Trans…… Trans……  Trans……  Got your attention, didn’t I?  But nope.  Whilst I’m all about supporting folks who are trans, this isn’t that kind of post.  SURPRISE!  Nope.  This is all about trans…other things.  Stop for a sec and think about those five little letters, that one little syllable:  trans.  It’s a prefix.  According to the dictionary, most commonly it means: 

1.  across; beyond.  “transcontinental”  on or to the other side of.  “transatlantic”
2.  through.  “transonic”  into another state or place.  “transform”  surpassing; transcending.  “transfinite”

It’s that second one that’s important to us here today:  Transform; “into another state or place.” 

When I was a kid we had electric trains.  There was a transformer that made the electricity transform into another kind of electricity that made the trains go.  We all of us have transformers in our homes in one way shape or form.  You know those little black boxes that are at the end of a cord, and you have to plug another cord into it before you can plug the whole business into a socket?  Yep, those are transformers, too.

Then, there are the Transformers that are toys, which spawned movies and cartoons and a whole wealth of possibilities in entertainment.  These are toy line is that the parts can be shifted about to change it from a vehicle, a device, or an animal, to a robot action figure and back again.   Great fun!

There are transformers in nature, too!   Seeds to plants, caterpillars to butterflies, pollywogs to frogs, and the list goes on.  By some miracle of nature, they all transform from one entity into another.  Exciting stuff, that!

And then….there is us.  We are born and we grow and change for sure.  But most of us don’t really “transform” into something completely different.  We are simply who we are.  Or are we?  Can we be transformed into something, someone, other than who we fundamentally are?

In the Gospel reading appointed for today, we read in Matthew of “The Transfiguration of the Lord”:   Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves.  And he was transfigured before them; his face shone like the sun and his clothes became white as light.

And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, conversing with him.  Then Peter said to Jesus in reply, “Lord, it is good that we are here.  If you wish, I will make three tents here,

one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”  While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud cast a shadow over them,

then from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased;  listen to him.”

When the disciples heard this, they fell prostrate and were very much afraid.  But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Rise, and do not be afraid.”  And when the disciples raised their eyes,

they saw no one else but Jesus alone. As they were coming down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, “Do not tell the vision to anyone until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”

Well now.  There’s a lot to unpack from those few paragraphs, but the big takeaway for today is that Jesus showed those guys his true form.  He went from being “plain ol’ Jesus” to “Jesus the Christ, the Son of God.”  Like whoa.  But wait a sec.  Question.  Wasn’t he ALWAYS “Jesus the Christ, the Son of God?”  Was HE really changed; transformed, if you will?  Did he change, or did he just show the world who he already was?  I vote for Jesus doing the “show and tell thing” and him cluing the men who were with him into the fact that he wasn’t some second-rate nobody preacher, but that he was SOMEBODY.  THE Somebody.

And that brings us right back to the question, “Can we be transformed into something, someone, other than who we fundamentally are?”   Mmmmmmm     Maybe the question should be, “Who are we and what do we need to do to make us into the person God wants us to be?” 

And you ask, “Who does God want us to be and reckon wonder how do we become that?”  It’s sorta kinda easy to answer the first part.  Who does God want us to be?  God wants us to be the best version of the person he created.  Be you.  Be your best.  Be the best you that you can be.   Work to become You2.0

The second part?  The “how do we do that?” part?  He’s told us that, too.  In John 13 Jesus says to us, “But I am giving you a new commandment. You must love each other, just as I have loved you.  If you love each other, everyone will know that you are my disciples.”  We are to continue to work to change (transform!) ourselves and the world by doing the work that Jesus has given us to do, by helping others to see Jesus through and in us, by showing that love that he demonstrated, by bringing that love to everyone.

Jesus told us to love everyone.  Love.  Everyone.  Period.   Not just those whose politics are the same as ours.  Not only those whose religion is the same as ours, not only those whose lifestyles are the same as ours.  Love.  Everyone.  Period. 

We are to remember that there is not one person on this planet who God does not love.  Yes, even that…….….fill in your own blank.  Democrat?  Yep.  Republican?  Yep.  Trans person, gay person, bigot, other-race person, criminal, gossip, and irritating next door neighbor? Yep.  Yes.  Affirmative. Positively.  Absolutely.  Yep, and yes again.  We who claim to love the Lord, must show that love.  And if we act in love, if you actively DO love, that would transform the world.  Love.   Love others as you love yourself.   

Jesus tells us in pretty no uncertain terms and more than once:  Love.  Here:

A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. – John 13:34

This is my command: Love each other. – John 15:17

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. – Mark 12:30

But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you – Matthew 5:44

My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. – John 15:12

Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. – John 15:13

But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you – Luke 6:27

By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. – John 13:35

If you love me, you will obey what I command. – John 14:15

I’ll say it again, you are the only Jesus some folks will ever see, the only Bible some folks will ever read.  

Teresa of Avila (1515-1582) said it like this:

Christ Has No Body

Christ has no body but yours,

No hands, no feet on earth but yours,

Yours are the eyes with which he looks

Compassion on this world,

Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good,

Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.

Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,

Yours are the eyes, you are his body.

Christ has no body now but yours,

No hands, no feet on earth but yours,

Yours are the eyes with which he looks

compassion on this world.

Christ has no body now on earth but yours.

We must show that we have, indeed, been transfigured and transformed.  Amen.