The Transfiguration of our Lord Jesus Christ

Today’s Gospel reading is about the Transfiguration of our Lord Jesus Christ in Mt. Tabor. Open your Bibles to Matt.17:1-9.

“Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. 2And he was transfigured before them; his face shone like the sun and his clothes became white as light. 3 And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, conversing with him. 4 Then Peter said to Jesus in reply, “Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”

5 While he was still speaking, behold a bright cloud cast a shadow over them, then from the cloud came a voice that said,  “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” When the disciples heard this, they fell prostate and were very much afraid. 7 But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Rise, and do not be afraid.” 8 And when the disciples raised their eyes, they saw no one else but Jesus alone. 9 As they were coming down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, “Do not tell the vision to anyone until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”

If you read your Bible well, you will note that today’s passage from Matthew comes right after one of my favorite passages from this evangelist, Matthew 16:13-19 the Confession of Peter where he tells the Master “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Jesus replied to his confession saying, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father. And so I say to you, you are Peter and upon this rock, I will build my church.”  As I said, after this passage, Peter and the two other disciples were brought up by Jesus to Mt. Tabor and there they all witnessed his transfiguration.

Call it a coincidence that Simon —now renamed by Jesus as Petros or Peter did his earlier confession that indeed, Jesus was the Son of God and the Messiah who was prophesied to come and save us. In Mt. Tabor, Peter, James and John found out the “Shekinah” glory cloud that cast a shadow over them. This cloud also reminds us of another cloud that the Angel Gabriel told Mama Mary that would foreshadow her during the annunciation. Now a Holy Cloud foreshadowed Jesus and his disciples.

When the disciples were inside the white cloud, they heard the voice of God the Father saying, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.”  Of course none of them doubted that the voice they heard was that of the Father, after all, Jesus always taught them that he was sent by the Father to this earth as the much-awaited Messiah. In fact, the Gospel reading a few days ago was about the Lord’s Prayer also known in Latin as “Pater Noster” which starts with “Our Father”.

This is one lesson that Peter and the other disciples learned was that while Jesus was God, he was the Son of God made man. I’m sure Jesus explained this mystery to them. But in Mt. Tabor, now the disciples finally heard the Father’s voice which confirms that God truly does exist! That there is a heavenly Father who sent his only Begotten Son to save us and inside the cloud, he told them that he was pleased with his Son and that we should listen to him.

The other reality that faced the three disciples was the presence of Moses and Elijah. How they were able to recognize the two major personalities of the Old Testament is beyond explanation. After all, in those days I don’t think they had paintings or busts of Moses or Elijah. What is significant in their meeting their ancestors was the realization that there is indeed life after death. The two people speaking with Jesus whom they identified as Moses and Elijah were very much alive, even though Moses already died a long time ago, while Elijah was swooped up by a fiery chariot. As we wrote earlier on our previous articles about John the Baptist, Jesus pointed out very clearly that John was Elijah returned as prophesied for when Elijah returns, the Messiah would now come.

Most theologians look at the Transfiguration of our Lord Jesus Christ as the culmination of his public life. While his Baptism is the beginning of his public life and his Ascension into heaven is the end of his earthly life. Other Christians point to the Transfiguration of Jesus to awaken all the Jews that the most respected name in Judaism which is Moses would appear before Jesus Christ together with the prophet Elijah so that the Jews would accept Jesus as truly the expected Messiah.

Many Jews who turned Christian began to believe in Jesus Christ from the story they got about his Transfiguration, that no less than Father God himself revealed this truth in the Shekinah glory cloud with a simple message “This is my Beloved Son with whom I’m well pleased. Listen to him.” What about us, are we following the Father’s command to listen to Jesus?