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Tuesday 9 February 2021

Transfigured

original painting by Dominic Martinelli - see:
https://www.dominicmartinelli.com/blog/the-transfiguration/
A wee reflection for this upcoming Transfiguration Sunday...

Transfigured                                              
Scrambling and scrabbling over scree, 
snaking their way along ridges 
on the barest of trails, 
they climb,
leaving earthly things behind. 
Clambering with effort around crags, 
avoiding cliff edges, 
looking up occasionally, and feeling dizzy, 
still they follow him. 
He ascends the heights 
like Moses did so long ago, 
he, who wrote the Law on stone. 

They pause awhile upon the mountaintop, 
almost, but not quite, the roof of the world, 
and suddenly, the light is blinding, 
bright, white; 
searing the scales from disciples’ eyes. 
And for a moment, here, closer to the heavens, 
they see him for who he truly is: 
magnificent and glorious, 
majestic. 
Shining amid rocky pinnacles 
the humble rabbi 
is transfigured – 
shot through with shafts of 
burning brilliant white, 
exalted, 
conversing in illustrious company. 
Moses, the Law maker, 
Elijah, the prophet, 
return to the mountaintop 
to meet with the Messiah – 
transcendent anointing. 

Senses ravished by unearthly beauty, 
desperate to stay, 
Peter babbles of pitching tents, 
unable to understand 
the mystery and glory of the moment. 
It passes. 
They slope back down from the summit, 
subdued, and told to keep the secret: 
a truth that they cannot comprehend 
when they descend 
and are more earthly-minded. 
And only after pain and grief, 
execution, 
and a resurrection 
will they truly see him for who he is once more. 
            c.Nik Mac