Wednesday 6 August 2025
Then from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!” (v. 35)
Background
Today's passage describes what is referred to as the Transfiguration of Jesus due to the change in his appearance, understood to be a privileged glimpse of his true heavenly glory as God’s son.
Today, 6 August, is the Feast of the Transfiguration, one of the major festivals of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches, although the gospels do not indicate what time of year this event occurred and Methodists, along with many others, mark the Transfiguration in February or March on the Sunday before Lent.
Peter, John and James form an inner core among Jesus’s disciples (compare Luke 8:51, and Mark 14:33). They accompany Jesus up a mountain to pray. Mountains were considered a typical location for God’s revelation to human beings, and particularly by the Jews following God’s meeting with Moses on Mount Sinai. And in this account Moses indeed appears with Jesus, along with Elijah, who was seen by the Jewish people as the first and greatest of their prophets. Christian interpreters have regarded their meeting with Jesus as a sign that the whole of the Law and the Prophets, essentially our whole Old Testament, is fulfilled in him. It is fulfilled specifically through Jesus' death for which “departure” (v. 31) is a synonym, and is stated as something to be “accomplished” rather than suffered because his dying was his core mission.
When the disciples become fully awake to what is happening, Peter tries to prolong the experience, which is the most likely meaning of his proposal to build three shelters. And only then does a cloud, another customary sign of God’s presence, descend and a voice from it addresses the three disciples. The simple words of God reassure them that Jesus is God’s agent, and therefore they must take whatever he says most seriously. Since Luke deliberately states in the first verse of this passage that the Transfiguration happened eight days after the teaching that precedes it (vs 21-26), it seems clear that it is Jesus’ teaching about his forthcoming suffering and rejection, along with that regarding the cost of discipleship, that is the particular focus.
To Ponder:
- Where and in what circumstances have you perhaps had a particularly vivid experience of the presence and nature of Jesus? Did it involve seeing or hearing something, or how else was it special?
- What saying or teaching of Jesus do you find yourself tempted not to listen to, or not to take seriously?
Prayer
God, who reassured the disciples with a vision of your son’s glory, give us grace to see who he truly is, that we may follow him eagerly and be changed into his likeness in the process. Amen.
Bible notes author: The Revd Dr Stephen Mosedale
Stephen is a retired Methodist minister living near Exeter. He served in West Africa and Scotland and was a New Testament tutor at Cliff College.