Trans*figuration

Armando Alemdar Ara, 2004, oil on linen. No title.
Shared here under the Creative Commons
Attribution ShareAlike 3.0 License.

Hello, again.  This is post #4, and so far this blog has addressed the whys and whats of reading the Bible from a transgender perspective, including a little post about gender switching in the ancient world.  It's high time we look at the Bible itself.  Here we go!

The Transfiguration of Jesus is a pivotal story in the New Testament.  It appears in 3 Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke).  For the sake of simplicity, let's look mostly at Mark 9:1-11. Jesus takes his three besties up the mountain.  Jesus transforms in front of them -- his clothes become gleaming white, and Elijah and Moses appear with him.  The three besties disciples are terrified (typical of them in this Gospel).

We commonly call this story "The Transfiguration."  OK, even in English this is kind of juicy, right?  The Trans-figuration? It's just asking that we interpret this as trans friendly!  The Greek word for what happens to Jesus in Mark is actually metamorphoo (μεταμορφόω for those of you who like Greek) -- or in English, "metamorphosed."  In other words, whatever happens to Jesus on the mountain is a physical, corporeal experience.  It's also spiritual.  

Is what happened to Jesus on the mountain related to gender?  Actually, that's not what I'm suggesting (though I'm not excluding it)!  But a common interpretation of this passage is that the disciples witness a glimpse of the resurrected body of Jesus.  When we read this story using a Trans* lens, perhaps we can see that the changes that occur to Jesus as similar to many transgender persons. When we live into our gender identity -- including corporeal/physical changes --  we also catch glimpses of our gloriously resurrected bodies.  Gender identity, including our inward and outward bodies, is part of the spiritual journey.  

Plus, it's very cool that Jesus has the confirmation of his elders in his own metamorphosis -- Elijah and Moses are supporting him.  This lends itself to the possibility that elders and family (not necessarily biological) support transgender individuals in their transitions today. 

There's a lot more in this story, but I'll save it for a later post.  In the meantime, I'd love to know your thoughts.  Do you see yourself in the story of the Transfiguration -- or Metamorphosis -- of Jesus?