Life in Transformative Times

(Posted February 27, 2025)

During days like these, most of us wish for just a few days when things felt stable, peaceful, and familiar. If only life could be predictable, like it must have been for Jesus and his followers. We expect to find that same, happy, stable feeling when we head off to church.

There’s one problem about that, though. Jesus lived through some of the most turbulent times on this planet when the average person faced the power and fury of the great Roman Empire.

It’s All About Transformation

When Jesus preached, what he taught was all about transformation.

• About changing that part of the heart of who we are.
• Away from being unfeeling and ungenerous.
• Toward having the courage to be different ourselves.
• Be brave enough to live like Jesus.

The vision that Jesus had of the world was one where our compassion for the pain of others outweighs the law, such as when the law says it’s wrong to heal a deformed woman on the Sabbath.

That doesn’t make for a peaceful path through this life.

Jesus’ Truth Transforms

The truth about Jesus is this. To follow Jesus is to accept the steeper road. This Sunday’s Gospel tells us about what feels like the hard-to-believe story of three of Jesus’ friends being taken to the top of Mount Tabor. There, before their eyes, Jesus becomes luminous, and Moses and Elijah appear alongside him.

Why? To clearly show the apostles that their mundane reality was not the only true one that surrounds them each day. And then God the Creator’s voice from in high gives them – and us- the most important command: This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!

When God commands, we’d best listen. That means accepting the invitation to be transformed ourselves, even in turbulent times like these. Come join us this Sunday, on the road to the top of Mount Tabor.