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| 'The Transfiguration', Raphael, 1516–20. |
There is a theme of “seeing,” “appearing,” “witnessing”
and “manifestation” running through this Sunday’s readings in the second week
of Lent.
In Genesis: “Leave your land,” says the Lord to Abram, “to
the land which I will show [אַרְאֵֶ] you” (Gen 12:1).
In Paul’s second letter to Timothy: “His own purpose and
grace, given to us in Christ before time began [προ χρονων αἰωνιων], and having been made manifest (appearing) [φανερωθεῖσαν]
now by the manifestation (appearing) [ἐπιφανείας] of our Saviour, Christ Jesus”
(2 Tim 1:9-10).
Then there is the Matthean Gospel account of the
transfiguration of Jesus in the presence of Peter, James, John, Moses and
Elijah. Jesus “transfigures,” literally from the Greek, “metamorphises,” before
them, dazzling, sparkling with the radiance of his divine glory, appearing “like
the sun”.
Whereas a caterpillar undergoes a real physical change
through its metamorphosis, turning into a resplendent butterfly, Jesus simply partially
removed the veiling cacoon with which humility had wrapped His Godhead. For a
brief instant Jesus lets his three chosen Apostles see a glimpse of His Divine
Nature as it pulsated within His sanctified human nature. An advance glimpse
also of the future resurrected glory of His human flesh, and an insight into the
destined glory that awaits all creation.
The first time the word “see” is used in the Scripture is
in Genesis. “And God saw the light and it was good” (1:4). By the sixth day,
once human beings are created, the Scripture reads, “God saw everything that He
had made and indeed it was exceedingly good” (1:31). The word “very” is common
in English translations, but it is a weak rendition of the emphatic adverb used
in the Hebrew.
Let us recall how Matthew’s account of the
transfiguration begins: “And after six days Jesus took Peter, James and John…
up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them” (17:1-2).
“After six days” fits both the Greek and Peshitta Aramaic, as well as the
parallel with Moses’ quasi-transfiguration on the mountain in Exodus:
When Moses went up on the mountain… For
six days the cloud covered the mountain, and on the seventh day the LORD called
to Moses from within the cloud. (24: 15-16b).
Additionally, in view of Semitic literary
usage, “after six days” means, like in the Exodus parallel, “on the seventh day”.
Thus after six-days of what was likely some kind of formation and spiritual preparation,
typical of cultic ritual preparation in the Ancient Near East, Jesus went with
His three Apostles to the peak of a mountain “on the seventh day.”
Here at the top of the mountain
Jesus is revealed as “the Light of the world” (Jn 8:12). “And God saw the Light
and is was good.”
He is also revealed as the divine
Son of God, glorious in His divinity, and unparalleled in His humanity as the
crowning glory of all creation (Col 1). The work of God’s creation completed figurately
“on the seventh day,” has its true completion in Christ as Son of Man revealed
on this “seventh day” on the mountain—His human nature shown to be the consummation
of God’s creative work.
From the cloud the Father’s voice
proclaims, “This is my Son, the Beloved, in whom I am well pleased…”.
The Greek word for “I am well
pleased” is εὐδόκησα, from “eu” ‘good, well’ and “dokeō,’ ‘to think, to
consider in one’s own subjective view’. Thus the term highlights the Father’s own
personal and intimate approval of the Son, as well as analogously intimating at
the Father’s eternal begetting of the Son. The Aramaic uses the term אצטבית which in textual context means in whom
“I am delighted, well pleased” or in whom “I delight”. The word itself contains
the word for “good” (ṭb) and share the root for “to will”. In light of the
Aramaic, idiomatically one could loosely render the translation: “Whom I find exceedingly
good”.
The Father’s voice from the cloud
thus recalls Genesis and fulfils it. To paraphrase from Genesis: “And God saw
His Son Incarnate on the earth, His human nature the crowning glory of all that
He had made, and indeed He was exceedingly good”.
The “it was exceedingly good” was
issued on the sixth day in Genesis following the creation of man and woman—the peak
of God’s creative work. However, the consummative “it was exceedingly good” or
rather, “he is exceedingly good” issued on the seventh day at the event of the
transfiguration is a step-up from the progressive gradient of “goodness” of the
creation that culminated in the creation of mankind, and the “delight” the
Creator derived thereby. It is “an exceeding good” that confirms the “exceeding
good” of human nature, but also goes beyond it, encompassing “the
exceeding good”—God Himself, visible in the Incarnate Son.
On one level it is a proclamation of the elevated dignity of human nature ratified "now" because of the Incarnation.
Above all, it is a proclamation that it is the Son “in whom” the Father delights. Creation is only a proximate source of delight for the Father because of the
Son, namely, because of His Incarnation.
We too should imitate the Father, delighting not in creation as an end in itself, but in the Incarnate Son, "the image of the invisible God,
the first-born of all creation; for in him all things were created” (Col
1:15-16a). If we delight in all created things in faith, in the moderate and sound manner intended, we do so for Him, through Him, with Him. We become in this way, in Christ the Prime Steward of Creation, co-stewards of creation who continue the creative work of the Father, taking-off from where the Father left-off. The creation, above all, our human nature, becomes an instrument of praise. This is how 'we' (Christ in us) sanctifies creation.
But we must be careful, blinded to the divine purpose and grace veiled behind creation it's easy to delight in creation as an end, forgetting to delight in the Maker and the One whose created human nature has wondrously become an object of worship too: none can worship God without worshiping the Son, and none can worship the Son, who has taken on human nature, without worshiping He who is God and Man. Hence we truly worship Christ wholly and completely, Body, Blood, Soul - Humanity - and Divinity. This is a profound thing. The transfiguration reminds us of this.
To Abram God promised He would show
him the good land. “Leave your land, your family and the house of your father,
for the land that I will show you.”
In our days God asks us to “leave”
the world and its lowly ways of operating apart from divine, holy and noble
purposes, to go up in faith to meet the Lord Jesus Christ whom we cannot see.
“Leave the world and its ways,” the
Father says to us today. “Forsake your attachment to friends and family, home
and culture, none of these things will satisfy, will please your heart that was
made for my Son. Such created things are good, be grateful for them, love them,
but they will not complete you, love the One who made them more. Rise up in
faith and believe in Me, and in My Son. I will show Him to your mind’s eye,
reveal Him to your heart. He is my Beloved in whom I am well pleased. Delight
in Him, listen to His voice.”
“Rise up, and do not be afraid.”
These are the very words Jesus said to Peter, James and John after the Father’s
voice exclaimed, “Listen to him!”. “Rise up, and do not be afraid,” words which
encapsulate the entire purpose of Christ’s coming, the entire Gospel and
meaning of the Christian faith. “Rise up. Do not cower in fear, do not succumb to
the shame of your sins. Rise repentant, trustful, confident as children of the
Father. You have received the Spirit of adoption, the Spirit of sonship. Do not
be afraid of the Cross, do not let the trails of life discourage you, but cry
out with love to my Father and your Father, ‘Abba! Father!’ You are slaves no
more, I do not call you servants, but friends, brothers, sisters. Follow me to Calvary,
and I will lead you to the glorious land I promised to your father Abraham—the
true land of milk and honey, the heavenly Jerusalem.”
Hearing the voice of the Father, the
message of the Son, they journeyed back down the mountain. Jesus had His cross
to come. The Apostles would soon find theirs too. The Passion awaits us, and
already has found us in our pilgrimage “below”.
As Pope St. Leo the Great said, concerning the rationale
for the transfiguration, “By changing his appearance in this way he chiefly
wished to prevent his disciples from feeling scandalized in their hearts by the
cross. He did not want the disgrace of the passion, which he freely accepted,
to break their faith. This is why he revealed to them the excellence of his hidden
[divine] dignity.”
Just as well we too have “seen” in
faith the glory of the Son. We have the strength, the courage, the power, to
live. Already “His own purpose and grace, [is] given to us in Christ” (2
Tim 1:9). He shines before us in our hearts. He shines through
the Eucharistic species. “This is my Beloved Son,” repeats the Father, “in whom
I am well pleased. Listen to him”.
“Rise up, and do not be afraid.”
Foster R. McCurley, Jr., "And after Six Days" (Mark 9:2): A Semitic
Literary Device,” Journal of Biblical Literature, Vol. 93, No. 1 (1974), pp.
67-81, The Society of Biblical Literature, doi: 10.2307/3263866.
