Transfiguration

In Israel where half the enlisted men are women, the old cliché "I ran into an old army buddy" doesn't always mean a reunion of brothers. Once upon a Yom Kippur, I was a young Israeli soldier pulling guard duty on a base near Haifa. Left behind while our comrades were fasting with their families, we unhappy few sat at the gate to pass the time. A girl (soldier) became the center of attention. And not (only) because of her feminine wiles - which would only be natural, her being the only female stuck on base with a bunch of lonely young men. No, she had something much more interesting, more mysterious, going for her. She had Jesus.

Her name was Melody. Between snacks, a few self appointed defenders of the Jewish faith were poking fun, although not successfully, as their ignorance of her faith, not to mention their own, was painfully obvious. Nonplussed by her tormentors, Melody was radiant, even cheerful. Maybe that's why I remember her 25 years later. Her warmth. Heat.

I grew up in the Church. I'd heard it all before, and it left me cold. For me, Christianity was an institution, churches, theology, rules. So her message wasn't new to me, but I was impressed by her delivery.

25 years later, Melody is a guide to Christian holy places. Naturally, I was curious. Is she still a believer? No, she laughed, but it’s a good living.

She met us at the Catholic Church on Mount Tabor. No trouble finding it. You can't miss it; it's just next door to the Greek Orthodox church. Mount Tabor is where 'The Church' claims Jesus took Peter, James and John to witness His transfiguration, which was a cosmic coming out of the closet, with Moses and Elijah making a cameo appearance. The disciples, who had always suspected that Jesus had divine tendencies, were nevertheless taken back.

Peter was psyched. "Hey Jesus, lets build three tabernacles up here for You and your friends!"
Jesus was less than excited about the idea. "I don't know…."
But Peter was on a roll. "You're right. Why think small? Tabernacles won't do. We'll build a huge church right here on top of the mountain. People will see it for miles around and come from far and wide, from all over the world! Just think of the tourist income! Think what it will do for the local economy!"
Jesus: "Peter, you're starting to sound like Judas."
Moses (to Jesus): "What's going on? Nobody said anything about this when they told me to come down here!"
Peter: "If we make the church big enough, visitors will be able to celebrate mass!"
Moses: "Mass?"
Jesus had heard enough. "We're finished here, guys. Let's go!"
Moses and Elijah headed on up to heaven while Jesus hustled His favorite disciples back to join the others – but not before reminding them to keep His little secret. Peter promptly posted it on his blog.

Melody says that Mount Hermon looks like a more likely candidate than Tabor for the mountain where Jesus was transfigured, but the Catholic Church owns real estate on Mt. Tabor, so that's where they built the Church of the Transfiguration. Inspired by St. Peter, the Italian architect Antonio Barlucci designed the church to appear like three (very fancy) tabernacles, with two small ones on either side of a big one (for Jesus, of course). The ceiling over the sanctuary is inlayed with alabaster to create an effect of heavenly light streaming down on the worshipers celebrating mass, but has been covered with a lead dome because the alabaster roof turned out to be leaky.

The village of Cana is where Jesus performed His first miracle by turning ordinary water into fine wine. Today the locals turn cheap hooch into tourist dollars. The Roman Catholic church is right across the alley from the Greek Orthodox one. The reason that you find so many holy sites with Catholic and Orthodox churches next to each other isn't because Greeks and Catholics like each other so much; it's more like McDonalds and Burger King setting up shop in the same food court at the mall. Pure and simple, its good ol' fashioned American competition.

In Nazareth, St. Gabriel's (Greek Orthodox) marks the place where Mary became the first virgin in history to test positive with a home pregnancy kit. Unlike Catholics, who clutter their churches with statues, Greek Orthodox churches have icons. Icons are simply 2 dimensional versions of Catholic images which can best described as saints who have been run over by a steamroller. These icons have nothing whatsoever to do with the icons you see on the Internet. Everyone knows that images on the net are creations of the Geek Orthodox Church.

The Catholic Church of the Annunciation is a short walk down Main Street from (you guessed it) the Greek Orthodox establishment. Its all about Mary at Annunciation. It reminds me of the joke about the proverbial fat girl in 3rd grade – she was so big that no matter where you sat in the classroom, you ended up sitting next to the fat girl. Melody pointed out the Mary mosaics on the walls,

Mary statues on the walls,

Mary in the fountain,

Mary on the door, and so on. You can't avoid Mary at Annunciation. (They also worship Jesus. He's the baby being cradled by some of the Marys.)

Melody finished the day at a rather neglected church crammed between vendors' stalls in the market which (they say) is the synagogue where Jesus prayed. It was the only place we visited where I thawed a little. Maybe because it wasn't just another grand monument to human creativity and endeavor; maybe because it was the only place that took us back to Jesus' Jewish roots.

Churches still leave me cold, but in 25 years I've warmed to Jesus. So it’s a bit ironic meeting Melody again. "Back then, I loved the story about a God who loves us so much," she recalls. "I wanted it to be true, so I believed it." Now she's not sure if Jesus ever existed. Still, when she talks about churches and their stories, its with warmth. I guess she's just a warm person.

When we started the day on Mount Tabor, Melody explained that "transfiguration" is a change in perception, how someone is percieved, not a change in being. Jesus didn't take on a different form on the mountain, rather his disciples saw Him for who He is. For 25 years Melody had existed in my mind as the glowing, red hot follower of the Messiah. But Melody isn't a memory, and in the course of that day she was transfigured back into person. A person with a life, a human being who's on a journey and has yet to arrive. But for at least for now, I see her for who she is.

A lot of things change in the space of a life time, so I guess it shouldn't be surprising that after 2000 years the Church that erupted with a simple, beautiful story about God's love has frozen solid into an icy institution carved by men. I don't think that Jesus has been transformed by the Church, but there has been a definite change in how He is presented and perceived.

Kind of like a transfiguration in reverse.

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