Transfiguration Sunday – Year C
March 2, 2025
Gospel Lectionary Text
Luke 9:28-36, (37-43a)
9:28 Now about eight days after these sayings Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray.
9:29 And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white.
9:30 Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him.
9:31 They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.
9:32 Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep; but since they had stayed awake, they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him.
9:33 Just as they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, "Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah" -- not knowing what he said.
9:34 While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were terrified as they entered the cloud.
9:35 Then from the cloud came a voice that said, "This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!"
9:36 When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and in those days told no one any of the things they had seen.
9:37 On the next day, when they had come down from the mountain, a great crowd met him.
9:38 Just then a man from the crowd shouted, "Teacher, I beg you to look at my son; he is my only child.
9:39 Suddenly a spirit seizes him, and all at once he shrieks. It convulses him until he foams at the mouth; it mauls him and will scarcely leave him.
9:40 I begged your disciples to cast it out, but they could not."
9:41 Jesus answered, "You faithless and perverse generation, how much longer must I be with you and bear with you? Bring your son here."
9:42 While he was coming, the demon dashed him to the ground in convulsions. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, healed the boy, and gave him back to his father.
9:43a And all were astounded at the greatness of God.
Context
Welcome to the final week before Lent — Transfiguration Sunday. This week’s Gospel calls to mind Moses’ cloud-covered meeting with God on the mountain. He descends with the Ten Commandments, only to be met by “the noise of war in the camp” (Ex. 32:17) — a fearful people who turned to the golden calf in their anxiety.
“Moses’ anger burned hot” (Ex. 32:19). Violence escalated (as it always does), until Moses ultimately ordered the execution of more than 3,000 men — in God’s name — a grisly act of fratricide far worse than the original sin. Afterwards, Moses went back up the mountain, fully expecting a divine anger hotter than his own. Instead, God proclaimed, “I am merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love…forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin” (Ex. 34:6–7).
Fast forward to Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration, where He is revealed to be the very Word of God. He, too, descends the mountain, only to find a young boy ravaged by a violent spirit — symbolic of a political climate beyond the boiling point. Unlike Moses, who resorted to violence, Jesus casts out the spirit with mercy and grace. Perhaps this is what astonished the crowd, who only knew how to cast out violence with more violence, thus perpetuating the cycle.
As we prepare to enter Lent, we join Jesus’ disciples on the mountain, where the false idol of a violent God is transfigured into the image of a God who is “merciful and gracious” — the only force powerful enough to break the cycle of violence before it runs wild.
Question
In what ways might we, like Moses, project our own violent solutions onto God?
Reflections
Praying Eucharistically - Weekly Homily by James Alison:
Understanding the Bible anew through the Mimetic Theory of René Girard.
Poetry
Transfiguration
by Malcolm Guite
For that one moment, ‘in and out of time’,
On that one mountain where all moments meet,
The daily veil that covers the sublime
In darkling glass fell dazzled at his feet.
There were no angels full of eyes and wings
Just living glory full of truth and grace.
The Love that dances at the heart of things
Shone out upon us from a human face
And to that light the light in us leaped up,
We felt it quicken somewhere deep within,
A sudden blaze of long-extinguished hope
Trembled and tingled through the tender skin.
Nor can this blackened sky, this darkened scar
Eclipse that glimpse of how things really are.
Suddenly They Saw Him The Way He Was
by Madeleine L'Engle
Suddenly they saw him
the way he was,
the way he really was
all the time,
although they had never
seen it before,
the glory which blinds
the everyday eye
and so becomes invisible.
This is how
he was, radiant, brilliant,
carrying joy
like a flaming sun
in his hands.
This is the way he was–is–
from the beginning,
and we cannot bear it.
So he manned himself,
came manifest to us;
and there on the mountain
they saw him, really saw him,
saw his light.
We all know that if we really
see him we die.
But isn’t that what is
required of us?
Then, perhaps, we will see
each other, too.
Prayer
Join our rhythm of daily prayer.
This week's prayer comes from the Street Psalms Prayer of Vocation and includes a story from our global community:
The spirit of the Lord is upon us because She has anointed us to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free and to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.
We pray this in the name of the Father who is for us, the Son who is with us, and the Spirit who unites us all in the never-ending dance of love. Amen.
