Imagine having a zip lock bag full of 1000 pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. Missing is a photo of the picture that will emerge once the puzzle is completed. Looking at a single piece of the puzzle, you obviously will have no idea what the whole picture would look like until you have spent much time putting the pieces together. Your initial perception of the picture will change as you put more and more pieces together.
The same could be said for our understanding of God. The picture we have of God is incomplete and will remain so until we encounter God after crossing the threshold of death. Until then, God endeavors to reveal himself to us in numerous ways through prayer, worship, scripture, nature, friends, and homilies. Being infinite, God takes his time to do so.
This hour we spend in worship is to the backdrop of history smaller than a pixel is to a giant TV screen. The consensus among scientists is that the universe began more than 14 billion years ago, our solar system emerged ten billion years later, life emerged on earth a billion years later, mammals 100 million years ago; human beings stepped out of caves 70,000 years ago and began to record history only 10,000 years ago. To God that is all a blink in time.
In those 10,000 years, humanity’s grasp of God has evolved from worshipping many gods, each with a purpose, to our triune God. When the moment was right, God emerged from a cave in Bethlehem in the person of Jesus. He came when people had an even more limited notion of God than we do.
In the time Jesus spent, walking around the holy land, performing miracles, challenging the Pharisees and tutoring his disciples, he undoubtedly ruffled many feathers. Jesus challenged the status quo, upending their expectations of what the Messiah should and would be. He constantly spoke of the kingdom of God.
To some of his listeners, that was rather political. To the Pharisees, his message was disconcerting, thus they often plotted to find ways to kill him. The apostles envisioned the emergence of a new earthly kingdom, freeing them from the oppressive Romans. In due time they came to understand the bigger picture of what Jesus meant by heeding the advice that God gave them on Mt. Tabor. “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.”
Someone else who listened was Abraham. What God asked of him to sacrifice Isaac is shocking, so what is the meaning behind this? In those days, human sacrifice was a common practice among pagans. They thought the practice pleased their gods but in fact God was telling Abraham, the father of our faith, that human sacrifice was abhorrent. Instead of reacting and jumping to conclusions, Abraham listened to God; he was willing to sacrifice what mattered most to him, thus he went on to be blessed with descendants as numerous as the stars. He knew that God would provide.
Centuries later, Peter, James and John on a high mountain were blessed to see Jesus in a different light. The transfiguration takes place at a crucial moment in the unfolding of Jesus’ mission. He had posed the question to them, “Who do you say that I am?” Even on the eve of his last Passover, many of the disciples still imagine that as the Christ, Jesus would be their earthly king; greeting him as he entered Jerusalem with palms and praises. Weeks later, all the pieces of the puzzle came together for them at Pentecost and at last they began to see the whole picture of what Jesus and the kingdom of God truly is.
Today, does this event prompt you to see Jesus differently? Throughout history, mankind has sought answers to pressing questions that simmer deep within his heart: why are we here? How can we find the happiness we yearn for? Why is there suffering and evil?
God has responded not with philosophy or formulas but with the person of his beloved son, Jesus. God answers our questions through his son’s life, teachings, death and resurrection. Christ is the answer, and it is up to us to get to know him. So what the apostles heard on Mt. Tabor is timely advice for us: “This is my beloved Son; listen to him.”
How readily do we listen to him? How faithfully do we follow him? Pope John Paul II wrote, “Jesus Christ is the center of the universe and of history.” A probing question for us to ponder would be, “Is he really the center of my life?”
Three major voices compete with Christ for our attention, voices we are in danger of listening to more closely than we should. The voice of popularity can destroy our friendship with Christ, because the Catholic thing to do is not always the popular thing to do. Second is the voice of pleasure, namely, certain desires that become addictions, which enslave us. Third is the voice of profit. Money is a great deceiver, but true happiness doesn’t come from pleasure or popularity. Lasting true happiness comes from a mature friendship with Christ, which money cannot buy.
Jesus, the eternal Son of God, came into the world to offer us advice on how to find the kingdom of God and lasting joy. He is God made man, not just an exceptionally wise man, but God himself, who seeks to make this a better world. In spite of the many clamoring voices competing for our loyalty, listen to him, for he is the way leading us to eternal life.