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Now it came to pass, about eight days after these sayings, that He took Peter, John, and James and went up on the mountain to pray. As He prayed, the appearance of His face was altered, and His robe became white and glistening. And behold, two men talked with Him, who were Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of His decrease which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. But Peter and those with him were heavy with sleep; and when they were fully awake, they saw His glory and the two men who stood with Him. Then it happened, as they were parting from Him, that Peter said to Jesus, "Master, it is good for us to be here; and let us make three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah" -- not knowing what he said. While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were fearful as they entered the cloud. And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, "This is My beloved Son. Hear Him!" When the voice had ceased, Jesus was found alone. But they kept quiet, and told no one in those days any of the things they had seen.
- Luke 9:28-36
Yesterday, we read that, as Jesus was alone praying, His disciples joined Him, and He asked them, saying, "Who do the crowds say that I am?" So they answered and said, "John the Baptist, but some say Elijah; and others say that one of the old prophets has risen again." He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter answered and said, "The Christ of God." And He strictly warned and commanded them to tell this to no one, saying, "The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day." Then He said to them all, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory, and in His Father's and of the holy angels. But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the kingdom of God."
Now it came to pass, about eight days after these sayings, that He took Peter, John, and James and went up on the mountain to pray. As He prayed, the appearance of His face was altered, and His robe became white and glistening. My study bible refers to the light that emanates from Christ, a divine light sometimes painted in icons as a blue-white, whiter than white, beyond the full spectrum of light as we know it (thereby, an ineffable color). He is the Light, a sign of His divinity. His altered face tells us we are now in a different "space" than is usual, in the presence of the Kingdom. As they are on the mountain to pray, they are set apart in a high place for a special reason. This is His inner circle, the same who were present for the healing of Jairus' daughter.
And behold, two men talked with Him, who were Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of His decrease which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. Moses represents the law and all those who have died, while Elijah stands in for the prophets -- and, my study bible says, since Elijah himself did not experience death, all those who are alive in Christ. As they are recognizable to the disciples (as we shall see), they represent the communion of saints as well. My study bible says, "Their presence shows that the law and the prophets, the living and the dead, all bear witness to Jesus as the Messiah, the fulfillment of the whole Old Testament." In using the term "decrease" in translation (as in His decrease which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem), the English translates the word exodus in Greek, literally meaning "departure." This, of course, refers to Jesus' death. My study bible tells us: "Christ's death is intimately connected to the glory of the Transfiguration, for Christ is glorified through His death (John 12:23). . . . The term exodus reveals that Christ's Passion is a fulfillment of the Old Testament Passover and is the true exodus from enslavement into salvation. This revelation of divine power also confirms Christ's upcoming death was not imposed on Him by outside forces, but was a voluntary offering of love, for no arresting soldier could withstand such glory if Christ had not consented (Matthew 26:53)." Christ's glory revealed here would also certainly confirm to the disciples the voluntary nature of His exodus from this world.
But Peter and those with him were heavy with sleep; and when they were fully awake, they saw His glory and the two men who stood with Him. Then it happened, as they were parting from Him, that Peter said to Jesus, "Master, it is good for us to be here; and let us make three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah" -- not knowing what he said. This incident is connected with the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot), a feast commemorating the time that Israel wandered in the wilderness and lived in tents or tabernacles. The tabernacle of Moses also went with with them, a confirmation of God dwelling among the righteous. It's reasonable that Peter would associate Moses and Elijah's presence (and glory) -- as well as the cloud above -- with the coming of the Kingdom, connecting the building of tabernacles or tents.
While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were fearful as they entered the cloud. And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, "This is My beloved Son. Hear Him!" When the voice had ceased, Jesus was found alone. But they kept quiet, and told no one in those days any of the things they had seen. This experience is a kind of revelation called a Theophany, a revelation of God in the Greek. The cloud is like the cloud that went before the Israelites in the wilderness, the visible sign of God being "extraordinarily present." The voice is clearly the voice of God the Father, who reveals Jesus as Son -- and the dazzling light surrounding Christ, which also overshadows the whole mountain (Matthew 17:5), reveals the presence of the Spirit.
In addition to the rest of the things we read about Jesus in the Gospels (healing, compassion, forgiving sins, practicing mercy in so many ways, teaching, and preaching the gospel of the Kingdom), we also read of moments like this: Transfiguration, theophany, the revelation of divine mysteries beyond our full comprehension, His glory. If we're tempted to think of our faith as simply a set of ethics, a way to live in this world with certain guidelines to think about, then we're entirely mistaken. Events like the Transfiguration are not included in the Gospels so that we can just reduce Christ to a highly ethical man who's going to teach us all about love simply by a kind of judicious example. That, in my opinion, is a very wrong reading of this text. Events like the one in today's reading aren't included in the text to be glossed over and ignored. They're not presented to us simply to impress or astound. They are included in order to reveal things that are great mysteries, beyond our understanding. They are revealed as gift from God, to let us in on things that are beyond our full comprehension. They invite us into a whole Kingdom that actually dwells among us, to realities we can seldom perceive -- and never completely. They let us know that whatever Jesus teaches is coming from a Wisdom that is far beyond our own resources and intellectual capacities. Above all, it gives us certain understanding that our relationship to Christ and our participation in His kingdom goes way beyond intellectual assent, or a kind of argument over what His teachings mean. This participation touches on levels within ourselves we can't necessarily get to -- and we are loved in ways that are truly ineffable to us. The only way we can get a glimpse of all that is through some kind of experience, some kind of "enlightenment" if you will. Christianity isn't just a set of rules. We're not abstract human beings in our faith, living by some set of ideological values. We are in relationship to one another as persons because, in, and through our relationship to the Persons of God. This is our source not only for wisdom but for understanding and for love. This is our source for grace and the blessings of faith, including courage, tenacity, endurance, kindness, compassion, and all the blessings faith can confer that we don't necessarily have of our own strength. Our religion can't be boiled down to a set of absolute certainties in the sense that we simply can't know the fullness of any absolute. We are in relationship to God who knows God fully, but we don't know God as God knows God. (That is rather abstract language, but that is the right way to understand what scenes like this reveal to us.) This is yet another important reason why we turn in prayer for guidance and help all the time, because we know that we don't have all the answers. Like the healed man who was blind since birth, there are some things we know, and some things we don't ("Whether He is a sinner or not I do not know. One thing I know: that though I was blind, now I see" - John 9:25). It is of great essence for us to understand that there is so much that is also beyond us, beyond our fully knowing, because it opens the door to the fullness of what participation in the kingdom is all about, what faith is truly about. And it is also the knowledge that there is so much more we await. In other accounts of Peter's confession (see yesterday's reading), Jesus tells him immediately that it was the Father who had revealed this knowledge to Peter ("Blessed are you, Simon-bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My father who is in heaven" - Matthew 16:17). So, we also are connected with the Persons of infinite mystery, even in communication somehow. This glimpse of divinity in today's reading gives us an assurance that whatever we think we know, there is more beyond to be revealed, and in which we may take confidence. Let us remember what faith is, and how it works in the light of what has been revealed. That includes glimpses of the ineffable, the unknowable. There is always so much more that we reach toward than what we already know, or what we think we understand. The Father's command, "Hear Him!" is a constant present. We can't forget He's always with us, and we always need to "be hearing." Most especially, let us learn to perceive the love that comes to us from far beyond ourselves, from the One to whom we are all beloved children. Love is like the glue of God, the substance that seals everything together.
