The Transfiguration of Christ
Jesus took Peter, James, and John to a mountaintop where he was transfigured before their eyes, an event that echoes through the ages in the transformation of souls.
August 2, 2023 by Fr. Gordon MacRae
The image atop this post depicts the Transfiguration of Christ, an inspired work by Venetian artist, Giovanni Bellini painted in 1480. The painting is displayed in the Museo di Capodimonte in Naples, Italy. It portrays the Transfiguration of Jesus in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. The account in the Gospel according to Saint Matthew (17:1-9) is the Gospel for the Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord observed on August 6, 2023 . The Feast of the Transfiguration has been celebrated in the Eastern Church since the Fifth Century. It was inserted into the general calendar in 1457 by Pope Callistus III to mark the defeat of the Muslim Turks in the Battle of Belgrade. It was celebrated on the Sixth of August because it occurs 40 days before the Feast of the Exultation of the Holy Cross on September 14.
The Transfiguration account told in the Gospel of Saint Mark (9:2-10), is simply told, but filled with history and theological meaning:
“After six days, Jesus took Peter, James, and John and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no fuller on earth could bleach them. Then Elijah appeared to them along with Moses, and they were conversing with Jesus. Then Peter said to him in reply, ‘Rabbi, it is good that we are here! Let us erect three tents: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.’ He hardly knew what to say; they were so terrified. Then a cloud came, casting a shadow over them. From the cloud came a voice; ‘This is my beloved son. Listen to him.’ Suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone but Jesus alone with them.”
— Mark 9:2-10
The same basic elements of the Transfiguration account appear in each of the Synoptic Gospels. Peter’s idea to erect tents for Jesus, Moses, and Elijah seems an almost comical response from someone just given a vision of the Kingdom of God and its most renowned denizens from the Hebrew Scriptures. As the passage points out, Peter “hardly knew what to say. They were so terrified.” But the idea wasn’t entirely out of place.
It was the seventh and last day of Sukkoth, the “Feast of Booths” described in the Books of Deuteronomy (16 13-15) and Leviticus (23:42-44). Known in Hebrew as Hag ha-Asif, translated as “The Festival of Gathering,” it lasted for seven days during which Jewish observers erected tents or booths from the boughs or branches of palm trees. The booths were a memorial of their ancestors’ deliverance from bondage in Egypt:
“You shall dwell in booths for seven days, all that are native in Israel shall dwell in booths that your generations may know that I made the people of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.”
— Leviticus 23: 42-43
The presence of Moses and Elijah with Jesus on Mount Tabor represents the Law and the Prophets, the two pillars of divine revelation in Hebrew Scripture. They represent the heart of God’s covenant with Israel. There were some previous hints of the Transfiguration. In Exodus (34:29), Moses did not know that upon his descent from Mount Sinai with the Tablets of the Law, “the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God.”
Upon the death of Moses, according to Deuteronomy (34: 5-6), God himself secretly buried his body in an unknown place in the land of Moab. However, the New Testament Letter of Saint Jude (Jude 9) refers to an ancient Jewish legend from the apocryphal text, The Assumption of Moses. Saint Jude described a story that he presumes his listeners already know: that Satan attempted to take the body of Moses, but the Archangel Michael “contended with the devil” and brought the physical body of Moses into Heaven.
The same became true of Elijah. In the Second Book of Kings (2:11) the prophets Elijah and Elisha became separated by “a chariot of fire and horses of fire” and “Elijah went up in a whirlwind into Heaven, then Elisha saw him no more.” In the Gospel account of the Transfiguration, Peter, James, and John — as well as the early Jewish Christian Church — would have readily perceived that Moses and Elijah came from Heaven to witness the Transfiguration of Jesus.
They would also have known well the Prophet Malachi.
“Remember the law of my servant Moses, the statutes and ordinances that I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel. Behold, I will send you Elijah the Prophet before the great and terrible Day of the Lord comes.”
— Malachi 4:4-5
Hence, as each of the Transfiguration Gospels points out, “they were terrified.”
A Transfiguration of Faith
Saint Matthew’s account of the Transfiguration that you will hear at Mass on August 6 begins with the words, “after six days.” Something very important happened six days earlier between Jesus and his disciples that literally rocked their world and shook their faith. As the pilgrimage Feast of Sukkoth began, they saw Jesus cure a blind man at Bethsaida. Then Jesus asked them at Caesarea Philippi (Matthew 16:13-20), “Who do men say that the Son of Man is?” They answered, “Some say John the Baptist” [already slain at Herod’s command], while “others say Jeremiah, or one of the Prophets.”
“But who do you say that I am?” Jesus asked. Simon, answered with something — like the offer to build some booths six days later— that came spontaneously from his heart and soul: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God!”
What exactly did that mean to Simon Peter, James and John? Those who awaited a Messiah in Israel envisioned a political force who would transform the known world and set it aright. But Jesus said something astonishing (Mark 16:21-24): “From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him and began to rebuke him, saying, ‘God forbid, Lord! It shall never happen to you!’ ... Jesus answered, ‘If any man would come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.’”
And then a final bombshell: “Truly I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Kingdom of God come with power.” Hence, once again, Simon Peter, James, and John, dazzled upon Mount Tabor six days later, were terrified when Moses and Elijah appeared.
And what of the Transfiguration itself? The Greek word the Gospel used to describe it is metamorphothe. His very form and substance were transformed. Recall the great hymn of Christ recounted by Saint Paul to the Philippians (2:5-11):
“Though he was in the form of God, Jesus did not deem equality with God something to be grasped, but rather emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him a name above every other name so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue proclaim, to the glory of God the Father, that Jesus Christ is Lord.”
— Philippians 2:5-11
For six days, Simon Peter, James, and John must have lived with shattered hopes, discouraged over the revelation about what it means to follow Jesus to the cross and death. Ascending that mountain to see him transfigured in glory was a gift of Divine Mercy that also transformed the cross — forever.
These same three disciples had been present when Jesus restored life to the daughter of Jairus (Mark 5:35-42), and the same three would later be present with Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:36-46) to see him humiliated as the Passion of the Christ commenced. They were also the only disciples to have been given new names by Jesus. Simon became Peter, “the Rock,” “Petros” in Greek, from which was derived the name, “Peter.” And he called James and John “Boanerges,” the “Sons of Thunder.” Their new names denoted that they were forever changed by these experiences, a transfiguration of identity and faith.
Transfiguration behind These Stone Walls
On August 6, 2014, the Feast of the Transfiguration, the well known Canadian Catholic blog, Freedom Through Truth, featured a post by Michael Brandon titled, “Transfiguration Behind These Stone Walls.” Michael Brandon wrote some very nice things, not so much about me personally, but about what I write. I was first bewildered by it. Then I was very moved. Then I finally accepted his premise that he and other readers have a vantage point I do not have. Michael Brandon wrote:
“In the years that I have followed Beyond These Stone Walls, I have seen the transfiguration of Father Gordon MacRae and Pornchai Moontri.”
Michael Brandon is also the author of a very popular post featured at our “Voices from Beyond.” It is “The Parable of a Prisoner,” and it describes a transfiguration of the heart.
“In our struggle to be holy, grace is certainly required. But we must also do the footwork — we must will to be better than we really are… The degree of perfection is measured by the amount of adversity we overcome in order to be holy.”
— St. Maximilian Kolbe
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Note from Fr. GordonMacRae: Thank you for reading and sharing this post. We continue the story of Transfiguration in the lives of Sacred Scripture in these other posts from Beyond These Stone Walls:
The Holy Spirit and the Book of Ruth at Pentecost
Joseph’s Dream and the Birth of the Messiah
The Eucharistic Adoration Chapel established by Saint Maximilian Kolbe was inaugurated at the outbreak of World War II. It was restored as a Chapel of Adoration in September, 2018, the commemoration of the date that the war began. It is now part of the World Center of Prayer for Peace. The live internet feed of the Adoration Chapel at Niepokalanow — sponsored by EWTN — was established just a few weeks before we discovered it and began to include in at Beyond These Stone Walls. Click “Watch on YouTube” in the lower left corner to see how many people around the world are present there with you. The number appears below the symbol for EWTN.
Click or tap the image for live access to the Adoration Chapel.
The following is a translation from the Polish in the image above: “Eighth Star in the Crown of Mary Queen of Peace” “Chapel of Perpetual Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament at Niepokalanow. World Center of Prayer for Peace.” “On September 1, 2018, the World Center of Prayer for Peace in Niepokalanow was opened. It would be difficult to find a more expressive reference to the need for constant prayer for peace than the anniversary of the outbreak of World War II.”
For the Catholic theology behind this image, visit my post, “The Ark of the Covenant and the Mother of God.”