When they heard this, the disciples fell on their faces, overcome with fear. But Jesus came up and touched them, saying, ‘Stand up, do not be afraid’. And when they raised their eyes they saw no one but Jesus.
– Matthew 17:1-9
Today, the Catholic Church celebrates the feast day of the Transfiguration. During which three apostles, St. Peter, St. James and St. John, saw Jesus appear in His glory, foretelling of what was to come. A short glimpse of what was to be permanent after Jesus would be resurrected and His ascension to heaven. But imagine, at the short glimpse of this glorious vision, the apostles fell with fear. When we come face to face with God, seeing Him in His fullness, in all of His glory, we will fall of fear. We are fearful because we are crippled by our own humanity, seeing that we are nothing compared to God’s glory. That feeling of unworthiness? Yeah, we feel that at times. Some of us quite often.
A fear that cripples because we focus way too much on the suffering, just as the apostles were fixated on the thought of the suffering of the Passion, we put all our marbles on the feelings of aches, sufferings, shortcomings. As a result, we forget and overlook that 3 days after the Passion, was the Resurrection! And you see, the Lord never lets us remain in that state of fear and always gives us hope, just as He gave hope to the apostles through the Transfiguration. As if He was saying, “Look ahead! I will not leave you ever!”
We hear the phrase, “Do not be afraid”, quite a lot in the Bible. But what I find most beautiful about this instance was how Jesus went to the disciples and touched them. It affirms me in how personal the Lord is with us, that He won’t just resort to a simple utterance of words but actually will go to you wherever you are. And as He is there, He will touch our very lives. And it is a touch of assurance, comfort, care and love. Knowing how much more we can give, however, He will challenge us and ask us to stand up against all odds, against all uncertainty, against all obstacles, to stand up and have faith. Do not be afraid, He reminds us.
When we take that step, and stand up, on that solid ground which is God, we only see Jesus. Meaning, we are not distracted by the human-ness of our existence and all the limitations it has, but instead see the divine power of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Just like St. Peter walking on the water, once he saw the water, once he noticed the stormy winds, he began to sink. And after Jesus had ascended to heaven, this was how the martyrs and saints continued to proclaim the good news. This is how we must be as well. That it is normal to be fearful because that fear acknowledges that we cannot do any of this alone and thus encourages us to seek Christ. For once we lose our focus on Jesus, we will begin to sink in our problems and never seem to find a way out. But my friends, that way is Jesus Himself. For He is the Way, the Truth, and Life.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, may You grant us a deeper faith so that we may have hope through everything. And may we look solely to You.
AMDG.
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