—Gospel of Matthew 17 : 1-9

First of all, the word, Transfiguration, means revelation or manifestation. The miraculous revelation on the mountain top, witnessed by three disciples, when Jesus’s appearance was suffused with light, is called The Transfiguration of Jesus.

These disciples witnessed:

1. Jesus’s inner nature as the Son of God, suffused with light.
2. They heard the voice of God the Father, saying, “this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.”
3. They observed Moses ( symbol of the Law ), and Elijah ( symbol of the prophets ) alongside Jesus who was the fulfillment of both.

This gospel story shows us where faith leads. For us, it leads to transformation into the life of Christ, a life that is brilliant, but which begins here.

It is understandable that the three disciples’ first reaction was to stay on top of the mountain to enjoy this miraculous vision unperturbed by the dreary affairs of the world. They were favored by a profound experience of their Master’s divinity that blew them away. So much so, they wanted to build three tabernacle on top of the mountain, one for Jesus, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.

But Jesus had a different mission for His disciples. He told them, after being renewed in faith, to come down the mountain. Their mission was to share the good news of His gospel with ordinary people in their everyday lives.

Like the disciples, we might wish to cherish the splendid vision of God’s glory atop a mountain away from the maddening crowds and apart from life’s hustle and bustle. How often I meet people who tell me they crave a life on a beautiful island or somewhere else away from the compromise and corruption of the world! But, that is not how it is meant to be. The most difficult and obscure moments of a person’s life are often the most transforming and fruitful.

Everything, no matter how hum-drum, has its spark of glory. Our faith must bloom where we are planted. The bright vision of faith must be lived in the context of everyday life, not in a life free from challenges or obstacles. The great Christian figures we have heard about and read about were not afraid to accept the hardships that the gospel entails in real life. It is in living the faith in the circumstances of normal, day-to-day experiences that salvation is brought into “clear light.”

This is the hidden, but explosive message of Jesus’s Transfiguration.

What a letdown it must have seemed, at first, for these disciples to have to come down to earth after such a marvelous spiritual ecstasy! Can you imagine how it must have felt for the first astronauts to return to earth after being thrust into the mighty reaches of space! As incredible as that must have been to the astronauts, it pales in comparison to what the three disciples experienced at Jesus’s Transfiguration.

The disciples learned an important lesson from the Transfiguration, and so should we. They learned that God’s glory emanated from the very being of Jesus to His life, to His teachings, to His actions, and to the real world in which we live. They saw Him as the word made flesh, and they beheld His glory as the only begotten Son of the Father. (John 1:1-14 ). But, they did not build tabernacles to adore Jesus on top of the mountain. Jesus forbade that. They had to become living tabernacles of Jesus in their daily lives.

There is a beautiful story about Jesus and the woman at the well. The woman, a Samaritan, spoke of different kinds of worship whereby some, like the Jews, worship at the temple, whereas others, like the Samaritans, worship on a mountain. Jesus said to the woman that the time is coming when people will worship “in spirit and in truth” ( John 4 : 23 ). Like the Samaritan woman, and like the disciples on top of the mountain, we have to realize that Jesus wishes to tabernacle Himself within us wherever we are, whether it be on top of a mountain, inside a Church or in the kitchen.

The reality of Jesus’s divinity, revealed in the Transfiguration, is to be received and remembered but, above all, it is to be lived. As followers of Christ we should examine those tightly cramped corners of the heart to see what needs to be transfigured with the life of Christ.

That is the message of the Transfiguration.

May this message inspire you to be renewed daily by the awesome beauty of Christ.

—Fr. Hugh Duffy