Jesus is Transfigured before the very eyes of three of his disciples. They see his face shine radiant like the sun and his clothes become dazzling white. They watch him instruct two ancient figures on the Transfiguration of humanity, away from an ancient figure of a War Lord and toward an eternal figure of a peacemaker,
Yuka and 347 other children in her school, among the 146,000 other people in Hiroshima that day, were disfigured before the very eyes of Setsuko Nakamura. She saw their faces shine like the radiation with which they had been poisoned and saw the patterns of their clothing burned into their flesh. In shock, she watched a soldier instruct her on surviving the disfigurement of warfare, incessantly planned for all humanity. As a survivor, like other survivors of sanctified atrocities, she continues to give witness to the unfolding Transfiguration; imploring all humanity to turn away from ever replicating figures of War Lords and turn toward eternal figures of peacemaking. Setsuko Nakamura dedicates her life to disarmament, to the eradication of all weapons, especially nuclear weapons. It is a dedication she wishes had been made decades before by the men of Japan, Germany, Europe, and the U.S.; men who designed the war and dropped the bombs. In particular, she wishes peace had been the dedication of the men of the U.S. warplane Enola Gay who dropped the atomic bomb on her on August 6, 1945. She wishes they had been transfigured by a man whose name they falsely use for their religion. The pilot Paul Tibbets who flew the plane, like the U.S. President Harry Truman who ordered it made and dropped, like many of the U.S. citizens then and now who defend its use, call themselves Christian / Christ-like. They defend a good war. They defend war itself as good. They are warriors, on battle fields and home fronts, and they disfigure. They disfigure particular brothers and sisters and they disfigure all humanity. Peacemakers transfigure, our images of God, our mission for Humanity.
“Behold the transfiguration of changing tides… Faith has brought me here to these shores across from Galilee To taste the souls of such, as Legion once was dwelling, amongst the tombs … your pain no more… barriers of illusion, forever gone.” (Be Still – John Rhinem)
Prayer: Spirit of Peace, may we transformed to radiate peace among all people.
Question: Do I live a mission of peace?
August 6, 2017 Gospel Matthew 17:1-9 Transfiguration