March 3, Transfiguration C (Exodus 34:29–35; Luke 9:28–43a; 2 Corinthians 3:12–4:2)

One of my favorite shows is How It’s Made, which walks viewers through the way things we use every day are created. From padlocks to pencils to whatever else you take for granted and buy at the store without much thought to how it got there—this program shows you its genesis and all the various parts that have to move in order for it to come into being. It gives you a proverbial peek behind the curtain of something that is usually a mystery, or not even on the radar of our curiosity. Once you see how a ballpoint pen is made, you will never look at one the same way again.

Transfiguration Sunday is the day we commemorate the further revealing of who God is in Jesus Christ. And just as that ballpoint pen becomes a thing of wonder once you realize what went into making it, so too does our sense of wonderment deepen when we come into a greater realization of who and what God is.

What’s more, that realization and new understanding transform the seer.