Transfiguration - His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light

Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, led them up on a high mountain by themselves, and He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him. Then Peter answered and said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, let us make here three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah." While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud, saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!" And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their faces and were greatly afraid. But Jesus came and touched them and said, "Arise, and do not be afraid." When they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.Now as they came down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them, saying, "Tell the vision to no one until the Son of Man is risen from the dead." And His disciples asked Him, saying, "Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?" Jesus answered and said to them, "Indeed, Elijah is coming first and will restore all things. But I say to you that Elijah has come already, and they did not know him but did to him whatever they wished. Likewise the Son of Man is also about to suffer at their hands." Then the disciples understood that He spoke to them of John the Baptist.

- Matthew 17:1-13

In Saturday's reading, Jesus prepared His disciples for what is to come, His death and Resurrection. This comes immediately after they have recognized Him as Christ, in the confession of Peter. Peter is upset by Jesus' teaching that He will suffer and die, and he objects strenuously. But Jesus replies, "Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men." Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" He finished by saying, "Assuredly, I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom." In today's reading, we have a taste of the revelation of that Kingdom, and Christ's place in it.

Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, led them up on a high mountain by themselves, and He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him. Of course, we start off with the number six -- a kind of testimony to the truth about Jesus. It is also six days after Jesus' revelation about the things that will happen to Him as Son of Man, reminding us of the six days in which God made the world in the book of Genesis. This confession of faith is a new beginning, a new understanding, a new remaking of the world, in some sense -- in the understanding of Christ and His work in the world. He is here to reconcile us, to bring us to the kingdom, to undo the exile that began from the Garden, the separation from God. In Jesus' Transfiguration, we have the elements of a revelation of the divine, of God. The holy light shines from His face and garments, coming from a source in His person. Moses and Elijah, representing the Law and the Prophets, appear with Him on the mountaintop. My study bible points out that Moses represents not only the Law but all who have died, and Elijah not only the prophets, but since he did not experience death, all those who are alive in Christ. There, before the three disciples, the Kingdom is revealed in its true divinity, the light is revealed to them. The light is with them. It is a return from separation and exile, a salvation, reunion, reconciliation.

Then Peter answered and said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, let us make here three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah." Peter responds the only way he knows how: he's suggesting something he understands from the holy festival - the Feast of Tabernacles - the feast of the coming Kingdom, commemorating the time in which the Israelites dwelt in booths or tents on their way to the promised land. As my study bible puts it, the tabernacles are the "symbols of God's dwelling among the just in the Kingdom." It is a way of appreciating that in himself Peter understands the revelation of the Kingdom before him.

While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud, saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!" And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their faces and were greatly afraid. But Jesus came and touched them and said, "Arise, and do not be afraid." When they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only. My study bible says, "The bright cloud recalls temple worship and the cloud that went before the Israelites in the wilderness, the visible sign of God being extraordinarily present." The Father's voice reveals Jesus' identity, as beloved Son, from the beginning -- the statement is in the present tense. This is too much for the disciples, and all thoughts of building tabernacles or booths disappear, they are simply in great awe and fear. But it is a revelation for their understanding, not the full coming of the Kingdom in all its glory. My study bible also points out the presence of the Trinity here: the Father's voice, Christ revealed as Son, and the glory of the Holy Spirit in the light that illumines Christ. In the figures of Moses and Elijah, there is also the presence of the communion of saints. Yet immediately, there is the Jesus they know, touching them, and telling them, "Arise, and do not be afraid." Everything happens suddenly.

Now as they came down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them, saying, "Tell the vision to no one until the Son of Man is risen from the dead." This is a revelation only for those who will know and understand the fullness of their faith after the Resurrection. It is a revelation to the disciples amidst the preparation for what is coming in the earthly life of God incarnate. For the moment, His identity must remain a secret.

And His disciples asked Him, saying, "Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?" Jesus answered and said to them, "Indeed, Elijah is coming first and will restore all things. But I say to you that Elijah has come already, and they did not know him but did to him whatever they wished. Likewise the Son of Man is also about to suffer at their hands." Then the disciples understood that He spoke to them of John the Baptist. It was expected, from the prophecy of Malachi (see Mal. 4:5,6), that Elijah would return before the Messiah. But here it is clear that Jesus refers to this prophecy -- and the disciples understand -- as being about John the Baptist, who was "in the spirit and the power of Elijah" rather than Elijah himself. Amid the good news of the revelation of the Messiah, and the return of Elijah, the kingdom among them, is the news of what will happen in the world. Both the one who came in the spirit of Elijah, and Christ, will "suffer at their hands."

So, the Kingdom begins to come through. But, it is clear, that it is up to human beings to accept or reject the coming of this kingdom in their hearts. Jesus' Transfiguration teaches us that the kingdom is among us and with us -- just as He instructed His apostles before their first mission that they are to teach, "the kingdom has come near to you." In Christ, the old effects of sin are transformed, transfigured. He brings us the presence of the kingdom, a reconciliation of the separation from God. He will baptize the world with His spirit so that He may dwell with us, and within us. He will pronounce that man and woman are married in a sacrament making the two one flesh -- rather than the exile from the Garden and its effect that woman would fear man. Jesus teaches us to turn the other cheek, rather than the violence of the world for which Moses' Law of an eye for an eye was meant as a remediating effect. This Transfiguration, a taste of the Kingdom in which everything is reconciled, even the revelation of the communion of the saints, the Old Testament and the New Gospel, is meant to restore us all to wholeness. It is a taste for the disciples of the reality for which they will work, take up His cross themselves, carry on His mission in the world. And that mission continues. It is up to each one of us to manifest it in our own lives, to follow as best we can, to accept in our hearts. How does this message of Transfiguration call you today? To what does that light lead you? How do you see it in your own life and choices today? It is God's love that calls us toward healing, reconciliation, restoration on all levels.