THE TRANSFIGURATION

19th August 2025 (Christian)

19th August 2025 (Orthodox Julian Calendar)

This festival commemorates the occasion when Jesus went up a mountain with three of his disciples, Peter, James and John; here, as his death approached, they saw in a vision how his face changed and his clothes became dazzling white; they witnessed him in conversation with Moses and Elijah, and heard a voice saying, ‘This is my own dear Son with whom I am pleased – listen to him’. For many Christians this account confirms the divine nature of Jesus.

For Orthodox Christians this is an especially important festival, pointing to Christ as both human and divine. Although Moses and Elijah had died centuries before, they could both live again in the presence of the Son of God, implying that a similar return to life can apply to all who face death.

Most scholars date the transfiguration of Jesus to the time of the Festival of Booths, the Jewish feast of God dwelling with his people. The celebration of the event in the Church became for Christians the New Testamental fulfilment of the Jewish feast of Sukkot in a way remarkably similar to the influence of the Jewish feasts of Passover and Pentecost on Christian celebrations.

The feast of the Transfiguration is currently observed on the 6th of August. The summer celebration of the feast lends itself well to the concept of transfiguration. The blessing on this day of grapes, as well as other fruits and vegetables, relates effectively to the paradisal view of God’s Kingdom where the whole earth will he transformed by the glory Jesus reveals here to his disciples.

The timing of the transfiguration is significant in the ministry of Jesus. Matthew 15:29 tells of the healing of the multitudes and the feeding of the 4000. This apparently prompted the Pharisees to wonder if Jesus was the Messiah, for they came to him asking for a sign (16:1ff). Jesus knew the disciples were harbouring the same expectations of him (cf. Luke 22:37-38 and Acts 1:6), and posed the famous question ‘But who do you say that I am?’

Peter’s answer in Matthew 16:16 was a great break-through, and Jesus commended Peter for it (v.17). He wanted his disciples to believe that he was the Son of God, the Messiah. Then, immediately after Peter’s confession, Jesus announced, for the first time in an explicit way, his coming death and resurrection (Matt. 16:21), indicating the nature of his Messiahship.

It is in this context of this discovery made by the disciples that the transfiguration story falls. Six days went by after Peter’s confrontation with Jesus. Then he took Peter, James, and John up ‘to a high mountain’ (possibly Mount Tabor?) where they witnessed a wonderful sight: Jesus was glorified before their eyes. (Matt. 17:2).

Then there appeared Moses and Elijah. These two characters fit perfectly into this scene. Moses was the great lawgiver in Israelite history, but he was also the first of God’s great prophets (cf. Deut 18:14ff). Elijah was a great prophet too. Furthermore, both of them saw an appearance of God in their lifetimes (Moses: Exod 33:17ff; Elijah: 1 Kings 19:9ff), and both of these occurred on a mountain (Mt. Sinai). Both of them, like Jesus, had performed mighty works in the name of the Lord God of Israel, and both had experienced, to some degree, the rejection of their own people. These two characters have symbolic significance. Together they represent the Law and the Prophets, both of which pointed forwards to Jesus (cf. Rom. 3:21) and to his future suffering and exaltation.

Matthew 17:1-17, Mark 9:2-13 and Luke 9:28-36.