The Lessons of the Transfiguration

S. Mark ix. 5–13

S. Peter was bewildered by the wonderful vision, and seeing that Moses and Elias were on the point of departing, he was seized with a sudden desire to detain them. He proposed to our Lord that they should “make three tabernacles;” but, not knowing what to say, and yet eager, as ever, to give expression to his feelings of awe and delight, “he spake unadvisedly with his lips.” Nothing could have been more ill-judged than the proposal he made. It showed an entire misconception of the object of that wonderful epiphany. He was ready to place Moses and Elijah on a level with Christ; to re-establish, that is, the old Dispensations, instead of realising that they were only preparatory, and in their very nature transient. Two things which immediately occurred must have convinced him of his error. A voice came out of the overshadowing cloud, testifying that Jesus was the Beloved Son of God, and the Legislator and Prophet vanished out of sight.

The words, “This is My beloved Son,” had been spoken before, when “the heavens were opened,” and the Spirit of God descended upon Him at His Baptism, but now they were followed by an express command: “Hear ye Him.” Moses and Elijah, each in their time, had claimed the attention of mankind, but now there was Another to Whom it behoved all to take heed, because He was “the Son,” the express Image of the Father, by Whom, as never before, His eternal counsels should be revealed.

“And suddenly looking round about, they saw no one any more, save Jesus only with themselves.” It was a symbolical intimation that when He that is perfect and eternal had come, all that was imperfect and preparatory should vanish away. And that this latter was the character both of the Law and the Prophets is obvious. Moses had Christ constantly in view, and the entire scheme of Levitical worship which he was inspired to draw up — the Tabernacle, the Passover, the scapegoat, the burnt-offerings, and sin-offerings and trespass-offerings — all were types, all looked forward to, and all were fulfilled in Him, for “Christ is the end of the Law.” And it was the same with the Prophets. In various ways, either clearly or obscurely, they predicted an age of surpassing glory which should culminate at the Messiah’s coming; and to Him gave “all the prophets witness that through His Name whosoever believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins.”

But yet further, not only was all prophecy fulfilled in Christ, but the prophetic character also received its perfect development in Him. The Jewish prophet spoke not only of God, but for God; yea, he was as it were the very mouthpiece of God, delivering His message, and uttering His curse, and striking home the arrow of conviction even into the hearts of kings, careless of heathen threatenings, of bonds and imprisonments and death, because he felt that it was not he that spoke, but God Who spoke through his lips.

Then look on to the perfect embodiment, the complete antitype in the Person of Jesus Christ, Who was the very Word itself, “quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” Consider all this, and the folly of the Apostle’s proposal becomes patent at once. Moses and Elias and Christ were three no longer, no more separated, but made one by God. Legislator and prophet both were summoned to the scene of the Transfiguration, and both symbolically consigned their finished work into Christ’s hands, knowing that henceforth there was but one Dispensation, one Tabernacle, one Gospel, — Christ the power of God, Christ the wisdom of God, Christ the way, the truth, and the life, by Whom alone we have access to the Father, God in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself.

Such was the lesson that this mysterious scene was designed to convey, but our Lord saw that it was beyond the spiritual ken even of the inner circle of His disciples; and so, as they descended from the mountain, He laid the injunction upon them that they should not attempt to describe what they had seen, till He should have risen from the dead. Not till that, of which this was in a measure typical, had come to pass would they be able to grasp its significance. And they obeyed His command, and, like the Blessed Virgin, pondered these things in their hearts, wondering how the Resurrection of which He spake could take place while they were yet alive. That for which they, with all pious Jews, were looking was the General Resurrection 1 at the last day, when all that are in their graves shall awake, “some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.”

There was yet another question which perplexed them as they came down. What bearing had this appearance of Elijah upon the arguments of the Scribes? Their great objection to the claims of Jesus to the Messiahship was that He had not fulfilled the prophet’s conditions. No reappearance of Elijah 1 had preceded His coming. When they saw that vision on the mount they thought that he was come as the forerunner of His kingdom, and that His Messianic claims would be recognised. But the prophet’s disappearance had dashed all their hopes. It was in answer to their bewildered inquiry, that Christ opened their eyes to understand the spirit of prophecy, and showed that Elijah had indeed come, as Malachi foretold, yet not in that transient and glorious vision which they had just witnessed, but in the person of the Baptist, who by his preaching and moral purification had prepared the way of the Lord and made His paths straight. He it was of whom Elijah was a type, and that not only in his work of preparation, but in the sufferings he endured; for all the persecutions of Ahab and Jezebel, and even worse, had been repeated by the wicked Herod and his shameless queen, who had “done unto him whatsoever they listed.”

Now what is the most practical lesson to be drawn from this sublime scene? We must turn to the account which another Evangelist gives, and we shall find that it was during prayer that our Lord was transfigured: “As He prayed the fashion of His countenance was altered.”

In one respect the Transfiguration of our Blessed Lord can have no earthly counterpart, because it was with His Own glory that He was transfigured; whereas that with which the souls of the saints are illumined is not from within, but it is thrown upon their lives from Him Who is the Source of all true light and glory.

But here there is a point in which the two cases may be brought into comparison. It was through the act of prayer, when His human soul was holding close communion with God, that “His face did shine as the sun.”

It has been repeated in a lesser degree with the saints. ix. v. 5-13

Even so we remember it was after Moses had been communing with God in the mount, speaking with Him face to face, that his very skin seemed to catch the rays of Divine glory, and the people were dazzled by the reflection. Again it was of one who, with everything to divert his thoughts from higher things, “looked steadfastly up to heaven,” and became so absorbed in the vision that was vouchsafed in answer to his prayer, that we are told that “all that sat in the council looking steadfastly on him, saw his face as it had been the face of an angel.”

And yet nearer home it has been vouchsafed to not a few to watch by the side of a dying saint, and in moments of intense prayer to see the inward joy of a growing nearness to God kindle into an expression of almost unearthly brightness.

When, then, we read this wonderful story, be it ours to realise that it has a message to us, not only of what we may be in the resurrection, but that it gives us an assurance that we may catch even in this life some ray of the Transfiguration glory.

Note: In the corresponding passage in S. Matthew there is an ancient reading Troirjffu, which brings out very strikingly the characteristic of impulse which belongs to S. Peter. He ignores his brother Apostles, and will do what has to be done himself.

Note: The voice from heaven says, “This is My beloved Son,” and it was intended to place Him in contrast, says S. Jerome, with Moses and Elias, who were God’s servants.

Note: This is the primary idea of the prophetic office. Aaron was the prophet, the mouthpiece of Moses. O

Note: This doctrine, revealed at the first only to the few, and held even by David not always with uniform consistency, was little doubted after the clearer language of Isaiah and Ezekiel and Daniel. For various shades of belief in this, cf. Geikie’s Life and Words, ii. 254.

Note: Many of the Fathers think this was only partially fulfilled in the person of John the Baptist, and expect that Elijah will really appear to “restore” the Jews before the Second Advent. Cf. Chrysos., Horn. lvii. on S. Matt.; Aug., Tract, iv. on S. John.