Feast of the Transfiguration Sunday

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Today is Transfiguration Sunday, and Luke tells us that eight days after JESUS fed the five thousand, He took His executive board of directors atop, we believe, Mt. Hermon, in the far north of the land of Israel, just on the threshold to the uttermost parts of the world. This was not an oddity, as JESUS was in the habit of going off alone to pray, but on this occasion, He asked Peter, James, and John to accompany Him on His ascetical errand. And as He prayed, the Scriptures say, the transfiguration happened! His countenance was altered; his face shone as the sun, and His clothes glistened extremely bright and white. 

When Saint Mark tells his version of today’s Gospel Lesson, a different English word is rendered for Christ’s transfiguration: He ‘became different’, which in Greek is μεταμορφόω. (cf. Mark 9.2) It is hard to imagine what it means to be ‘transfigured.’ Our single greatest metaphorical picture of a transfiguration is that of a caterpillar, transfiguring into a butterfly, through a process we call metamorphosis. The idea that both of the Gospelers are trying to communicate is that JESUS, once a normal-looking Galilean, was transfigured – metamorphosized – into a normal-looking deity, in the blink of the eye. — The man that the Apostles knew as the Son of Man, in a twinkling, was seen in all His divine brilliance as the Only-Begotten of the Father – not created, but GOD of GOD – undivided Deity from and with the Father. “For the one without the other was of no avail to mankind’s salvation, and it is equally dangerous to believe the LORD JESUS Christ to be either GOD without manhood, or only man without Godhood … for true manhood exists in His Godhead, and true Godhead in His manhood.”¹ This is the first great lesson of the Transfiguration. 

JESUS’ Transfiguration should swiftly dismiss the heresies that would arise in later centuries; some of which still linger like a bad odor today. — Metamorphosized from lowly Man into GOD exceeding, we are accosted by “four things which concur to make complete the whole state of our LORD JESUS Christ’s essence and being: His deity, His manhood, the conjunction of both, and the distinction of the one from the other being joined together in one. In the nascent Church, there were four principal heresies which stood against this truth: Arians, who bent themselves against the Deity of Christ; Apollinarians, who maimed and misinterpreted that which belongeth to His human nature; Nestorians, who rendered Christ asunder and divided Him into two persons; and Eutyches, who famously is addressed in the Epistles of Saint John, confounded in Christ’s Person, those natures which they should have distinguished. — Thus, in four words we can describe Christ JESUS duly and fully: truly, perfectly, indivisibly, and distinctly. Truly, applied to His being GOD; perfectly, to His being Man; indivisibly, to His being of both, yet One – and distinctly, to His continuing in that One, as Both.”² 

Thus, we might say, JESUS is transformed on Mt. Hermon to make His essence and nature plainly understood by those who would later confess Him as such. Making that confession, Saint Peter in today’s Epistle Lesson says: “For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our LORD JESUS Christ, but [we] were eyewitnesses of His majesty. For He received from GOD the Father, honor and glory, when there came such a voice to Him from the excellent glory [of the cloud]; ‘This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.'” (2 Peter 1.16-17). And in another confession, Saint John writes, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and has manifested unto us;)” (1 John 1.1-2). 

The second great lesson to learn from the Transfiguration of JESUS can be achieved if we but abide by the Father’s advice. — If you recall, Saint Luke tells us: “There came a cloud, and overshadowed the whole scene, and Peter, James, and John feared as they entered the cloud. And there came a voice out of the cloud, saying, ‘This is my beloved Son, hear Him.’ And when the voice was past, JESUS was found alone” (St. Luke 9.34-35). — Well, of course, why would they not listen to JESUS; who else would they abide by? — Well, Moses and Elijah of course, for we find in our narrative these two great legends of Israel also on the scene. Luke tells us they appeared in glory and spoke to JESUS before the cloud descended upon them all. (cf. Lk. 9.30-31) — And what is the relevance of these two members to the Hall of Faith to this narrative? — These two stalwarts of Bible history are the principal agents and representatives of the Law and the Prophets – the divine oracles of GOD that the Jews – for fifteen hundred years – read and devoutly obeyed. Moses and Elijah came to counsel with JESUS, only to have their conclave interrupted by the Presence and Voice of the ALMIGHTY Creator.  

The Most-Holy One overshadowed the triumvirate, bestowing upon JESUS authority and precedence even greater than Moses and Elijah. All that this lawgiver and prophet had spoken was consummate in the Person of the GOD-Man, JESUS. The Law which Moses gave so that Israel could attain covenant intimacy with GOD, and the call of Hebraic Prophetism of which Elijah was the great forerunner – these were but shadows of greater things to come. Through the one, the Father’s call to holiness and separation from the nations – through the other, the Father’s call to return and repent. — The presence of Moses and Elijah on Hermon with JESUS and His inner circle of the Apostles was a fitting together of the redemptive promises of GOD in all its complex, component, scriptural parts; viz., a perfect reading of the Law and the Prophets yields one conclusion – One Person – One goal – One Savior – JESUS the Christ. Again, the second great lesson of the Transfiguration. 

It is odd to think that when the Scribes and Pharisees demanded that JESUS give them a sign, He would not. (cf. Mark 8.11-12) Yet, here, the LORD did give a sign to His nearest disciples, though they asked for it not. To this Thomas Aquinas, that renowned thirteenth-century Doctor of the Western Church hath said: “He gives a sign from Heaven, in order to what? To increase the Apostles’ faith, no doubt”³ — Increase their faith; unto what? Again, Aquinas says: “Faith unto the revealed glory of Christ, that they might be aroused to a desire of it … for by His Transfiguration, Christ manifested to His disciples the glory of His body, which belongs to mankind only. It was therefore fitting that He should choose men and not angels as witnesses.”⁴ 
 
What Aquinas is telling us is that the third great lesson of the Transfiguration of JESUS is that it is for you and me, brothers and sisters – for the Church Militant. The Transfiguration is a sign of the glory that GOD has in store for the remnant people who have been grafted into the Church. Yet, before glory comes, comes humility; before metamorphosis comes dissolution and death. Upon this point, many have stumbled and been crushed before they attain the promised glory that JESUS revealed. — Why? — The prophet Isaiah expressed it this way: “He [will] become a sanctuary, but [first] a stone for stumbling and a rock of offense to both the houses of Israel (Judah/Israel); for a trap (gin) and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many among them shall stumble, and fall, and be broken, and be snared and be taken” (Isaiah 8.14-15). — Notoriously, the principal among the gaggle upon Mt. Hermon, who saw His glory and heard the Father’s voice, stumbled, fell, and was broken. For when JESUS showed them “that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders, the chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day,” Peter, remembering the vision of His majesty of metamorphosis (which he confessed was not a cunningly devised fable), says to JESUS: “Be it far from thee, LORD; this shall not be unto Thee,” [To wit JESUS replied:] “Get thee behind me, Satan: thou are an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of GOD, but those that be of men” (St. Matthew 16.21-23). — “The snare and trap that Peter and so many like him have become entangled is this: in order to be glorified, the King of Glory (His Manhood assumed by His Godhead), must first suffer and die an ignoble, pitous, and horrible death. 

“If, therefore, it be demanded by any person of us what the Person of the Son of GOD hath attained by assuming manhood, surely we must confess that the whole sum of the matter is this: to be as we are – truly, really, and naturally. For by taking on Manhood, JESUS is made capable of meaner offices than otherwise His Divine Person could have admitted. The only gain He thereby purchases for Himself was the capability of loss and detriment for the good of others … The very cause of His taking upon Him our nature, was to change it; to better the quality of it; to advance the condition of it; and to be sure, in no way to abolish the substance of it; instead, to glorify it … GOD from us can receive nothing; we by Him have attained everything.”⁵ “For, according as His divine power, [in taking our nature upon Himself], hath given unto us all things that pertain to life and godliness … that by [His Manhood] we might be partakers of the divine nature and escape the corruption that is in the world through lust” (2 Peter 1.3-4). 

The third lesson of the Transfiguration shows us that, in order to swallow up death, the GOD-Man JESUS had to succumb to the suffering of death; to perfect humanity, JESUS had to allow for His Humanity to be smitten and afflicted. — “JESUS went through the mountain-top experience of His Transfiguration, knowing that He was being prepared to follow where the Law and the Prophets had pointed. And where did they point? — They pointed to a path down into the valley of the shadow of death; to the place of despair; to a place where demons shriek, and sufferers weep; to a place where the Son of Man would be handed over to sinners and made to languish with pain and die. — Perhaps this is the message that you were not anticipating today; it was the same for Peter, James, and John. — These disciples were overwhelmed by the Transfiguration; they blurted out things they didn’t mean … Seeing His Divine magnificence from time immemorial, they were unable to understand how it was that the glory which they had glimpsed on the mountain (the glory of GOD’s chosen Son, the Servant who was carrying in Himself the promise of redemption), would finally be unveiled. — To their dismay (and ours too), it would be unveiled upon a very different mount; an ugly little faux mount of skulls outside Jerusalem. — [Wonderful Counselor, Mighty GOD, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace; wilt thou at this time restore the Kingdom to Israel?] … Dear church, Saint Mark the Evangelist, listen to me. We, too, often find it completely bewildering to know and understand all that GOD is doing and saying, both in our times of great joy and in our times of great sadness; our times of pure elation, and in our times of hardship and consternation. But the word that comes to us, leading us on to follow JESUS even when we have not a clue what’s going on or why, is the word that came from the Cloud on that strange day in Galilee: “This is my son, my chosen one. Listen to Him.”⁶  

This all makes sense when you consider that just verses before Saint Luke describes this great event of the Transfiguration, JESUS requires of His disciples the following: “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it … For whosoever will be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of Man be ashamed, when He shall come in His own glory, and in His Father’s, and of the Holy angels.” (St. Luke 9.23-24,26). — Again, perhaps enigmatically, the Transfiguration of JESUS Christ is for the Church; for you and me. — Each Sunday we come into this Holy Space and rejoice with hymns, and songs, and spiritual songs, “being raised to the glorious confessing of the Deity of Christ, yet, in denying our own human frailty and humility, we cannot deem the reception of the weakness of JESUS’ human nature as something unworthy of the impassible mercy of GOD. Nor can we imagine that our human nature so glorified in Him (due to His Deity), was capable of suffering punishment, or being dissolved in death.”⁷ Yet, my friends, it was, yet for a purpose. — For through suffering and death, GOD in Christ glorified the human condition, swallowing up death by His bloody victory on the torturous Cross; achieving metamorphosized glory for us by His resurrection. The human condition precedes divine transformation; the Shekinah Cloud, Heavenly voice, and sun-filled face were gone whilst only the normal looking Galilean remained to endure His Passion; the Cross before the Resurrection. 

Though a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, in His Humanity, Christ put death to flight. Though despised and carrying our sorrows, afflicted and smitten of GOD, JESUS attained powerful mastery over our transgressions and chastisements by His weakness. And though in His Humanity atop the mount of Golgotha, upon the Cross, the iniquities of us all were laid upon Him, JESUS’ glorious Godhead was revealed, but first in the glorious mauling of His manhood. — Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani – my GOD, my GOD, why have you forsaken me?  

Brothers and sisters, JESUS, the Transfigured One, has finished our work; He has now become our Rest and our Sanctuary. — Yet, beware! Many have seen His Victory by His suffering, and they have feared what it meant for themselves. They stumbled and fell away; Divine Glory in humanity must always be revealed FIRST through suffering. — If any man will come after me, let him deny himself and pick up his cross and follow me. For whoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.  

The Mount of Transfiguration appeared as possible rallying point for the Divine powers in Christ to loose themselves upon Israel’s enemies. The Father, Moses, and Elijah were all hailing Him the Chosen One – the Christ. Peter, James, and John were ready to set-up camp and prepare for the revolution against Rome that every Jew imaginatively entertained. Yet, what resulted on Mt. Hermon, was that the Man JESUS was left to defeat the world, the flesh, and the devil by His frailty, obedience, and love. Not with lightning bolts from his eyes. — “In His wisdom, the foundation that JESUS laid by His Passion and Death was such that the whole Body of Christ might realize the vast change of character we must experience through our own sufferings, [before we are glorified with the LORD.] — Seeing that JESUS’ sufferings ended in glorious exaltation, [the Father desires that] we might, by faith, hope to share in the honor and glory of that which we have witnessed in His sufferings.”⁸ — For if we stumble and lose faith because of JESUS’ glorious human suffering before the metamorphosis of His Resurrection, how much more apt are we to lose faith by our own, causing us to be crushed through stumbling, thereby missing our promised transfiguration? 

Saint Paul, one who suffered greatly for the glorious Gospel of the Transfigured One, encourages us with this: “I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us” (Romans 8.18). Thus, dear ones, “let not any of you fear to suffer for righteousness’ sake, nor doubt the fulfillment of the promises of GOD because of your suffering … For, all the weakness of our humble humanity was assumed by the GOD-Man and sanctified: truly, perfectly, indivisibly, and distinctly. — If we abide in the acknowledgment and love of Him, we conquer as He conquered, and we receive what He promised.”⁹ — “For now, [before we are transfigured], we see in a mirror, dimly — but then — face to face … for we all, with open face beholding, as in a glass, the glory of the LORD, are being changed – metamorphosized – into the same image [as our LORD], from glory to glory, even by the Spirit of the LORD”, who with the Father, and with the Son, reigneth in glory, ever world without end. (1 Corinthians 13.12; 2 Corinthians 3.18) Amen.   

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1 CCEL.org. “Leo the Great: Sermon LIV: On the Passion, III”. Accessed 5 August 2026. https://ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf212/npnf212.ii.v.xxvii.html). 
2 More, Paul E., Cross, Frank L., Anglicanism, “Richard Hooker’s Christology”, (London: S.P.C.K., 1957), 262. 
3-4 LectionaryCentral.org. “Feast of Transfiguration: Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Theologica.” Accessed 6 August 2026. https://www.lectionarycentral.co./sttransfig/AquinasSumma.html.  

5 More Cross, 260. 
6 Wright, Bp. N.T., Luke for Everyone, (London: SPCK, 2004), 115. 
7-9 CCEL.org. “Leo the Great.”