"OMG!!! Its GOD!!!"...Talk Amongst Yourselves

This Sunday is Transfiguration Sunday. In the Christian calendar, this feast day falls on the Sunday right before the beginning of Lent. Lent, this year, begins with Ash Wednesday on March 9th. Transfiguration Sunday recalls the Scriptural accounting of when Jesus took his friends (Peter, James and John) up on a mountainside and was 'transformed' -- or transfigured -- before their very eyes into a vision of the Divine. He is also accompanied in this transfiguration by the Lawgiver, Moses, and the Prophet, Elijah -- both long-dead. It is a strange accounting, as Jesus also says to his friends, the only spectators, never to tell anyone. And, we really aren't sure why he chose those friends, and that time, and that particular place. But all three of the synoptic have this accounting. Transfiguration means to change, literally change the outside to match what is on the inside. Jesus 'changed' himself, and revealed such a startling and magnificent view of God, it was almost too much for the three apostles to comprehend. They didn't know what to do with it. My question is, do we?
I refer this week to my friend and former teacher Rev. Dr. John Holbert, whose written a wonderful column on the whole idea of witnessing the Divine. This is on the very cool, very informative site -- NOTE -- Patheos.com, a site devoted to the study and understanding of spirituality and multiple faith traditions. John examines a predecessor text to the Gospel accountings, Exodus 24:12-18. This tells the story of Moses, Joshua, and assorted Israelite priests also getting to view God (aka "YHWH"), on a mountaintop (Sinai) long before Jesus ever was born. John ponders whether you and I, today, in our age of instantaneous internet connections and ever-changing, space-age technology, are still able and even wanting or willing to try and grasp the wonder and mystery of the Triune God.
Good question, John. I wonder it, too.
Talk amongst yourselves and let us know.
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John's post is under the Religion Portal on Patheos.com under "Mainline Protestant." Check it out!