The Glory of the Transfiguration, In His Life and Ours
Some Belated Thoughts on the Transfiguration
As Our Lord’s earthly ministry began to move toward its dramatic conclusion at Calvary, He began to make sure His disciples understood that ministry. After asking them who men said He was, and receiving their answers, He praised St. Peter’s confession of faith. Unfortunately, St. Peter’s moment of approbation was short-lived.
St. Peter had confessed him both Messiah and Son of the Living God. But Our Lord wished St. Peter and His other apostles to understand exactly what that meant. He was the Messiah, but he was to be a suffering Messiah, not the glorious military messiah of their dreams. And so He began to explain this to His apostles, telling them that “[He] must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things… and be put to death, and the third day rise again.” St. Peter, however, was not happy with this, and “began to rebuke him, saying: Lord, be it far from thee, this shall not be unto thee” (Matthew 16:21-22).
Immediately, divine praise became divine rebuke: “Go behind me, Satan, thou art a scandal unto me: because thou savourest not the things that are of God, but the things that are of men” (Matt 16:23).
A few days after this episode, Our Lord took Sts. Peter, James, and John with him as he went up a high mountain. Moses had ascended a mountain at Sinai to speak with God and receive the Ten Commandments. Our Lord would ascend another mount, Calvary, at the culmination of His earthly ministry. But, before that, he took Sts. Peter, James, and John up another mountain. There, Peter had a flash of that which he had wanted, the glory of the Messiah.
St. Peter had not been entirely wrong to want to see the glory of the Messiah and the kingdom of Christ. It was the pious hope of every faithful Jew and such was St. Peter. But he was wrong to think that kingdom could be had without passing first through the cross. He was not wrong to want to see the glory of that kingdom, but he was wrong to want that to now be permanently established in this world. And so, on that mountain, Our Lord gave Peter a flash of His true Divine glory.
And it was fitting that there be this flash of glory in His life before the cross. Venerable Fulton Sheen was fond of observing that the cross lay heavy over the Savior’s cradle and, indeed, over His whole life. Yet, if there was that cross, suffering, and divine humiliation, there were also flashes of glory with it. And that glory was often witnessed, not by the great and powerful, but by lowly, simple men.
He underwent the humiliation of being born in a feed trough for animals because there was no room for Him in the world of men. But, if He underwent this humiliation, there was a flash of glory to go with it. For, there were angels who heralded his birth to lowly shepherds in the fields. If He let himself be baptized in the Jordan river, a voice from heaven proclaimed that This was His beloved Son.
Now, as His earthly ministry drew near its culmination, and He would ascend another, and last, mountain, he first brought St. Peter, James, and John with Him for a flash of the true glory that was His. It was only a brief anticipation of that future glory, for a central rule written into the universe still applies: “No man shall be crowned unless first he has struggled (2 Tim 2:5).” But, with that struggle before Him, it was still fitting that he show a brief flash of that true glory that awaited Him.
When he saw that glory, St. Peter was so overwhelmed he hardly knew what to say, nor what he said. Nonetheless, he managed immediately to suggest setting up three tents, one for Jesus, one for Moses, and one for Elijah, (traditionally thought to represent the law and the prophets respectively) who had appeared to converse with Him.
St. Peter is often unfortunately mocked for the idea of setting up tents as if he wished to go camping or some such. But of course, that is nonsense. St. Peter’s desire is quite different. The Ark of the Covenant has been kept in a tent in the wilderness. By setting up a tent, St. Peter wished to take that transient flash of glory and make it permanent, to make it always to be there on that mountain. The glory was indeed more than he himself had expected. He wished it to always be there. Peter’s desire was understandable, even pious, but it was still wrong. St. Peter did not understand that the flash of glory he saw was a glimpse of a future, more lasting one, which required Christ’s suffering. He did not, at that time, understand that this was only a brief flash and anticipation of the far greater glory that awaited his Lord beyond Calvary.
We are sometimes like St. Peter. Like him, we want the glory without the cross. Even in this life, we may occasionally experience things like flashes of glory, on either the natural or divine level. In the married life, the wedding ceremony and reception comes before the much harder task of settling down and living daily family life. In the spiritual life, we may occasionally receive consolations, flashes of glory, perhaps before the Blessed Sacrament, or elsewhere; but we have still got to do that hard work of living the Christian life. We have still got to pass through our own Calvarys.
If, like St. Peter, we resist and try to make that first flash of glory permanent, we will forever be chasing warm religious experiences or the thrill of the beginning of marriage. That way lies only frustration and heartbreak. Instead, we are to gratefully accept the flashes of glory that we are given, but to do so understanding our own Calvary’s still await us. And, if we meet them faithfully, then the future glory will show that the brief glimpses we saw here were only the briefest echo of the height, depth, and permanence of the glory that awaits us.