Responding in Silence

On Thursday we’ll celebrate the Feast of the Transfiguration – when Jesus went up onto a mountain with some of his disciples, when his body and clothes became a dazzling white, and Moses and Elijah appeared alongside him. One of the most notable things about this story is the reaction of the disciples – Luke tells us that “they kept silent and in those days told no one any of the things they had seen.”

Often our natural response to an encounter with God, in whatever form it may take, is to try to depict it, describe it or recreate it in some way; generations of Christians have attempted to capture God’s glory through art, or music, or writing. But what the Transfiguration teaches us is that God’s capacity for glory goes beyond anything we could understand, or define, or imagine.

Perhaps the disciples have an alternative response here. When they have encountered this extraordinary vision of God in human form, radiating glory, they simply remain silent. It demonstrates a deep humility, a willingness to be overwhelmed by something far greater than themselves, to acknowledge that they too were the creation of this dazzling God and loved by him. Sometimes, when we too are overwhelmed by the presence of God, one response can be that of the disciples: silence, and the time and space to know ourselves loved by the transfigured Jesus in all his glory.