Transfiguration of Our Lord

Do You See Me Now?

    To be transfigured means to change bodily; in Greek, the word is metamorphosis. Jesus, in today’s gospel, is transfigured to be radiant as God is radiant. Clearly, the event makes clear the divinity of Jesus to Peter, James, and John; but why now?

     The Transfiguration is a “book-end” event in Jesus’ life. It marks the beginning of the end when Jesus moves toward his death in Jerusalem. Like the baptism (the other “bookend”), the voice of God the Father announces His pleasure towards the Son. More importantly, it positions the disciples, Peter, James, and John, as new priests, those selected to mediate God to His people as on Mount Siani when Moses took up Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu (Exod 24:9) to see the presence of God, to enable them to witness to God’s presence. In the case of our story today, Jesus is the new Moses, and the three high priests are replaced by the new priests of Peter, James, and John. Matthew is connecting the old with the new to reveal the fullness of Jesus’ identity, the one who embodies both the Old Testament Law (Moses) and the Old Testament prophets (Elijah). The story establishes Jesus’ divine authority, the revealing of Jesus’ closeness to the Father.

     What was revealed on Mt. Sanai with Moses now becomes the new revelation of the New Law with Jesus as the law-giver. The new Law becomes the summation of the Law and Prophets in Jesus’ statement of the requirement to love God and neighbor (the summation of the Law and Prophets); only, in this case, it isn’t a text that has been given to the people, it is God who has now been given to His people in the person of Jesus. The message is no longer confined to text but lives in the heart of every believer via the Holy Spirit. It replaces Temple sacrifice and priests who stand between God and humanity and replaces it with priests who stand with every believer who also is priest, prophet, and King by virtue of their baptism. The “Holy of Holies” of the Temple has been replaced by access to God himself in the Eucharist, not mediated by the priest, but offered to the people as the minister of The Sacrament so that we who receive the Body and Blood may, in turn, convey this healing Grace to the world sick with sin.