Word to the Wise
Wednesday, August 6, 2025 - Aug. 6 - The Transfiguration of the Lord
[Dan 7:9-10, 13-14; 2 Pet 1:16-19; A: Matt 17:1-9 B: Mark 9:2-10 C: Luke 9:28b-36,1237]We did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received honor and glory from God the Father when that unique declaration came to him from the majestic glory, "This is my Son, my beloved, with whom I am well pleased." We ourselves heard this voice come from heaven while we were on the holy mountain. [2 Peter] Then from the cloud came a voice that said, "This is my chosen Son; listen to him." [Luke]
The "transfiguration of the Lord" is mentioned in the three synoptic gospels, which speaks to its importance in the life of Jesus. The experience takes place on a mountain and includes Moses and Elijah - figures of the law and the prophets. It also includes the words spoken at Jesus' baptism in the Jordan [Luke 3:22]. All the elements of a "theophany" [a revelation], are gathered in this one experience. Its significance, however, seems a matter of debate. Is it a prediction of the resurrection? Or the Second Coming at the end of time? It comes after the first of Jesus' predictions of his passion and death. Is it simply an affirmation of those words spoken at Jesus' baptism by John the Baptist? The Second Letter of Peter speaks of the event as something preserved from eyewitness testimony. The fact that Jesus took Peter, Jon and James, the first of the apostles up the mountain with him underlines the authority of the testimony.
I find it helpful to place the event in the larger context of the gospel witness of Jesus' whole life, death, resurrection and second coming. His whole identity can then be seen so that the Transfiguration doesn't become an unusual private experience reported later by the three apostles who were there. Jesus is the Beloved Son, the fulfillment of the law and prophets, who suffered and died for us and will return at the end of time. It is a kind of "sneak preview" of what awaits us at the end of time. AMEN