The story of Jesus' transfiguration on the mount before Peter, James, and John prompts three reflections. Zack first reflects on holiness -- that quality that makes God God, that cannot be attained but only caught contagiously from Him, that takes the form of shining face. Second, Zack examines fear. While fear can function to motivate people in Scripture, here, as often elsewhere, it more properly means something like "intense awe" -- the sort that God sometimes grants us as encouragement at the exact point we need that. Finally, Zack argues for the importance of Jesus being a (capital P) Person (to use classic Trinitarian language) and not a mere abstraction.
