The Transfiguration: Matt. 17:1-8

I was driving the day after one of our recent snowstorms. The sun was in full strength without a cloud in the sky to dim its light. The reflection of the light off the snow was so intense I was, for all practical purposes, blinded. Squinting my eyes wasn't sufficient. Pulling down the visor wasn't sufficient. My eyes couldn't take it. I couldn't see where I was going because I couldn't handle the intensity of the light. It was painful. It actually hurt to try and keep my eyes open. I had to pull off the road and buy a pair of sunglasses to try to enable myself to safely operate my car.

In Matthew's account (Matthew 17:1-8) of Jesus' transfiguration before Peter, James, and John it says, "He was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light." And in Mark's account it says, "his clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them." Christ's divine glory was best described as shining like the sun and intensely white.

With Jesus came two great saints: Moses and Elijah. We have another account of Moses in the presence of the glory of God. In Exodus 33 we read about Moses being shown the back of God’s glory. What was the effect that this encounter had? Moses' face shined so brightly that when he came down from the presence of the Lord the people of Israel begged him to cover his face, for they couldn't handle the reflection of the brightness of the back of the glory of God.

Peter, James, and John didn't just see two men that had been briefly been shown the back of God's glory but they saw two glorified saints that had been living in God’s presence, soaking up the radiance of the face of God. Luke's account says that Moses and Elijah "appeared in glory." Apparently, they were so glorious that Peter thought it appropriate to build three tents, or tabernacles: one for Jesus, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.

But the problem was that their glory was not their own. Their glory was simply an absorbing of the brightness of God himself. The snow that blinded me was not blinding me with its own light but the light from the sun. Moses and Elijah were glorious but they were not glorious in themselves but through the light of the Son. God's words declare this to us, "This (not just Jesus physically but I believe all the glory that they were beholding) is my Son, my Chosen One." They saw the glory of God, for they saw Jesus in his pre-incarnate glory, so glorious that he didn't just shine but he made everyone that spent time in his presence shine too.

And when God the Father spoke down from heaven affirming this to be his Son Jesus, he declared with it the only proper response that the disciples and we should have: "listen to him." Words from a God this glorious should not be taken lightly but his words need to be listened to and obeyed.

by Elliot Shorey