Transfiguration Sunday – Year A
February 15, 2026
Gospel Lectionary Text
Matthew 17:1-9
17:1 Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves.
17:2 And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white.
17:3 Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him.
17:4 Then Peter said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three dwellings here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah."
17:5 While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud a voice said, "This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!"
17:6 When the disciples heard this, they fell to the ground and were overcome by fear.
17:7 But Jesus came and touched them, saying, "Get up and do not be afraid."
17:8 And when they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus himself alone.
17:9 As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus ordered them, "Tell no one about the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead."
Context
Welcome to the Sixth Week after Epiphany. For the last few weeks we have been listening to Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. This week we jump ahead to another mountain — the mountain of transfiguration. As is the case with all mystical experiences, what happened on the mountaintop completely disorients and reorients the disciples.
German theologian Karl Rahner famously said, “The devout Christian of the future will either be a 'mystic,' one who has 'experienced' something, or he will cease to be anything at all.” Jesus was the quintessential mystic. First at his baptism and now at the mountain of transfiguration, we are given a privileged look inside Jesus’ mystical experience. In both cases the Father speaks, “This is my beloved with whom I am well pleased.” We are witnessing something direct, unmediated and intimate. Nothing secondhand or hearsay. Jesus is kissed by God.
Seeing the impact of this on his disciples, Jesus tells them to do what all mystics do when “overshadowed” by God’s presence. He tells them to keep quiet…until it is time. With the kiss of God fresh on their lips, and God’s indelible words written on their hearts, Jesus leads his disciples down the mountain towards Jerusalem, to the foot of the cross, and eventually into the resurrection, where they will once again be kissed by God.
Question
After the transfiguration, Jesus instructs the disciples to not say anything about what they had seen until after the resurrection. What gives? How does undergoing the cross and seeing with easter eyes help us make sense of the great mysteries we experience?
Reflections
What Happens on the Mountain
By Lina Thompson |
It’s safe to say that James, John and Peter had the strangest, scariest, holiest, most other-worldly experience when they accompanied Jesus on a hike up a high mountain. At some point during this trek, Jesus’ appearance changed — right before them. It was like he was shining from the inside out. One translation said, “Sunlight...
The Most Unlovable and Unlikable
By Ojii BaBa Madi |
As fearful and terrorizing as it may be, the transfiguration causes me to long for a glimpse of the illuminated face of Christ and especially the body we have esteemed as most unlovable and unlikable. I pray that in meeting with such a vision, I will not be derailed, busying myself with building tabernacles, places...
Moments into Monuments
By Ron Ruthruff |
God’s glory is the divinity of seeing and proclaiming the Passion and the resurrection, even in the darkest of places. The way of Jesus journeys into the desert and sees bread where others see rocks. The divine glory sees the imago dei in a demon possessed boy that others have marginalized.
The Transfiguration of a Skinny Geedy
By Ojii BaBa Madi |
Geedy was just one word in the neighborhood’s descriptive lexicon for crack cocaine addicts. Sometimes called fiends, geezers, crack heads, or traps, crack addicts once dominated American’s blighted urban landscapes, representing a black, brown, and tan urban plague long before opioid addiction became a more respectable white crisis in healthcare. As for me, I stood…
Don’t Speak Until You’re Spoken To*
By Kris Rocke |
After the brightly lit meeting on the mountain with Moses and Elijah, where Jesus is transfigured, he orders the disciples not to say a word about this until after he is raised from the dead. What an odd command. Why are they free to speak after the resurrection but not before? This week’s text calls…
The Greatest Loser
By Kris Rocke |
The crucified ones of this world are helping us re-narrate the Law and the words of the Prophets to reclaim a Gospel of grace, mercy, and peace in a violent world.
Praying Eucharistically - Weekly Homily by James Alison:
Girardian Lectionary Weekly Reflection:
Understanding the Bible anew through the Mimetic Theory of René Girard.
Poetry
In this week’s Gospel lectionary text, we are given a privileged look inside Jesus' own mystical experience at the mountain of transfiguration, where Jesus is kissed by God and these indelible words are written on his heart: “You are my son whom I love, and with you I am well pleased.” Similarly, Blaise Pascal was kissed by God on the night of November 23, 1654. He described his mystical experience as a "night of fire.” Following this, he wrote an account on a small piece of parchment, which he sewed into the lining of his coat. Eight years after his death, a servant discovered the note. Pascal reportedly transferred this note to every new piece of clothing he wore, not simply as a reminder, but because it was for him an undeniable animating force calling him forward. The note reads…
The year of grace 1654,
Monday, 23 November…
From about half past ten at night until about half past midnight,
FIRE.
GOD of Abraham, GOD of Isaac, GOD of Jacob
not of the philosophers and of the learned.
Certitude. Certitude. Feeling. Joy. Peace.
GOD of Jesus Christ.
My God and your God.
Your GOD will be my God.
Forgetfulness of the world and of everything, except GOD.
He is only found by the ways taught in the Gospel.
Grandeur of the human soul.
Righteous Father, the world has not known you, but I have known you.
Joy, joy, joy, tears of joy.
I have departed from him:
They have forsaken me, the fount of living water.
My God, will you leave me?
Let me not be separated from him forever.
This is eternal life, that they know you, the one true God, and the one that you sent, Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ.
I left him; I fled him, renounced, crucified.
Let me never be separated from him.
He is only kept securely by the ways taught in the Gospel:
Renunciation, total and sweet.
Complete submission to Jesus Christ and to my director.
Eternally in joy for a day’s exercise on the earth.
May I not forget your words. Amen.
Prayer
This week, the call to prayer comes from the Street Psalms Prayer of Vocation:
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 all of 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.
