Scripture & Creation
Mark 9:2-3
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The Transfiguration of Creation
Each of the Gospels describes the transfiguration of Jesus Christ atop Mount Tabor. Matthew (17:1-9), Mark (9:2-8), and Luke (9:28-36) each describe this event in detail while John only alludes to his experience on the mountain with Jesus (1:14).
In the Transfiguration, Jesus ascends to a secluded spot atop Mount Tabor and there He manifests his divinity through the veil of the flesh. The uncreated light of His Father blazes forth and He reveals to his apostles His Divine Nature.
The Transfiguration of Jesus Christ leaves his apostles rapt in awe. In each of the three accounts Jesus is transfigured in a blaze of light. Moses and Elias (Elijah) appear. Each account is distinct in some specific and significant ways. In Matthew’s account, Jesus’ face shines as the sun. In Mark, his garments become white as snow and they shine. In Luke his face is changed, his clothes became white and glistening, and the apostles behold his glory. This latter point is not mentioned in any of the other accounts.
According to the patristic tradition, the face of Christ, radiating an unendurable brilliance, reveals Christ’s divinity, which illumines, dazzles and even blinds. The garments of the Lord, which St. Mark’s gospel says became “exceedingly white,” impossibly bright, reveal the further effect of the transfiguration in the creation. The disciples who witnessed the Transfiguration were also transfigured, as St. Luke’s account reveals, not only in spirit and soul, but also in body. The light and grace of Christ, streaming from his transfigured face, body and garments, also transfigured the very senses of the apostles, allowing them to “behold his glory, as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”
Since the human nature shared by Christ with all humanity is a microcosm of the whole created order, the transfigured body of Christ reveals His divinity in a flood of shining, penetrating light. This same transfiguring energy streams from his face, body and clothing and illumines and transfigures the bodies of the apostles. The implication is that the whole of creation is immediately lifted up, and it is meant to be lifted up, transformed and transfigured by the irresistible power of the grace and the power of the Logos
The glory of the Transfiguration is the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. The grace is the presence and energy of God that radiates into all creation and that transfigures all things. The truth is not only that all who believe on Him shall find salvation, but it is also that all creation will be raised and transfigured in Him. When the world rises renewed in Christ, says St. Maximos, “then the body will become like the soul, and sensible things like intelligible things in dignity and glory; for the unique divine power will manifest itself in all things in a vivid and active presence proportioned to each one, and will by itself preserve unbroken for endless ages the body of unity.”
Despite the powerful descriptions of the Transfiguration, some Early Church writers declare that Jesus does not change while on top of the mountain. Rather, they say that the apostles’ sight was opened so that they could behold Jesus as He is and was and always will be. Christ was not changed, but His disciples’ perception was opened. The blessing from God on the mountain lifted them up so that they could behold Christ as He always is – in communion with His Father.
As Christ is transfigured on the mountain, He initiates (or begins) the transformation and transfiguration of the creation into light. This becomes the high vision or goal for our own spiritual striving. To fulfill this vision, all of Christ’s life must be invoked and embodied as a model for our own lives. Thus his commands, “Be you perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect,” and “All these things that I do, so shall you do....” These teachings come alive when seen in the light of the Transfiguration and require a striving to follow in the example and the Way of the Lord. As much as we participate in His life, just so much does the Light of His being infuse our own. This experience of the Light of Christ allows the disciple to be reborn into awareness of the spiritual world and it affirms and confirms discipleship. This experience of the Light of Christ is the essence of the sacrament of chrismation (in the West “confirmation”).
Everything about Christ then has acute relevance to our own lives. Every part of Christ’s life and example relates both to God and to creation. The healing of the earth then comes through the light of Christ shining through His disciples.
An ancient hymn of the early Church sings of this event and reminds us of the experience by the apostles.
On the mountain Thou was transfigured, 0 Christ God,
And Thy disciples beheld Thy glory as far as they could see it;
So that when they would behold Thee crucified,
They would understand that Thy suffering was voluntary,
And would proclaim to the world that
Thou art truly the Radiance of the Father.
