The Lord Jesus takes his inner circle of disciples with him up a mountain. He begins to radiate light. And then Moses and Elijah appear, flanking him. This story, known as the Transfiguration, appears in all three of the Synoptic gospels and likewise in the 2nd Letter of Peter. In some traditions the feast is observed on August 6, a curiosity itself. On July 22, 1456, Christian armies won a successful victory against the Ottoman Empire who were laying siege to the city of Belgrade. News reached Rome on August 6 that Belgrade had been saved and a year later Pope Calixitus III declared that day, August 6, the universal observation for the Transfiguration. However, it was also meant to have a connection with the Feast of the Discovery (or Exaltation) of the Holy Cross, September 14, a feast forty days later. The notion is that the one builds to the other. I suspect preachers and those tasked with planning coherent liturgies in the late summer and fall are grateful for any kind of thematic organization.
So much of the Christian tradition may be appreciated as waves of conversation, each inheriting the force of the last. Therefore, to mark the feast, here is a gathering (a florilegium) of seven classic voices on the Biblical story. They are organized according to themes within the story.
Whitfield – The Prayer
George Whitfield (1714-1770), Sermon, “Christ’s Transfiguration”
Dear friends, did our Lord Jesus Christ take Peter, James, and John into a mountain to pray? Are any of you fathers, mothers, masters and mistresses of families? Learn then from hence to take your children, your servants, and those that belong to you, from the world, at certain times, and not only pray for them, but pray with them… Was the Lord Jesus transformed or transfigured, while he was praying? Learn hence to be much in spiritual prayer. The way to have the soul transformed, changed into, and made like unto God, is frequently to converse with God. We say a man is as his company. Persons by conversing together frequently catch each others tempers. And if you have a mind to imbibe the divine temper, pray much. And as Christ’s garments became white and glittering, so shall your souls get a little of God’s light to shine upon them.
Aquinas & Luther – The Vision
Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), Summa Theologiae, Third Part, Question 45
Just as the clarity which was in Christ’s body was a representation of his body’s future clarity, so the clarity which was in his garments signified the future clarity of the saints, which will be surpassed by that of Christ, just as the brightness of the snow is surpassed by that of the sun. Hence Gregory the Great says in his Moralia, 32, that Christ’s garments became resplendent, “because in the height of heavenly clarity all the saints will cling to him in the splendor of righteousness. For his garments signify the righteous, because he will unite them to himself,” according to Isaiah 49:18: “You shall be clothed with all these as with an ornament.” The bright cloud signifies the glory of the Holy Spirit or the “power of the Father.” Origen says in his Matthew Tract 3, that this is the coming glory which will cover the saints. Or, again, it may be said fittingly that it signifies the clarity of the world redeemed, which clarity will cover the saints as a tent.
Martin Luther (1483-1546), Sermon for Christmas Day
The entire Old Testament contains nothing else than Christ as he is preached in the Gospel. Therefore we see how the apostles appeal to the testimony of the scriptures and with them prove all that is to be preached and believed about Christ. Thus Paul says that the faith of Christ through which we become righteous is witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, Rom. 3:21. And Christ himself, after his resurrection, opened to them the scriptures and showed how they speak of him, Luke 24:27. Likewise, when Christ was transfigured on Mount Tabor, the two – Moses and Elijah – stood with him, that is, the Law and the Prophets, as his two witnesses. These are signs pointing to him.
Leo the Great & Newman – The Revelation
Leo the Great (d.461), Sermon 51
And so while he was yet speaking, behold a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold a voice out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear him… And when this voice was heard, the disciples fell upon their faces, and were sore afraid, trembling at the majesty, not only of the Father, but also of the Son. For they now had a deeper insight into the undivided Deity of both. And in their fear they did not separate the one from the other, because they doubted not in their faith. That was a wide and manifold testimony, therefore, and contained a fuller meaning than struck the ear. For when the Father said, This is my beloved Son, in whom, etc., was it not clearly meant, This is my Son, whose it is to be eternally from me and with me?… This is my Son, not adopted, but true-born, not created from another source, but begotten of me, nor yet made like me from another nature, but born equal to me of my nature. This is my Son, through whom all things were made, and without whom was nothing made because all things that I do he does in like manner. And whatever I perform, he performs with me inseparably and without difference.
John Henry Newman (1801-1890), Plain & Parochial Sermons, Sermon 15
When he ascended the Mount of Transfiguration with his three apostles, on the summit all was still and calm as heaven, he appeared in glory: Moses and Elijah with him; the Father’s voice was heard. St. Peter said, “Master, it is good for us to be here.” Then he and his brother apostles felt that their life was hid with Christ in God. But when they came down the mountain, how the scene was changed! It was descending from heaven to the world. “When he came to his disciples,” says the evangelist, “he saw a great multitude about them, and the scribes questioning with them. And straightway all the people, when they beheld him, were greatly amazed, and running to him, saluted him.” And he found that the apostles were trying to cast out a devil, and could not. And then he spoke the word, conformable with Moses’ deed, “This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.” And again, we may even say that, when our Lord was lifted up on the cross, then, too, he presented to us the same example of a soul raised heavenwards and hid in God, with the tumultuous world at its feet. The unbelieving multitude swarmed about the cross, they that passed by reviled him, and the scribes mocked him. Meanwhile, he himself was, amid his agony, in divine contemplations. He said. “Father, forgive them;” “Why hast thou forsaken me?;” “It is finished;” “Into thy hands I commend my Spirit.”
Augustine & Calvin – The Testament: Christ Alone
Augustine (354-430), Sermon 28 on the New Testament
The Lord stretched out his hand, and raised them as they lay. And then they saw no one other than Jesus. What does this mean? Paul writes, For now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face. And tongues shall cease, when that which we now hope for and believe shall come. That they fell to the earth, they signified that we die, for it was said to the flesh, Earth you are, and unto earth shall you return. But when the Lord raised them up, he signified the resurrection. After the resurrection, what is the Law to you? What is Prophecy? Therefore neither Moses nor Elijah is seen. Jesus only remains to you, who in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He remains to you, that God may be all in all. Moses will be there; but now no more the Law. We shall see Elijah there too; but now no more the Prophet. For the Law and the Prophets have only given witness to Christ, that it behooved him to suffer, and to rise again from the dead the third day, and to enter into his glory. And in this glory is fulfilled what he has promised to them that love him, He that loves me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him… God does not reserve for you as a reward anything of his own, but himself.
John Calvin (1509-1564), Commentary on Matthew, Mark, and Luke
Christ raises them up when they had fallen, and by so doing performs his office; for he came down to us for this very purpose, that by his guidance believers might boldly enter into the presence of God, and that his majesty, which otherwise would swallow up all flesh, might no longer fill them with terror. Nor is it only by his words that he comforts, but by touching also that he encourages them. When it is said that in the end they saw Christ alone, this means that the Law and the Prophets had a temporary glory, that Christ alone might remain fully in view. If we would properly avail ourselves of the aid of Moses, we must not stop with him, but must endeavor to be conducted by his hand to Christ, of whom both he and all the rest are ministers. This passage may also be applied to condemn the superstitions of those who confound Christ not only with prophets and apostles, but with saints of the lowest rank, in such a manner as to make him nothing more than one of their number. But when the saints of God are eminent in graces, it is for a totally different purpose than that they should defraud Christ of a part of his honor, and appropriate it to themselves. In the disciples themselves we may see the origin of the mistake; for so long as they were terrified by the majesty of God, their minds wandered in search of men, but when Christ gently raised them up, they saw him alone If we are made to experience that consolation by which Christ relieves us of our fears, all those foolish affections, which distract us on every hand, will vanish away.
The Rev. Calvin Lane, PhD is the Editor of Covenant: The Online Journal of The Living Church. The author of two books on the Reformation, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society in 2013 . In addition to serving as associate rector of St. George's Episcopal Church, Dayton, Ohio, Dr. Lane has taught for various seminaries and colleges, including as Affiliate Professor at Nashotah House. His service to the church includes a term on the General Board of Examining Chaplains (2018-2024).
