The account of the Transfiguration is closely associated with the Confession of Peter and Jesus' response to Peter's protest against his suffering and death. The synoptics provide us with common elements in the story:
- Jesus brings Peter, James and John to a mountain
- while on the mountain, Jesus is transformed
- Moses and Elijah appear with him
- A shining cloud overshadows the three
- A voice presenting Jesus is heard from the cloud
- When the cloud vanishes only Jesus remains
- On the way down the mountain, Jesus tells the witnesses to keep quiet about the whole thing until the moment of the Resurrection
Differences in the way the story is recounted reveals the particular theological bent of the synoptic evangelists. Matthew in particular rewrites the account originally told in Mark in a way that emphasizes Jesus' association with light and his identification as the New Lawgiver. Insights from 2 Peter and Augustine's Sermon 78 give us hints as to how the relevance of the event for our own times.
In Matthew, an outline of the story can be presented thus:
- Introduction (v. 1)
- Jesus Transfigured (v. 2)
- Moses and Elijah appeaar (v.3)
- Peter reacts (v. 4)
- The Shining Cloud appears and a voice presents Jesus (v.5)
- The disciples react (v.6)
- Jesus' action (vv. 7-8)
- Command to secrecy (v. 9)
Matthew places the narrative in temporal relationship with 16:2-28. Jesus had begun to talk about his suffering, rejection, death and resurrection. Peter who had earlier confessed Jesus as Son of God, not understanding the saying about rising from the dead rebukes Jesus for predicting failure (16:22). Jesus hears in Peter's rebuke the voice of the Tempter dissuading him from going the way of the Servant and rebukes him in turn (16:23). Following this is Jesus' declaration about the cost of discipleship and his future role as judge (16:24-28). The Transfiguration occurs six days after this.
Jesus takes Peter, James and John and "brings them up" to a high mountain. The emphasis on the actions of Jesus gives no doubt that what occurs on the mountain is intended by Jesus. There, he is transfigured. The English word used here is based on the Latin translation of a greek word from which is derived "metamorphosis." This Greek verb was used by pagan authors to designate the transformation that the Greek gods of mythology were capable of performing on themselves. The biblical authors employ the word in such a way that the mythological nuance is taken out. Jesus, transfigured, takes on an appearance that is heavenly: his face shines like the sun and his garments become as light. Matthew had already used Isaiah 9:1-7 to show Jesus as the light of salvation for those who sit in the shadow of death. Here, Jesus' whole appearance changes into the light that He is, not an earthly light but a heavenly one (the "sun"). Moses and Elijah appear with him in conversation, the "Law" and the "Prophets" confer with Jesus. Matthew had earlier presented Jesus as the New Lawgiver in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). Now, that designation is highlighted with the appearance of both Moses and Elijah.
Peter responds to the event by expressing the desire to stay there and to build three booths (Latin "tabernacula", hence "tabernacles") for Jesus, Moses and Elijah. While Mark and Luke explain that Peter did not mean what he said, Matthew makes no such observation. Peter's mention of "booths" recalls the Feast of Booths, one of the major feasts of Israel. During its celebration, people lived in booths so as to commemorate the sojourn in the Desert where a shining cloud -- the Shekinah Glory -- and the ark of the covenant bearing the tablets Moses carved, guided Israel. The Talmud associates the recital of Psalm 118 with the feast.
Psalm 118 is a song of praise and thanksgiving about the salvation of God. In vv. 10-18, the psalmist proclaims victory over those who besieged him. It was God who has saved him. Twice, the victor declares that salvation as a victory over death (vv. 17.18). In vv. 22-23, the psalmist mentions a rejected stone that becomes the capstone of a building. Finally, in verse 27, the psalmist celebrates God who "has made His light shine upon us."
The Feast of Booths is also associated with the dedication of Solomon's Temple. The Talmud in fact describes a ritual lighting of torches on the first night of the feast in the temple courtyard and dances around the altar with palm and fruit, a practise that has survived from the time the feast was a celebration of harvest. In Psalm 118, a gate of the righteous is mentioned, the gate through which one passes into the presence of God.
All these images of the salvation of God evoked by the Feast of Booths -- journey, the entrance into the promised land, the Temple, the light shining from the face of God -- are recalled in Peter's reaction to Jesus' transfiguration. Thus, one can understand why he says "It is good to be here." He was getting a taste of God's salvation. The experience was "pre-cognitive", however; the cognitive factor -- the explanation -- comes after.
Matthew tells us that Peter had not yet finished speaking when a shining cloud ("lightsome cloud", NIV) overshadowed them. From the cloud, a voice sounded that said: "This is my Son, the Beloved, in whom I am well pleased. Listen to Him." The first part of the declaration echoes the one made at Jesus' Baptism. The second part officially reveals Jesus to be the definitive Word of God. Augustine makes this point when he says:
Peter was proposing three tabernacles; the heavenly reply showed us that there is only one which a merely human judgment was eager to divide: the Word of God in Christ, the Word of God in the Law, the Word in the prophets...
So while the cloud was overshadowing them all and after a fashion making a single tabernacle for them, a voice boomed out from the cloud ... Our attention was being directed to the one who was the boast of the Law and the prophets. "This", he says, "is my Beloved Son with whom I am well pleased; listen to Him." Because you have heard Him also in the prophets and you have heard him in the Law. (Sermon 78, 3-4)
The reaction of the witnesses was fear that makes them fall in worship. The shining cloud is the Shekinah of the Desert wandering surrounding them. They recognize the voice as that of God commanding them to listen to Christ. Augustine, elaborating on "Listen to him" says in another sermon (Sermon 79)
Elijah speaks, but this one you must hear. Moses speaks, but this one you must hear. The prophet speaks, the Law speaks, but this one you must hear, he being the voice of the law and the tongue of the prophets. He was to be heard in them; he appeared when he judged the time to be ripe in himself. This one you must hear. This one let us hear ... let us do what he says, let us hope for what he has promised.
The conviction that Augustine expresses in the above quotations derives from the idea that Christ is the one Word of God that is echoed in the words of Scriptures. In Him, the Law and the prophets find their meaning.
The transfiguration shows Christ as the victorious one in Psalm 118, the stone rejected that becomes the capstone of a new edifice. At the same time, as the Shekinah once led Israel through the desert, so now it is Jesus who will bring Israel into the presence of God, like the gate through which the righteous enters (cf. Psalm 118:19-20; John 10:7-9). But all these is realized for the believer in the Resurrection, after Jesus has gone through suffering, rejection and death. The post-resurrection perspective given by 2 Peter 1:16-18 makes the event of the transfiguration a basis for the credibility of those who proclaim the Coming of the Lord (v. 16) at a time when the idea of Jesus' return in glory was spoken against (cf. 2 Peter 3). In other words, the command "Listen to him" though first addressed to specific disciples and in private, has, after the Resurrection gained a public character such that those who first heard it can now draw their authority from it.
Matthew's account of the transfiguration puts into perspective Jesus' sayings about his suffering, rejection and death. He rewrote the narrative in order to highlight the role of Jesus as the light of salvation. But while the light of the Transfiguration is "borrowed" from the Resurrection, Matthew also anticipates here the resurrection of the disciple. This insight comes from Augustine and is based on Jesus' action of touching the disciples and telling them to get up on the one hand, and the disappearance of Elijah and Moses on the other (v. 7)
When the Lord raised them up, it signified the resurrection. After the resurrection, what use will the Law be to you, what use the prophets? That's why Elijah does not appear, why Moses does not appear. What does remain for you is "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God (Jn. 1:1)." What does remain for you is that "God may be all in all" (1 Cor. 15:28)
This eschatological insight coheres well with the way the Transfiguration event is used in the discourse that follows 2 Peter 1:16-18. The concrete historical event on the sacred mountain (v. 18) has made the word of the prophets more certain (v. 19) such that the Christian community should keep itself focused on it and not be dissuaded by contrary voices, "false prophets" (2 Pet. 2:1-11). Instead, they should hold onto the Scriptures and the word of the apostles (your apostles, 2 Peter 3:1) about the Coming of the Lord and Judgment (2 Peter 3:3-16). 2 Peter is polemical and its author leans on the transfiguration for credibility. It is as if he were saying: "I was one of the witnesses of the event and therefore should be believed when I say -- inspite of contradicting reports -- that the Lord will return in glory." This connection between the Transfiguration and the apostolic proclamation of the Lord's Day becomes for Augustine a ground for Christian hope that is active in love.1
Matthew 17:1-9 is a preview of the Resurrection. With the additional command "Listen to Him" from the voice sounding in the "Majestic Glory" (2 Peter 1:16-18) it also sheds light on Jesus' previous sayings about the cost of discipleship. In this sense, then, the Transfiguration is also about the disciples' resurrection. Jesus binds the Christian to his death and to His Cross. He also binds the Christian to His victory in the Resurrection.
1. This I think is the whole point of Augustine's declamation to Peter whom he "rebukes" for wanting to stay on the mountain while there is yet a need to go forth and proclaim the gospel. "Habe caritatem, praedica veritatem, tunc pervenies ad aeternitatem, ubi invenies securitatem" (Have charity, preach the truth, then you will arrive at eternity where there is security.)
