The readings of today’s feast, the transfiguration of the Lord, describe generously the splendor of the beingness of the Most High. They illustrate the magnificent nature and the grandeur of God. The vision of the Prophet Daniel testifies: His robe is white as snow. His throne is a blaze of flames, and the wheels are a burning fire. A stream of fire pours out from his presence.
The Evangelist Matthew describes the experience of Peter, James, and John on Mount Tabor during the transfiguration of the Lord: His face shines like the sun. His clothes are as white as light. A bright cloud covers them like a shadow. This description paints the same impression of the glory of God as Daniel, testifying that God is indeed “the Ancient of Days” (Daniel 7:13).
The Apostle Peter describes their encounter on Mount Tabor as an encounter with the “Sublime Glory,” referring to the Most High Himself. The psalmist never gets weary of admiring this awe-inspiring splendor of God. In today’s Psalm (96), he sings, “cloud and darkness are his raiment” and “mountains melt like wax before the Lord”. God is indeed highly exalted and His heavenly court is filled with thousands of thousands of angels, who serve Him day and night and are adorned by the glorious splendor of his majesty.
Awesome Splendor
What the apostles experienced at the Transfiguration was only but a minute reflection of the awesome splendor, which Jesus had with the Father ever before time began. This is the same glory that the human creature was privileged to partake in but which he lost through disobedience. However, in order to restore him to this primeval status, Jesus had to take flesh and die. This sacred sacrifice made it possible for whosoever wishes to regain the lost glory to do so.
The events that transpired on Mount Tabor show clearly, how we can personally possess the restoration Jesus gained for us. The Prophet Jeremiah admonishes us: “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls” (Jer. 6:16). The Lord shows us at his Transfiguration who then to ask, when we find ourselves at the crossroads.
He encounters two great men of God, Moses, and Elijah, on Mount Tabor and speaks with them. While Moses represents the Law, Elijah designates the Prophets. Accordingly, he directs us to the teachings of the Laws and the Prophets if we must “find rest for our souls.”
The Good Way
We recall that Jesus did not change either the teachings of the Laws given through Moses or those of the prophets but only fine-tuned and fulfilled them. He enunciated the greatest commandments: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” (Matt. 22:37) and “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Matt. 22:39). He then concluded: “All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments” (Matt. 22:40). For Jesus, the teachings of the Law and the Prophets, which are summarized in the love of God and neighbor, are all that one needs to find the “ancient path,” “the good way.”
The Lord explained this further in the principle of the golden rule: “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets” (Matt. 7:12). Thus, to regain our lost glory, we must necessarily find the “ancient path” by following the teachings of the Law and the prophets emphasized by the Lord and summarized in the golden rule —“Do to others as you would have them do to you “(Lk. 6:31).
