Have you ever talked to someone who visited Medjugorje, or been there yourself? Spending time in the intense presence of Mary and watching as seers go into a heavenly trance has a life-transforming effect on people who’ve been there. When I’ve talked with such people, a glow comes over their faces, and they seem at a loss for words describing their experience. Their experience of God was not just a momentary fad or a temporary spiritual high. Years after a person had been there, they are still awed when they talk about it.
There are few experiences in which the doors of heaven seem to open for us and allow us to encounter God in a life-changing way. We read about one today.
We celebrate the feast of the Transfiguration of Jesus. For a moment three disciples saw Jesus in his heavenly “clothes” talking to saints who were already living in the heavenly realm (Mark 9:2-10).
“Jesus took Peter, James, and his brother John, and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves. And he was transfigured before them and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no fuller on earth could bleach them. The Elijah appeared to them along with Moses, and they were conversing with Jesus.”
This experience surpassed even the miraculous healings that Jesus performed, or the sight of him walking on the water. The brightest white that the earth could produce was that of a fuller’s bleached wool. Heaven’s light was much thousands of times brighter than this. These three ordinary disciples saw something that no one ever had or has ever seen. The door of heaven opened before them, and they saw Jesus, Elijah, and Moses clothed in brilliant light.
We wonder why Jesus did this. Was it really necessary? And we wonder why he didn’t take all twelve apostles with him; why just the three leaders? Later in the same passage we read that Jesus told them not to relate what happened to them to anyone until he had risen from the dead. No doubt when they returned from the mountain, the three men looked stunned.
Jesus knew that after his death and even resurrection his apostles would be tempted to doubt who he was. Skeptics of the day would challenge their assertion that Jesus was the Messiah. They would say that Jesus was just another religious leader, not much different from the other “messiah-wannabees” who appeared in Israel at that time. They would remind the apostles that Egyptian magicians could perform miracles that rivalled what Jesus did. Besides why would let the true Messiah be killed? And who would ever be deluded into thinking that this mere man from the hill country of Galilee was actually God himself. There is no way that these simple uneducated men could argue with the intellectual skeptics of their day.
When tempted to doubt, however, the Holy Spirit would awaken the transfiguration moment in their heads. They would realize that Jesus was much more than a wise, talented, miracle worker. He was truly the Son of God. They had a glimpse into what Jesus would look like in heaven. And they realized that heaven is as superior to earth as its glorious light is to fullers’ wool.
Later when the other apostles entertained doubt, the three would recall what happened on the mountain that day. Their testimony would be so convincing—as are the testimonies about Medjugorje– that the others would be compelled to believe who Jesus really was.
God gives each of us personal experiences of the divine in our lives, so that the enemies of Jesus cannot scam us into believing he was just another religious leader. We refer back to life-transforming experiences with Jesus when we are tempted to doubt. Though we will not see Jesus transfigured, we will experience a deep inner peace when we invite him into our hearts—a peace that surpasses all understanding, heaven’s peace.
Do we appreciate our privilege of knowing Jesus and believing who he really is? Let us seek to encounter him in a new way.
