Second Sunday in Lent, Year A (2026) - Fr Mannes Tellis, OP

The mystery of the transfiguration is something I have always liked to meditate on. This episode in Jesus' life draws us into the secret life of Christ. Sometimes it is a privilege to be told a secret. We feel that we can be trusted and that we are in some way perhaps esteemed in that person's opinion. Here today in our gospel reading Jesus tells us a secret about himself.

The transfiguration conveys to us two particular aspects of Christ's life, aspects that are integral to his earthly mission. These two aspects are, his divinity and his resurrection. It is also noteworthy to understand that what is said of Our Lord's resurrection also pertains to our resurrection too.

Let us look at his divinity first. We see that the scene is set for a monumental revelation. The clue to this great revelation is the fact that our characters are heading up a high mountain. In the Bible mountains are usually places where an encounter with the divine takes place, for instance Moses speaks to God on Mt Sinai, and receives from him the law, and it is on Mt Horeb that Elijah hears the soft voice of the Lord in the breeze. So too then, Jesus reveals his Godhead to his chosen disciples, Peter, James and John. In continuity with the old law we see the figures of Moses and Elijah appear also, they are there to confirm the divinity of Jesus and that he is the fulfilment of the law and the prophetic witness. If Peter, James and John, who were all pious Jews, could not believe Jesus'  own word about himself, surely they would believe the testimony of such exalted prophets as Moses and Elijah? In fact, as Pope Leo the Great points out in a sermon of his on the transfiguration, it was Jewish law that there be at least two or three men present when anything needed to be witnessed as true, this then was a legal obligation, and so Jesus fulfills this obligation with the party of five he had gathered on the mountain.

Further evidence of Jesus' divinity is established by the appearance of “a bright cloud” which covered them with shadow. The symbolism of the cloud is important. The cloud motif is seen in the Old Testament too in chapter 19 of Exodus, God tells Moses “Lo, I am coming to you in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you, and may also believe you forever." The cloud is often referred to as the Shekinah, a word which bespeaks the glory of the Lord.

So we see then that our transfiguration scene stands in continuity with the Old Testament, in a sense the Old Testament characters and ambiance all point to Jesus being God.

The scene on Mt Tabor establishes the divinity of Christ. Nevertheless this scene also gives the disciples, and us, a foretaste of the resurrection, the foretaste of Easter glory. In the Transfiguration Jesus displays what his resurrected body would look like. Now an important character of a resurrected body is the property of clarity or splendour, this characteristic is displayed in Jesus' clothes becoming "a dazzling white, whiter than any earthly bleacher could make them." So too will our resurrected bodies share a similar character for as St Matthew tells us "the bodies of the saints shall shine like the sun." It is interesting then that what is said of Christ's resurrection pertains as much to him as it does to us.

Finally, the transfiguration assists the chosen disciples in accepting the scandal of the cross. This scene of Christ's glory enables the disciples to overcome any reservations they had about Jesus entering into his passion. Maybe it was by remembering this event that the disciples came back as a group and awaited their Lord, though doing so in a fairly shambolic and fearful way. One may also wonder whether the Transfiguration had any effect on the chosen disciples since they all abandoned Jesus when he really needed them. This scene then provides much food for thought; it presents to us the fact that even if we see the Lord in all his glory we may also fall away. Ultimately, this episode in Jesus' life encourages us to think about his divinity and the resurrection he won for us. However our Transfiguration story helps us reflect on not taking our relationship with Christ for granted for when we do this we will fall away.

Fr Mannes Tellis, OP is the Parish Priest of Prospect-North Adelaide, South Australia.