LENT REFLECTION

The Transfiguration 

Mt 17:1-9

Mt 17 Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves. 2 And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white. 3 Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. 4 Then Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I[a] will make three dwellings[b] here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” 5 While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud a voice said, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!” 6 When the disciples heard this, they fell to the ground and were overcome by fear. 7 But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Get up and do not be afraid.” 8 And when they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus himself alone. 9 As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus ordered them, “Tell no one about the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”

1. They didn’t get to see God’s face. So, did the transfiguration happen so that Moses and Elijah could at last see God’s face? For only when incarnated could God have a physical face to behold with human eyes. Jesus revealed God to us; He brought God (Dei Verbum, Chapter I). To know God, we go through and have to know Jesus our Lord. So, we need to know the Scriptures, which means we have to daily read and pray the Bible, and stay awake to the action of the Holy Spirit in our lives (Jn 14:26).

2. Why did Jesus go up the mountain? To pray. When we pray, great things happen. And why did He take Peter, James and John? Because He loved them. And they were to be witnesses, bringing this good news to the other Apostles and to the rest of the world after the resurrection. Our Lord Jesus Christ loves us and commissions us. He reveals Himself to us most intimately. We behold Him at the Transfiguration as true human and true God.

3. It was six days after Peter confessed Him as the Messiah, the Son of the living God (Mt 16:16, 17:1). Jesus was telling them He was going to be rejected, tortured and crucified and suffer a horrendous death in Jerusalem, but resurrect on the third day. To which Peter had objected and got rebuked and told to fall in line (Mt 16:13-23). Our faith needs continuous formation and clarification, through reason and experience but above all as pure grace. The transfiguration was a moment of grace, a moment of revelation. We receive such grace always freely given to us when we are to be receptive.

4. The transfiguration confirmed that the Cross was God’s way for our salvation and that our Lord Jesus Christ would work our salvation that way. The transfigured Jesus, the Son of God, is the same crucified and resurrected and ascended Jesus who sent the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and into the world. When we take up our crosses and follow our Lord, He leads us to our resurrection. Along the way, we get from time to time to experience the total joy and awe of the Transfiguration moment, which strengthens and encourages us along. This may happen at Mass, at Adoration, and in personal experience at prayer, in acts of charity and in God’s intervention in history and in our lives.

5. Our Lord Jesus Christ is divine, God the Son. We are to listen to Him; He is the one God promised to send in Dt 18:15, but one greater than Moses as we see at the Transfiguration. And Elijah has come as expected, as John the Baptist, and at the Transfiguration. Our Lord gives us the new commandment, to love as He loved us, with a feet-washing, serving love, and with His very life on the Cross. Through the testimony of the Gospels, He teaches us, and if we listen to Him, we find our meaning. Through the testimony of the Gospels, He teaches us, and if we listen to Him, we find our meaning.

6. At the Transfiguration, Moses represents the Law and Elijah the Prophets. Our Lord fulfills the Law and the Prophets, by being their culmination. In Jesus, we have the full Law and complete revelation; He is God. The Trinity is present at the Transfiguration, with the voice of God the Father, and the Holy Spirit symbolised by the cloud, on the mountain, which is a place of great encounters with God by Moses and Elijah. God is our Father. God is Love. Our Lord’s new commandment is that we love one another as He loved us; in humble, feet-washing service to others, and giving our lives as He did on the Cross, in our case, dying little deaths daily by reaching out and going beyond and out of our comfort zones for the sake of others. The Cross is Love and transforms our suffering into love of God and neighbour.

7. The Transfiguration marks a turning point in the earthly life of our Lord. He now heads to Jerusalem for the crucifixion and resurrection. At His baptism, just before He begun His public ministry, God the Father proudly claimed and announced Him to be His Son; it was a pivotal moment. Here again, the Father claims and announces Him to be His Son, another pivotal moment. When we take the step to turn to God in love and ready for mission, ready to serve Him, we simply respond to His love for us and for His creation. Being aligned to God’s will gives inner peace and joy, and we personally receive that inner revelation of God in our lives through the joy and peace we experience.