangelium (....), which is clearly unhistorical on many points, got the tradition that the names of Mary's parents were Joachim and Anna; but certainly it patterns Anna on her namesake, Hannah the mother of Samuel."

Liturgically the cult of St. Anne is found in the 6th century in the Church of Constantinople and early in the 8th century in Rome. In the 13th and 14th centuries, an enormous increase in popular devotion to St. Anne is evidenced by the number of churches bearing her name.

The Narrative

Joachim was, as Protevangelium (abbreviated as 'Proto') narrates, a rich and devout man. But he had no children, because Anna was barren. They both were also aged. So their neighbours doubted their virtue. They thought that this couple was displeasing in God's sight.

One day Joachim went as his custom was to make an offering at the altar. But then the priest there rebuked him, saying. "It is not right for you to offer gifts first, for you have begotten no offering in Israel" (Proto 1,2).

So Joachim went away sad into the desert all alone. By his fasting and prayer, he tried to force God's Hand. Anna remained at home, weeping bitterly and praying to God, "God of my fathers, bless me; hear my prayer, as you blessed the womb of Sarah and gave her a son, Isaac" (Proto 2,4).

Anna's prayer was answered. The Angel of the Lord appeared to her and promised her a child. Immediately she made this vow, "As the Lord lives, if I bring forth either a male or female child, it shall Minister to Him all the days of its life" (Proto 4,1).

Divinely instructed to leave his solitude, Joachim hurried to rejoin his wife. In the ninth month, Anna conceived and bore a very beautiful girl and "when the days were fulfilled, Anna purified herself and gave suck to the child and called her name Mary" (Proto 5,2).

Good News of the Narrative

The Protevangelium, preserved from antiquity, exhibits an independent interest in Mary. It recounts the biography of Mary: her family, her birth, her childhood in the Temple, her betrothal to Joseph (an aged widower with children whose staff blossomed as a sign of taking Mary's hand in marriage: Proto 9,2), the annunciation, Joseph's doubt, Mary's vindication before the High Priest, the birth of Jesus in a cave outside of Bethlehem - a delivery painless and without any rupture of the hymen (Proto 19,20). Thus it developed the Marian legend and influenced religious art.

This narrative could be highly legendary, folkloric, imaginative and forcefully dramatic. It could be "inventive hagiography" as E. De Strycker designates it. Joseph A. Fitzmyer comments in A Christological Catechism. New Testament Answers (Bombay 1993) 19: "It fills in details that may come from a primitive, authentic tradition, but more likely supplies such details from imaginative speculation." As Brown (ed.) rightly evaluates in Mary in the New Testament (Bangalore 1992) 249, "We shall have to ask to what extent this book preserves independent traditions and what is the direction of its Marian implications." He further notes in An Introduction to the New Testament (NY 1007)836, "Its incorrect knowledge of Judaism shows that it is not a historical account, even though it may contain some reliable items of earlier tradition" and in Responses to 101 Questions on the Bible (Bombay 1993) 94: "The Protevangelium (...) is scarcely a reliable historical source. Nevertheless, it gives evidence of a tradition circulating at a very early period." Thus it is full of details, both authentic and imaginative.

However, the Holy Bible is full of parallels to this apocryphal story. For example, the miraculous birth stories of Isaac (Gen 18, 10-15), Samuel (1 Sam 1, 20) and John the Baptist (Luke 1,13). Whenever God had ordained someone to a particular mission, the Holy Scripture emphasizes the supernatural nature of his or her birth. Frequently it surrounds their birth with a host of wonders, supremely in the birth narratives of Matt and Luke. So this story signals the exceptional destiny that awaits Mary - her role in God's plan. Just like Isaac, Samuel and John the Baptist she will also inherit some sublime destiny.

In this story of Joachim and Anna, we see their holiness. They are among those 'holy ones' whom God tests as He did to Abraham and Sarah, Elcanah and Hanna, Zachariah and Elizabeth. God looks upon their holiness and it would surely be reflected on their child, Mary.

Further, God prepared mankind by the lesser miracle of the fruitfulness of these holy women for the supreme miracle of the Virgin Birth.

Finally, this story features God's providential intervention in the birth of the child the miraculous birth. The God of Israel is One, who gives fruitfulness and life at His Will. Many like Isaac, Samuel and John the Baptist would be one of the 'Free Gifts' of the Providence. In her case, as in theirs, impotent nature is healed by an Omnipotent God.

Rev. Fr. Don Anton Saman Hettiarachchi, Deen,
Faculty of Theology (English Medium), Aquinas University College, Colombo

Holland-Sri Lanka Family Help Program (FHP) established in Pamunugama, celebrated 30 years of their humanitarian service to the poorest of the poor of this country. To commemorate this event a Thanksgiving Holy Mass was offered at St. Joseph’s Church, Pamunugama, presided by His Grace Most Rev. Dr. Malcolm Ranjith, Archbishop of Colombo. Here Sri Lanka Ramya Herman Theodorus Steur, founder of the FHP making offerings during the Thanksgiving Mass. Picture: D. N. B. Kirihetti, Pamunugama group correspondent