Transfiguration Sunday: A Rookie Anglican Guide
Near the end of his earthly ministry, Jesus ascended a mountain with Peter, James, and John. There he was transfigured before them, appearing alongside Moses and Elijah and shining with blinding light. In addition to Christ’s glory, the moment also revealed the Trinity, the voice of God speaking of his Son in the midst of a Spirit cloud.
In the Calendar of the Book of Common Prayer (2019), the Transfiguration of Jesus is celebrated not once but twice! On the fixed calendar, it is celebrated on August 6th. On the movable calendar, it is celebrated on the last Sunday of Epiphany.
Sponsored
In other words, Transfiguration Sunday serves as the transition from Epiphany into the season of Lent, when we turn with Christ, from his visible glory on the mountain, toward Jerusalem and his atoning death on the cross. The Collect for the day beautifully integrates these themes:
O God, who before the passion of your only-begotten Son revealed his glory upon the holy mountain: Grant that we, beholding by faith the light of his countenance, may be strengthened to bear our cross, and be changed into his likeness from glory to glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
The Law & The Prophets
The Transfiguration feels like an Old Testament story. This is most obvious in the presence of Moses and Elijah, who represent the law and the prophets.
There are also a number of narrative details that recapitulate Old Testament stories. The six days, the three disciples, the mountain, the cloud, the voice of God, all recall the theophany to Moses at Sinai in Exodus 24 and 34. Similarly, Elijah had an experience of God on the mountain in 1 Kings 19.
Contemporary scholar Patrick Schreiner observes that Matthew’s account, in particular, seeks to connect Jesus’s transfiguration with the figure of Moses. In Matthew, Moses is listed first (Mark has Elijah first), and like Moses, Jesus has a shining face!
And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light. And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him.
Matthew 17:1-3
Since Moses and Elijah had their own mountaintop theophanies, it is fitting that they should appear alongside Jesus in his Transfiguration. Like them, Jesus is having a mountaintop experience of the divine.
But the difference between Jesus, on the one hand, and Moses and Elijah, on the other, is that Jesus is divine! What Moses and Elijah experienced is being fulfilled in Christ. In other words, the law and the prophets are neither rejected nor simply repeated; in Christ, the Law and the Prophets are fulfilled.
Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.
Matthew 5:17
The Trinity at the Transfiguration
After Peter’s misguided interjection, the transfiguration becomes even more mysterious with the arrival of a cloud and a voice:
He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.”
Matthew 17:5
If this message sounds familiar, it should! It is nearly identical to the word spoken at Jesus’s baptism.
He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”
Matthew 3:16-17
Just as we see the Trinity at Jesus’s baptism, so we see the Trinity at the Transfiguration. The voice of the Father identifies his beloved Son. The Spirit, represented by a dove at the Baptism, is represented here in the cloud. If we think of the dove as the message, the cloud is the medium, communicating the Spirit of God’s love for his Son.
The Church Calendar captures this connection between the Baptism and the Transfiguration, by celebrating them, respectively, on the first and last Sundays of Epiphany. Thus, the season of Epiphany begins and ends with the theophany of the Trinity. But where the Baptism inaugurated Jesus’ public ministry, the Transfiguration marks a turning point, as we follow Jesus in his journey to Jerusalem and the Cross.
From Glory to the Cross
We can’t really grasp the remarkable glory that was revealed in Christ at the Transfiguration. The gospel of Mark is rather funny, in fact, in its description of Jesus’ sartorial splendor:
His clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them.
Mark 9:3
No matter how often you wash your clothes, you’ll never be as bright as Jesus!
But this humor hides a more profound point: Jesus is God, and we are not. We have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God; only Jesus, the Word made flesh and light of men, has been tempted and endured without sin.
That is why there is a direct connection between Jesus’ glory on the mountain and his descent to the cross. Only Jesus, the sinless one, could serve as the spotless lamb and the scapegoat for our sins. Only the brilliant God-Man could enter our darkness and win our salvation on the cross.
The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.
John 1:9-12
Hymns of the Transfiguration
Multiple hymns relate to the themes of the Transfiguration. They are wonderful to sing in church, with family, or to listen to individually.
Immortal Invisible, God Only Wise
This hymn does not dwell explicitly on Jesus, but it does explore the theme of light in relation to God. Combine that with other narrative details, including a mountain, a cloud, and the Father of light, and this is a great hymn for Transfiguration Sunday, especially in the processional.
O Wondrous Type, O Vision Fair
This hymn, translated from the Latin by John Mason Neale, is an explicit retelling of the Transfiguration story. I especially like this hymn when it is sung to 15th century tune DEO GRATIAS, as it is in the video below.
Christ Upon The Mountain Peak
This is a 20th century retelling of the Transfiguration story. Notice the repetition of a closing Alleluia, which is especially fitting as a last hurrah for those parishes that avoid the word Alleluia during Lent.
Songs of Thankfulness and Praise
This hymn was written by Christopher Wordsworth, nephew to William Wordsworth. It seeks to encompass the major themes of the Epiphany season, covering the visit of the magi, the baptism of Jesus, Jesus’ healing ministry in Galilee, and the transfiguration.
Fairest Lord Jesus
This is another hymn that does not speak directly to the story of the Transfiguration, but it does reflect on Jesus’ bright shining. And sometimes Transfiguration Sunday corresponds with the beginning of spring. This is a lovely recessional hymn to end a service on the Transfiguration.
Image: Original art by Kevin Lindholm, for Trinity Lafayette.
Epiphany and Epiphanytide: A Rookie Anglican Guide
What is Epiphany? Epiphany is a Christian feast day celebrated on January 6 every year. It’s also sometimes known as “Three Kings’ Day.” As we mentioned in our Rookie Anglican Guide to Advent, the Christian year begins with the season of Advent, which leads up to Christmas on December 25. Then come the 12 Days…
The Authority of Holy Scripture: A Rookie Anglican Guide
Anglicanism is deeply committed to the authority of Holy Scripture. It seeks both to uphold the authority of Scripture in doctrine and also to apply the authority of Scripture in practice. This double dynamic of orthodoxy (right belief) and orthopraxy (right practice) is reflected in Cranmer’s lovely Collect for the Second Sunday in Advent: Blessed…
