Transfiguration and the Light Hidden in Matter
Raising Holy Sparks, Islands of Coherence, and the Inward Light
A Word About Coherence
My friend and teacher Penny Andrews introduced me to one of the most powerful images for the spiritual life. We are all building, living in, and seeking islands of coherence. Coherence is the quality of elements fitting together in a clear, logical, and consistent way so that the whole makes sense rather than feeling scattered or contradictory. We seek coherence without even knowing we are doing it. When we feel like the world makes little sense, we are feeling a lack of coherence.
What I have learned is that most acts of spirituality are acts of coherence. When we take action in a way that helps the elements of our lives fit together, either by making cosmology visibly present in our lives, bringing more integrity to how we think, act, and engage with each other or society, or engage with Spirit honestly, we are performing acts of coherence. Whether it is a water communion, a healing circle, meditating and praying together, marching together, processing, or making ritual, pilgrimage, or vigil, we are grounding our actions in coherence.
When Jesus takes the apostles to Mount Tabor, he, as Living Word and Light, reveals the nature of reality in an act of coherence that repairs the world. Since we are called to be salt and light, and to speak the Living Words of Wisdom and Knowledge, it is important for us to develop this kind of tikkun in our lives.
The Mountain of Revelation
In the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, Jesus takes Peter, James, and John up Mount Tabor to pray. There Moses and Elijah appear, and a voice makes a proclamation about Jesus. The details in these three accounts differ in interesting ways. This event is called the Transfiguration because in this moment, the disciples see Jesus transfigured in his glory. While there are many ways to read these stories, I want to look at them through the lens of tikkun, holy sparks are being raised, and fractures are being repaired.
The Transfiguration on Mount Tabor is a revelation of the Kin-dom in a visual and visceral way. Three disciples are gathered. Jesus is literally with them. The veil is pulled back, the disciples experience an apocalyptic moment of revelation. They behold the Glory of God and the cloud of concealment. The great reparation of this moment is the revelation of the unseen kin-dom.
Each of the Gospel writers use this story to repair the fractures they are facing in their communities. The power is that the unseen glory is holding all of these tensions together and showing how they are false from the perspective of the revelation. They are healed when our eyes are cleansed to see the world as it is.
As we are going through Lent, this story reminds us of our unity in the One Life. The same light from Mount Tabor is the light in us now, and we can still learn from this inward light.
Raising Holy Sparks and the Work of Tikkun
In the teachings of the Ari, Isaac Luria, the world is not broken because matter is evil, but because divine light became scattered and hidden within creation. He described this through the image of shattered vessels, fragments of holy light trapped in ordinary things, in human struggle, even in our mistakes. To “raise the holy sparks” means to live in a way that frees that hidden light. Every act of justice, compassion, creativity, and mindful presence becomes a repair of the world. This resonates deeply. Creation is original blessing, yet it is unfinished. We participate with the Holy not by escaping the world, but by engaging in it. Every loving action reveals the sacred already shimmering within matter. When I read the stories of the Transfiguration, I see many fractures being healed and sparks being raised.
The Fracture Between Law and Prophets
The easiest fracture to see in these stories is between the law and the prophets. There are a lot of contradictions between the Law and the prophets, but in the ministry of Jesus, this is highlighted for all of his followers. He softens some laws, reinterprets others, reorders how his followers understood their obligations under the law. Jesus declares himself Lord of the Sabbath (Matthew 12:8; Mark 2:28; Luke 6:5). All three stories show us Jesus at the heart of the movement with Moses and Elijah on either side of him. It shows the heart of the Way, Jesus is at the center and the law and prophets are interpreted through him.
The Fracture Between Matter and Glory
The next fracture we see restored is between matter and glory. In Mark 9:2-8, he focuses on the materiality of the moment. Jesus’ clothing glistens white like snow, brighter than any launderer could whiten them. No bleach could make them so white. For Mark, the glory is revealed through the cloth. Matter contains holiness. His story ends in a powerful, clear way:
“A cloud came, overshadowing them, and a voice came out of the cloud, ‘This is my beloved Son. Listen to him (Mark 9:7).’” Once they hear the voice they see nothing but Jesus. The glory is in the fabric, our attention is oriented to Jesus, and he is all that remains.
Here, matter and glory are rejoined to each other in the teachings of Jesus. We heal this fracture by listening to him.
The Fracture Between Fear and Trust
The fracture between fear and trust is the constant struggle for authority. In Matthew 17:1-8, the writer spotlights this problem. On the mountain, the clothes do more than glisten. Jesus’ face shines like the sun and his clothes like light. Jesus is the source of this glory, and the disciples are afraid they are going to do something wrong. Peter, takes the lead and starts babbling in hopes of receiving clarity about what to do. In Matthew’s version, the voice from the cloud interrupts Peter, and the disciples fall on their faces afraid. Jesus has to get up and tell them not to be afraid. At that moment, the vision ends.
Fear is embraced by trust through the living word of Jesus. The moment is healed. Don’t be afraid, worrying what should and should not be done. This is not a time for ceremony, pomp and circumstance. The point was to be in the moment and live in the light and cloud. Fear can only get in the way.
The Fracture Between Human and Divine
The early way also struggled with the fracture between human and divine. In Luke 9:28-36, Jesus, Moses, and Elijah appear in glory. A cloud overshadows them. Only Luke tells us what they are talking about. Their conversing about the Exodus of Jesus. This puts Jesus in the life of Moses through the means of Elijah. As Moses lead the Hebrews out of bondage in Egypt, Jesus is leading people out of the world into the kin-dom of God which is not of this world. Importantly, Luke is the only gospel that tells us the disciples entered the cloud. They partook of the glory because they participated in the kin-dom. This restored the fracture between the human and the divine.
All three versions show the fracture within the disciples’ own psyches. They are afraid, in awe, and nervous, but in all three stories they were invited into the holy moment. These stories show us how we participate in the divine and are whole in ourselves and in our groups. We are one in the kin-dom.
The Cloud of Concealment and the Glory of Mystery
The dark cloud is where God dwells. “Yahweh has said that he would dwell in the thick darkness (1 Kings 8:12; 2 Chronicles 6:1).” The people marveled at the thick cloud when it descended on Mount Sinai (Exodus 20:21), so we see it again here on Mount Tabor. “Clouds and darkness are around him. Righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne (Psalm 97:2).”
This is why we enter into mystery to seek the light. “It is the glory of God to conceal a thing, but the glory of kings is to search out a matter (Proverbs 25:2).” The Glory reveals, but the cloud conceals the mystery and allures us to seek out answers for ourselves so we grow in the spirit.
The Inward Light
We commune with and learn from the inward light by turning our attention toward the presence of God within, trusting that Christ enlightens every person from the inside out (John 1:9). As we quiet ourselves and listen, the Spirit teaches and reminds us of what is true (John 14:26), guiding us into deeper truth over time (John 16:13).
This inward witness is not self-generated wisdom but God’s Spirit testifying within our own spirit (Romans 8:16). We test what we receive against love, since walking in the light is inseparable from loving one another (1 John 1:7), so that the light within forms us into people who reflect the Light of the world (John 8:12).
Love as the Core Action of the Way
Love is the core action of the Way. When we say that God is a verb, the primary verb we use to understand the life of God is love. Love takes no object. Only two subjects can love one another.
“The closest we can come to thinking about God is as a process rather than a being. We can think of it as ‘be-ing,’ as verb rather than noun…Most of our verbs are considered transitive, which require a direct object, or intransitive, which do not. (Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi) suggests that God-ing is a mutually interactive verb, one which entails an interdependency between two subjects, each being the object for the other (Rabbi David A. Cooper, God is a Verb, 69).”
Love seeks coherence, because it seeks to build and perfect the understanding of the interdependency between these two subjects. Love helps us to name the subjects and the mutual interactivity between them.
Revelation, Vocation, and Descent
We cannot determine whether the Transfiguration changed the world or unveiled it. We cannot step outside the story to inspect its inner workings. What we can do is descend the mountain and live as if what was revealed there is the truest thing about reality. Whether the world was healed in that moment or our vision was healed, the vocation is the same: act as though glory, not fracture, is fundamental.
Jesus and the disciples climbed Mount Tabor where the Kin-dom of Heaven was revealed, only to descend to continue the walk to the cross. The endless work of love is to pour out our love and life through creativity into the world to keep it green, healthy, and growing. We do not march to our death. Jesus did not march to his death, but he knew it was an inevitability. Rome killed anyone they found who was truly alive. Life does not bow to empire and refuses to live in cages and chains. At some point, Rome would come for him, and he knew that.
Once we experience the inward light, we are no longer conformed to the whims and will of empire, and are prepared for a life in the kin-dom. This is how we learn to perceive the hidden coherence already present in the world.
Let Your Light Shine
Jesus said:
“You are the light of the world. A city located on a hill can’t be hidden. Neither do you light a lamp and put it under a measuring basket, but on a stand; and it shines to all who are in the house. Even so, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven (Matthew 5:14-16).”
We commune with the inner light to keep our light strong. We raise holy sparks to keep the light shining in the world. We tend our sanctuaries and refuges so we bring the kin-dom on earth.
Jacob’s Ladder and the Holy Mountain
The Transfiguration is a revelation of hidden coherence in matter calling us together as bearers of that coherence so we can learn to ascend and descend the holy mountain like the angels on Jacob’s ladder.
So remember that we are all called into the cloud to behold the glory where our clothes will shimmer like the snow and our faces will shine like the sun. We are luminous beings like Jesus, because we are one in Christ and God. In silence, meditation, and prayer, we enter the inner cloud and seek the light, so our light might shine into the world to bring healing and restoration.