This is the real last Sunday of Epiphany. And in many Protestant churches, including the Anglican Church, the last Sunday of Epiphany is another themed Sunday: Transfiguration Sunday.
Transfiguration Sunday isn’t the same thing as The Feast of the Transfiguration, which is fixed on August 6th, whether it falls on a Sunday or not. Most Orthodox and Catholic churches observe the Feast of August 6th as well but more on that in August. By celebrating both, the Anglican Church connects itself both to the historic church and to the major cluster of liturgical Protestant churches.
Transfiguration Sunday functions as a hinge point between Epiphany and Lent, and the story itself (Matt. 17:1-9 in Year A; Mark 9:2-9 in Year B; Luke 9:28-36 in Year C) functions as a hinge point between the first half of the gospel narrative and the second half.
It helps to know
That Peter wasn’t stupid. Preachers often mock Peter for engaging in “works” instead of “faith”. No. Peter remembers that Moses also had gone up onto a mountain for six days, and Yahweh had made his face shine and spoken to him from a cloud (Exod. 24:12-18). It was during this time that Yahweh had instructed Moses to build him a tabernacle. Yahweh, in cloud, would overshadow that tabernacle, which Moses would enter to speak with him. Like all Israelites, Peter would have kept the Feast of Tabernacles (Lev. 23:33-43) by building a tent and living in it for seven days, commemorating the time that Yahweh had led them all through the wilderness. Peter believes, rightly, that something at least as great as that moment is happening now.
That Peter still wasn’t right. For one, God doesn’t let him do it. For another, Peter had recently been very wrong. It was just in 16:21-23 that Jesus had told him, “Get behind me, Satan!” More below on why he wasn’t right.
What the cloud is. In short, it is the Spirit. Meredith Kline wrote the book on it. Here are the first few pages. Here is a summary of it.
That “overshadow” is a special word. In the Bible, it only ever refers to Yahweh’s Glory Cloud overshadowing the new-built tabernacle (Ex. 40:35); the Holy Spirit overshadowing Mary (Luke 1:35); the Glory Cloud overshadowing Peter, James, and John at the Transfiguration (Mat. 17:5; Mark 9:7; Luke 9:34); and Peter’s shadow overshadowing the sick, who were then miraculously healed (Acts 5:15).
Why Moses and Elijah. Moses represents the Law and Elijah represents the Prophets. In contemporary rabbinic thought, both had taken on apocalyptic, mythic significance. (Here’s a bit I wrote on Elijah.)
Matthew 17:1-9
And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light. And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. And Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were terrified. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Rise, and have no fear.” And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.
And as they were coming down the mountain, Jesus commanded them, “Tell no one the vision, until the Son of Man is raised from the dead.”
What I noticed
Matthew makes this story bookend with Jesus’ Baptism (3:13-17).
On Epiphany I, we read Jesus’ Baptism, when the voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased” (3:17).
On Transfiguration Sunday, which is Epiphany VII this year, the voice from heaven is now referred to as “a voice from the cloud,” which again says, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” but adds a command: “Listen to him” (17:5).
The change to “the cloud” makes sense, since “the cloud” recalls Yahweh’s Glory-Cloud that Moses encountered at Sinai. “The heavens” is general; “the cloud” has a particular theological and liturgical significance. One the cloud descends in Exodus, it’s time to leave the mountain and follow Moses and the presence of Yahweh into the new land.
The command signifies a shift from showing to telling that—as far as this goes—corresponds from the shift from Epiphany to Lent. Having seen Jesus’ glory, it is time simply to listen to him. That’s how the gospel narrative continues, and that’s what Lent means.
Also, this new word, “Listen” (17:5), is followed by another new command: “Tell no one” (17:9). Hmm.
Peter proposes making three tents.
I hadn’t noticed this before. In Exodus, there is only one tent, which Moses alone enters, sometimes including Joshua. So why would Peter build three?
The error, I think, is to put Moses, Elijah, and Jesus on the same level, as if they were a Big Three. This may be why Yahweh speaks up right at this moment—while “[Peter] was still speaking”—instructing them to listen not to the Cloud but to Jesus himself. By making Jesus the new Moses (and Elijah), God demotes Moses (and Elijah). In fact, no one gets a tent. Jesus’ body is the tent.
This is why we can only receive the Law and the Prophets as the voice of Christ. For those who don’t understand this, “whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart” (2 Cor. 3:12-18).
While Luke places this event “eight days later” (9:28), Matthew places it “after six days” (17:1).
This is not a contradiction, but a difference in typological significance.
An “eighth day” transfiguration recalls Aaron’s “eighth day” ordination (Lev. 9:1). Luke depicts Jesus as a new high priest, after Aaron, who enters a new tabernacle—his people—and makes his offerings and ministers his covenant among them.
A “sixth day” transfiguration recalls Adam’s “sixth day” creation. Matthew depicts Jesus as a new man, after Adam, who rules a new Eden, and remakes Peter, James, and John as new men.
In Matthew’s Adamic key, Jesus first and only words, “Rise, and have no fear”, call them to rise from the dust as new creations.
This is especially ironic timing, as three days from Transfiguration Sunday, we will reflect on the psalmist’s words, “We are but dust” (Ps. 103:14), adding the liturgical line, “And to dust you shall return”, at the imposition of the ashes.
Lectionary Resonances
Exodus 24:12-18 tells the parallel story. Every word resonates!
Psalm 99 is chosen for the line, “In the pillar of the cloud he spoke to them” (v. 7). Its purpose is to remind us that God’s servants—Moses, Aaron, and Samuel among them (v. 6)—conversed with God on mountains. That he forgave them, but that he avenged their wrongdoings (v. 8). Famously, God kills both Aaron’s and Samuel’s sons (Lev. 10; 1 Sam. 4) for their wrongdoings. Now Peter, the Rock on which Christ would build his Church (Matt. 16:13-20), has heard God. Peter, and all future clergy, will talk with God, be forgiven, and have our wrongdoings avenged. As clergy, we are required to pray Psalm 99 four times a year, on Ember Days.
In Philippians 3:7-14, Paul declares his intention to “forget what lies behind” and to “strain forward to what lies ahead.” The age of tabernacles is over. Paul learned this late in life. Jesus, raised in power, speaks now to the Church. Forget what you know and listen to him.