We are now on the second Sunday of Lent and the Gospel today is about the Transfiguration of our Lord Jesus Christ in Mt. Tabor. You can read this passage in Mark 9:2-10.
“Jesus took Peter, James and John and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, 3 and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no fuller on earth could bleach them. 4 Then Elijah appeared to them along with Moses, and they were conversing with Jesus. 5 Then Peter said to Jesus in reply, “Rabbi, it is good that we are here! Let us make three tents; one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”
6 He hardly knew what to say, they were so terrified. 7 Then a cloud came, casting a shadow over them; then from the cloud came a voice, “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him,” 8 Suddenly, looking around they no longer saw anyone but Jesus alone with them. 9 As they were coming down from the mountain, he charged them not to relate what they had seen to anyone, except when the Son of Man had risen from the dead. 10 So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what rising from the dead meant.”
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If you read this passage very clearly, you will notice how excited Peter was to see not only Elijah, but Moses, as well, together with our Lord Jesus Christ. But the most remarkable scene was the Transfiguration of their Lord and Master who became dazzling white. In truth, what the disciples really saw was the glory and the divine majesty of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Perhaps you may want to know what is really the meaning of transfiguration? My dictionary tells me that transfiguration is “a complete change of form or appearance into a more beautiful or spiritual state: in this light, the junk undergoes a transfiguration; it shines.” Indeed, something must have altered the face of our Lord… perhaps because the high mountain had nearly touched heaven. This is why the ancients believe that high mountains bring us closer to God because of its height.
This was our Lord’s way of really introducing his divinity to his disciples. Remember, most of them who were waiting for the Messiah still believed that the Messiah would rule over Jerusalem and free Israel from the bondage of Roman occupation. Seeing our Lord Jesus being transfigured and joined by Elijah and Moses surely must have convinced Peter, James and John that their Master was more than just an earthly king. He was Divine.
But all this suddenly disappeared after the cloud came and a voice told them, “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.” Of course it is presumed that the voice in the cloud was the voice of God the Father, for he talks about his beloved Son and asks the disciples to listen to him. It was then that our Lord Jesus told them clearly not to tell anyone what had just happened, except when the Son of Man had risen from the dead.
The disciples did not understand what the Lord meant when he said that the Son of Man had risen from the dead. But since they kept this incident to themselves, it was only after our Lord Jesus resurrected on Easter Sunday that they remembered this event that happened in Mt. Tabor. It was then that they realized that the mission of the Messiah was not to save only the people of Israel from Roman bondage, but a more dangerous bondage, the bondage of sin that destroys our soul and keeps us away from the presence of God.
Early Christians commemorated the Feast of the Transfiguration and later Mt. Tabor was inhabited by many religious orders and became one of Christianity’s early pilgrimage sites. Eventually, theologians would find a connection between the Transfiguration of Christ to the Holy Eucharist, through transubstantiation, where during the consecration, the piece of bread or the host become the body, blood, soul and divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, even if our eyes only see a piece of bread or the Holy Host.
Many theologians say that when we take Holy Communion, the Holy Eucharist inside our bodies allows us to have our own individual transfiguration… because our Lord Jesus Christ clearly said, “He who eats the flesh and drinks the blood of the Son of Man shall have eternal life and I will raise him up to the last day…. for I am real food and I am real drink. Your ancestors ate Manna from heaven and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever.”
The Holy Eucharist is a central concept in Catholicism, where our Lord Jesus Christ revealed his divinity while he was still with us on earth. For 2,000 years, during the Holy Mass, Catholics partake in Holy Communion and eat the Sacred Host as commanded by our Lord as it fulfills his promise during his Ascension to heaven when he said, “I shall be with you till the end of time.” This is why we must kneel during the consecration because our Lord Jesus comes down from heaven to be with us in the Holy Eucharist.
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