Transfiguration of Christ - Last Sunday after Epiphany (year C)- Luke 9

The feast of the Transfiguration commemorates an important and mysterious event from the Gospels (e.g., Luke 9:28- 36). Nevertheless, the Transfiguration has not always received very much emphasis. Although observed in the Eastern church since the fourth century, it was slow to spread in the Western church and did not become a universal feast observed on August 6 until 1457.

After the Reformation, the Feast of the Transfiguration on August 6 was discontinued by the majority of Lutherans. However, the Lutheran reformers Johannes Bugenhagen and Viet Dietrich began celebrating the Transfiguration on the Last Sunday after the Epiphany. These Lutheran reformers viewed the Transfiguration as an epiphany or a manifestation of Christ's identity similar in some respects to the coming of the Magi and Christ's Baptism. It was also an appropriate reminder of our Lord's glory before the penitential season of Lent.

From 1917 onwards, many English Lutheran service books in North America included an observance of the Transfiguration, and in the common Eucharistic lectionaries from the 1970s onward, a Transfiguration gospel has been used on the Last Sunday after the Epiphany in all three years.

As an Epiphany story, the Transfiguration provides one of the most distinctive and dramatic manifestations of Jesus' divinity. In the synoptic Gospels, our Lord takes Peter, John, and James up onto a mountain where He has a shining appearance during prayer. Moses and Elijah appear and converse with Jesus, and a divine voice proclaims, "This is my beloved Son; hear him" (Luke 9:35 KJV).

This event says three things about Jesus: 1) the Law and the Prophets witness to Him as He continues their work, 2) His earthly ministry will culminate in His dying at Jerusalem, and 3) He is the unique, glorious, and beloved Son of the heavenly Father who transcends all previous revelations of divine grace.