Do you really want to be transfigured, or would you rather want to be transformed?

Transfiguration/Transformation. . .The words can be used interchangeably, but not often. In the context of the Transfiguration as we talk about it today, they are almost as opposite as opposite can be.

Jesus was transfigured before his disciples. He changed in outward appearance or form. There is nothing about Jesus that changed as far as his being goes at the Transfiguration. He was the same prior to its occurrence as he was during and after its occurrence. The disciples simply saw Jesus as he truly was. We might say that the scales that covered their eyes were taken away, and then they knew just who it was they had been walking the roads with these many miles.

The disciples, however, end up waiting for their own transformation. Transformation, according to the dictionary definition, means to change in condition, nature, or character. Let that difference sink in for just a minute. Jesus did not have to change in character, being the infinite, perfected, eternal Son of God. We, unfortunately, MUST be transformed before we can become the sons and daughters of God. Our sin must be atoned for and eliminated. Our guilt must be eradicated and removed.

II Corinthians 3:18 describes the process beautifully. We “are being transformed into the same image, from glory to glory, by the Holy Spirit.” How awesome is that!? We share in that glory which Christ displayed to the disciples on that mountaintop. Oh no, not the actual divine nature, but all the benefits of that complete and perfect relationship with our Heavenly Father that our first ancestors had, we will have restored to us beyond anything we can imagine.

No, I have no desire to be transfigured, to have the real me come out for all to see! It is my great hope and belief that the Holy Spirit is not transfiguring that image, but, rather, transforming it into something much better and more pleasing to us all.

We need more that just a little touch up. We need more than a little improvement. We need to be transformed! We can’t just hide the flaws as one might do to a house they were trying to sell by using a little spackle and a fresh coat of paint. We need to be torn down and rebuilt from the ground up. Peter recognized this when he saw Jesus transfigured before him. He knew it when Jesus borrowed his boat to preach to the crowds gathered along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, when he begged Jesus to depart from him because he had become fully aware of his own sinfulness.

However, here on the mountain there is grace. Here is the grace to make a difference. Here is the grace to transform Peter and even you and me from that which we would so like to hide from the whole world to that which will shine with the glory of God in the new one!

Pastor Craig