“Jesus took Peter, James, and his brother John, and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no fuller on earth could bleach them.” (Mk 9:2-3)
To be a Disciple of Christ is to follow him, to learn from him and ultimately to be like him. Every moment with Jesus was a teachable moment. An opportunity to learn, to listen, to obey, to grow. Jesus freely shared his thoughts, his knowledge, his heart, his wisdom with his disciples. He continues to do so with us. Jesus understands that we absorb instruction and knowledge differently. Not all in the same way or at the same rate or in the same capacity. Our upbringing plays a key role in our development. It affects how we learn, how we teach, how we experience, how we understand. This is an important lesson for all teachers. To understand that not all the students start from the same page or from the same place or from the same point of understanding. A good teacher understands the students; their abilities, their limitations, how they take in information, how they process it, how they learn and how they teach. Jesus understood this. He used different methods of learning. At times, the disciples listen to Jesus share prayers and beatitudes. At times, the disciples saw signs and wonders. Other times, the disciples experienced acts of mercy and healing. Other times, Jesus shared parables to engage the disciples’ imagination in order to contemplate what the Kingdom of God is like. Through the use of these different styles of teaching and learning, Jesus re-enforced the most important lesson of them all. How to be loving, kind, compassionate, merciful, forgiving, charitable. How to be like Jesus. Some of the lessons were difficult to understand. Like why was it necessary for Jesus to be mocked, rejected, beaten and killed then rise on the third day? God forbid they said. But being the good, patient teacher that he was, Jesus helped the disciples to see, listen, experience, and imagine the importance of the lesson through the Transfiguration. They would come to learn and understand without a doubt the depth of God’s love and the power of his glory that would destroy death, forgive sin and restore life simply because God loves us.