The Transfiguration Points to Our Own Resurrection

As we spend the next several weeks in the glow of Easter joy, it is fitting to look back on the life of Christ, to see how He prepared the disciples for His Resurrection, and how the Lord prepares us for our own.

There is one moment in particular in which Jesus gave His followers a taste of the glory of the Resurrection – both His and ours – and that is in the Transfiguration.

The Glory of Jesus

Arguably one of the more mysterious stories in the New Testament, the Transfiguration is the event in which Jesus takes the inner circle of Apostles – Peter, James, and John – up a mountain where Moses and Elijah appear and Jesus is transfigured before them, “his face changed in appearance and his clothing became dazzling white” (Luke 9:29).

The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains that at this moment “Jesus discloses his divine glory” (CCC, 555). He does this to strengthen His followers for the events of Holy Week.

Immediately prior to the Transfiguration, Jesus, for the first time, predicts His Passion, Death, and Resurrection. The events of Holy Week were no surprise to Jesus, and so out of love for His followers, the Lord gives them a glimpse of His glory to prepare them on the way to Jerusalem.

The Transfiguration is given in anticipation of the doubt that is sure to follow Good Friday. The Transfiguration is the promise of Easter Sunday.

The Mystery of the Transfiguration

One of the major mysteries of the Transfiguration lies in the presence of Moses and Elijah, as well as the seeming abruptness in which they appear and disappear. The revelation of the glory of Jesus was not meant for the three apostles alone, but also for these two Old Testament figures.

But of all the persons in the Old Testament, why Moses and Elijah?

The presence of Moses and Elijah is most often explained in their representation of the Law and the Prophets. Thus, their conversing with Jesus points to Him as the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets (Matthew 5:17).  It seems, however, that there might be even more going on in this mysterious event and that there is an even deeper significance to the presence of these two Old Testament figures.

Theophany

The Transfiguration is, theologically speaking, a theophany – an appearance of God. It is no coincidence that both Moses and Elijah experienced theophanies during their earthly lives, and both did so on the same mountain – Mt. Sinai.

In the late chapters of the book of Exodus, Moses begs to see the glory of the Lord, and God responds that all His goodness will pass before Moses, but God says, “you cannot see my face” (Exodus 33:20).

Similarly, Elijah stood upon Mt. Sinai awaiting the Lord to pass by him. The Lord was not in the wind that tore at the mountain, nor in the earthquake that shook it, nor was the Lord in the fire that charred the mountain – but then came a soft voice, and Elijah “wrapped his face in his mantle” so as not to see the face of God (1 Kings 19:13).

The Face of God

It is extremely important to note that neither Moses nor Elijah see the face of God in their encounters with Him. Moses sees only the Lord’s back and Elijah covers his own face. This is precisely why Moses and Elijah are present for the Transfiguration of Jesus – so they can behold the face of God.

In his book, The Case for Jesus, Dr. Brant Pitre makes this very point, “On the mountain of the Transfiguration, Moses and Elijah are finally allowed to see what they could not see during their earthly lives: the unveiled face of God.”

In Jesus Christ, God has a human face, a face upon which Moses and Elijah were finally able to gaze. For as St. Paul writes so beautifully of Jesus, “He is the image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15).

The profound mystery of the Transfiguration is that Jesus Christ is revealed not only to fulfill the law and the prophets of the Old Testament, but Jesus is revealed to be the God of the Old Testament. The abruptness with which Moses and Elijah depart now makes sense, for there was nothing more for these figures to desire. What they had begged for and prayed for many years previous, was now before them. The unveiled face of God.

The Sacrament of Resurrection

The Transfiguration not only showed Christ in all His glory, unveiling His divinity and pointing towards His Resurrection; it also points towards our own.

The Catechism, drawing on St. Thomas Aquinas, calls the Transfiguration “‘The sacrament of the second regeneration’: our own Resurrection” (CCC, 556). Our resurrection is linked to Christ’s Resurrection. As St. Paul tells us, the Lord “will change our lowly body to be like his glorious body” (Philippians 3:21).

The Transfiguration is thus meant to be a sacrament, a symbolic mystery, that points towards our resurrection, for we will share in the glory of Christ, not just in a spiritual manner, but in a bodily manner. Salvation is not merely a spiritual reality, but a corporeal reality. The Lord has come not just to save our souls, but our bodies too. As St. Paul says, we await “the redemption of our bodies” (Romans 8:23).

This is precisely why Jesus took on a human nature, to redeem us, both body and soul. This is why the Catholic Church is so incarnational. This is why we are baptized with water, why we confess our sins audibly to a priest, why we are healed with holy oil, and most especially, why we consume the body and blood of our Savior.

Transfiguration to Transubstantiation

The Eucharist is intimately tied to our resurrection. Jesus said, “He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:54). This is why Pope John Paul II calls the Eucharist the “pledge of future glory”, saying that “this pledge of the future resurrection comes from the fact that the flesh of the Son of Man, given as food, is his body in its glorious state after the resurrection” (Ecclesisa de eucharistia, 18). In the Eucharist, we consume and become partakers of the glorious, resurrected body of Jesus Christ.

The Eucharist is not only a “pledge of future glory”, but it is also a glimpse of glory, a window into the present glory of God.

We have the same opportunity as Moses and Elijah, to see the face of God. Traditionally, the mountain on which the Transfiguration took place is called Mt. Tabor, and it is no coincidence that the golden pedestal that often supports the monstrance in Eucharistic Adoration is called a Tabor. Upon this stand, we see, as Moses and Elijah saw, the face of God in all His glory, in all His majesty. In Eucharistic Adoration, we are able, like Moses and Elijah, to look upon the face of God.

Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, stands before us. Many, like Moses, beg to see the glory of God. Many, like Elijah, pray for the Lord’s presence. How blessed are we that we are able to visit our local chapel, draw near inside, kneel down, look up, and see the face of God?

The Joy of Easter

Let us bask in the glow of Easter joy, seeing in Christ’s Resurrection the promise of our own. “Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven” (1 Corinthians 15:39). Just as Christ was raised bodily from the dead, so too will we.

Just as Jesus’ Transfiguration was the promise of His Resurrection. So too, His Resurrection is the promise of ours. The joy of Easter lies in that promise. He is the God who keeps His promises.