You Are My Beloved

High on a mountain, after much prayer, weighed down with sleep, the disciples hallucinate. Or perhaps dream a dream, or see a vision, or experience the thinnest place on earth, where the invisible meets the visible, and the ethereal weaves itself into the corporeal and everything looks the way it actually is — somatic, sacred, all tangled together.

And Moses and Elijah appear in glory, and Jesus is glowing — transfigured. What do they discuss? His harrowing exit? Do they advise him? Moses, presumably, died of old age; Elijah was transported straight to paradise. How do they advise him, or do they make plans to meet over a wineskin after it’s all over? We’re left guessing.

In the meantime, the disciples are terrified, and they fall down in fear. Peter, beside himself, blurts out something that entirely misses the point. We recognize this. It’s the need to do something, say something, in the midst of being knocked on your ass. Here, amidst shock and awe, almost a moment of humour.

And then, tenderness: Jesus touches them, says, “Get up, be not afraid.” Words of assurance — his merciful habit.

Jesus then instructs the disciples to keep the whole episode to themselves. Wise advise. (Should you be one who has seen a UFO, I will advise you in like manner.)

No way around it: this is a story meant to confirm the glory and divinity of Jesus, and with Moses and Elijah in the mix — a story meant to demonstrate that Jesus is the fulfillment of the covenant, the law, the utterances of all the prophets, the whole wild cabaret that came before.

And while the face of Jesus is still beaming from the radiance within, the voice of God comes through a thick, bright cloud: “This is my Son, my Chosen, the Beloved, listen to him!”

But how do I listen? What should I listen for?

There’s a story relayed by Mary Gordon in her book, Reading Jesus, about a priest who cared for a man who was cognitively impaired. The priest once asked him, “Do you pray?” “Yes,” said the man. “How do you pray?” asked the priest. He said, “Oh, I listen.” “What do you hear?” asked the priest. The man said, “I hear, ‘you are my beloved!’”