What does the Transfiguration of Christ mean for us?  Today the Church celebrates the Transfiguration of the Lord. During the days of his ministry, Jesus led his disciples Peter, James, and John up a high mountain, and they were stunned to see their rabbi transfigured into a man of bright, glorious light before their very eyes. Not only that, the ancient prophets Moses and Elijah appeared beside him, seemingly raised from the dead. And they were speaking with Jesus. Stunned, Peter managed to stutter, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If You wish, I will put up three tabernacles — one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” He said this because Israel’s great hope was that a new tabernacle would be erected on a holy mountain, and God himself would come to dwell with, and among, his people. This was the message of the great prophets Ezekiel, Zechariah, Haggai, and Isaiah. Peter, perhaps, saw these glorious, divine men in front of him, as prophecy unfolding threefold before his very eyes. As Peter spoke these hopeful words, the glory cloud of God’s presence descended upon them, enveloping them. Far be it from the Spirit of God to be contained by a mere manmade tabernacle, the Spirit enveloped the men themselves, and spoke, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Listen to him!” When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown in utter horror. For the Son of God, Jesus, whose face they knew so well, is the image and vision of God (Col. 1:15; 2 Cor. 4:4; Heb. 1:3) – and they had been taught by Moses that “no one shall see the face of God and live” (Ex. 33:20). Imagine their mortal terror when they realized from this Divine voice that they were truly seeing the face of God in the Transfigured Christ. But Our Lord came forward to comfort them, and touched them. “Get up,” he said, “Don’t be afraid.” When they looked up, they only saw Jesus. The vision had ended. Jesus had only briefly pulled back the curtain to reveal what lay behind the veil of this world, and it was glorious. But now it was gone. Our lives are filled with fleeting moments where we too get a glimpse beyond this curtain. Sometimes it’s a dream. Sometimes it’s just a feeling. Before this glorious vision, Jesus had told all of his disciples, “There are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God arrive in its power.” (Mk. 9:1). This is perhaps what Peter felt he was seeing on the Mount of Transfiguration. The coming of the Kingdom is the great Christian hope. Today, all of the faithful pray to see the coming of the Kingdom with the words of the Lord’s Prayer, “Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” And though we might expect these words to be fulfilled by some sort of glorious, blinding light tearing open the veil of the sky as the armies of heaven march triumphantly through, perhaps we ought not to forget that Jesus taught us in this holy prayer rather to expect with the coming of the Kingdom our daily bread, the forgiveness of sins – our own and those of others, our own responsibility – and the Lord’s help in overcoming life’s daily trials. It might seem as mundane as a mustard seed, but indeed, “the Kingdom of God is spread upon the earth, but men see it not.” (Thom. 113). Until the time of Christ, along with her hope of God’s tabernacling with man, Israel hoped for the prophets’ promise of Resurrection. Seeing Moses and Elijah standing with Jesus, the disciples may have thought this promise was finally coming true. But then the vision faded away. Had this been a vision of the future? The two prophets standing beside Jesus had seemed so alive, conversing with him as they were. But Jesus taught that even Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the ancient patriarchs who lived long before Moses and Elijah, were alive. While the Jewish sect of the Sadducees rejected that resurrection is even possible, Jesus told them that the Bible records God himself telling Moses, “I am,” rather than was, “the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” Long before the days of Jesus, God showed that no one was dead in his eyes. “He is not God of the living, but of the dead – for to him, all are alive.” (Lk. 20:28). Jesus said that he himself is the Resurrection, and life itself. Provocatively, he said, “Anyone who lives and believes in me will never die”. (Jn. 11:25). There are examples of this type of immortality-bearing faith in scripture. The earthly story of Elijah ended when he ascended into heaven, on chariots of fire (2 Kgs. 2:1-18). The book of Genesis says that the ancient tzadik, a wise and righteous man by the name of Enoch, was “taken” by God into heaven (Gen. 5:24). According to Rabbi Moses ha-Darshan (11th century), there was an ancient tradition, preserved outside the scripture canon, that Moses was also assumed into heaven at the end of his days: “God said to Moses, ‘Ascend to Me on the mountain.’ And Moses went up, and God’s Mercy stood before him. The Holy One, blessed be He, said, ‘I will take your soul with a kiss.’ And Moses said, ‘I will not die, but I will live to proclaim the works of the Lord.’ Then his soul was taken gently, and he was gathered to the heavens.” The Catholic and Orthodox churches also have the tradition of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of Our Lord – at the end of her sojourn on earth, the disciples gathered by her bedside at John’s home in Ephesus, and they watched as she ascended into heaven. This might all seem too fantastic for us mere believers in Mere Christianity. Far too many of us have attended the funerals, timely or untimely, of loved ones who deeply cherished Our Lord and even lived the most upright of lives – tzadikim of their own times. Most of us would be willing to wager that we’ve never seen a human being ascend into heaven. Or have we? The Bible teaches us that beyond the veil of mundanity, there are mysteries of the Kingdom far too glorious for us to see. In fact, all of the faithful baptized have already been assumed into heaven: “Having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him” (Col. 2:12), “God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.” (Eph. 2:6). The Transfiguration of Christ reveals not only who Jesus truly is, but who we truly are. We are “citizens of heaven” (Php. 3:20) alongside Christ. Even while our fleshly feet are firmly planted on this planet, we “have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to myriads of angels in joyful assembly, to the congregation of the firstborn, enrolled in heaven. You have come to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous” -- tzadikim -- “made perfect” (Heb. 12:22-23).” We should not, like Peter, think it necessary to build a tabernacle for all these spirits; but recognize that they, and we alongside them, are the tabernacle which the Lord has built for Himself with his own right hand, Christ. The immortal spirit of the Son dwells in our hearts, crying out “Abba! Father” to Our God, and if we are willing to pull back the veil that lies over our own incredulous minds, baffled as we are by this glorious mystery, with firm faith, we too “who with unveiled faces all reflect the glory of the Lord, are being transformed” -- transfigured -- “into His image with intensifying glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” (2 Cor. 3:18). Amen. You're currently a free subscriber to Seán McMahon. For the full experience, upgrade your subscription.
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Wednesday, August 6, 2025
Feast of the Transfiguration
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