The reality of the Transfiguration may be reason- ably maintained on the basis of such considerations as these : — (a) that it primarily displays the state of the inner consciousness of Christ at its height ; (b) that it was the direct resultant of the preceding events ; and (c) that in the description, on the face of it, there is much that is symbolical. The Transfiguration is the transcript of an exalted spiritual experience, and only in the form of symbol can such be portrayed. To the writers it was the natural mode where their Master was concerned (cf. the Temptation and Christophanies). They were but following illustrious models on which their faith had been nurtured — of Abraliam (Gn 15), of Jacob (28i»-22), of Elijah (1 K 19), of Isaiah (ch. 6), of Jeremiah (l^-^o 20), and above all of Moses (Ex 34i-i»- 27-35)^ of Daniel (ch. 10), and of later Jewish Apocalyptic. The story is written in one mould ; it is not manufactured ; it tells its truth in words and images that come easily for the pur- pose, and wed themselves to the truth so freely that it is not possible to divorce them. Material fact and impalpable vision shoot through each other and cannot be dissevered. But this at least is plain, the body f shared in the experiences.
* Olshausen has a theory that all through the earthly life Christ's body was being etherealized, and that here we have a glimpse into the process.
t It is a just instinct which relates the lustre to the inner life. Ko satisfactory explanation has yet been given of it. For hints, but only hints, cf. Dean Church's sermon on ' Sense of Beauty a witness to Immortality' in his Cathedral and University
There is no attempt to picture more than has been seen, but it is implied that what has been seen is nothing in comparison with what has been felt.* It is the picture of an exalted emotion quickened by the sense of contact with a fact so vast that the spectators are absorbed in contemplation of it. The thought of it cannot be recaptured or recounted, because it is so unexpected, so sur- prising, so new, so unlike all else. Everything is swallowed up in awe and in joy, the joy of feeling face to face with a tremendous experience, an adventure beside which all the glory of the world sinks into insignificance, f Accordingly we find two unique characteristics, the absence of imagination, and the sober insistence on circum- stance. Both testify to reality. The fact to which the narrators point transcends experience, and imagination can create nothing which transcends experience. Then, odd as it may seem, the mind in recovering from transcendent wonder and retailing it, continues to regard as impressive details which are really immaterial, but without whose aid the wonder itself would remain hid. Here, then, we have no dream of a fevered twilight, but the fit expression of a mystery, beyond thought and ob- servation, of insight and vision, J where the soul is like a dreamer, enthralled by sleep, and strug- gling with all his might to make some familiar motion.
3. Significance of the Transfiguration. — The inner meaning of the Transfiguration is best brought out by considering it in relation to Christ's Person and Ministry. In relation to His Person it denotes (a) a sublime self -discovery, and (b) a supreme self - dedication. In relation to His Ministry it initiates important departures in the purpose, method, and sphere of His activity.
The event was naturally led up to. We can distinguish the several moments of its develop- ment. There was, to begin with, Jesus' gradual enlargement of the Messiah-ideal. Neither Moses nor the prophets satisfied Him. This is one of the most certain results of contemporary NT learning. Jesus claimed to be the Messiah of prophecy, but declined the current expectations of what the Messiah should be. His own thought immensely enriched both the prophetic and the popular fore- casts. The Temptation implies that consciousness. The interval between the Temptation and Trans- figuration, i.e. His public ministry in Galilee, reveals it partly in acts, partly in hints, partly in explicit reserves. At the beginning we see the clear - cut decision ; throughout its course the deepening realization of what the decision in- volved : there He is neither simply working, nor simply instructing. He is also ' manifesting ' Him- self. In the life of that Self the lines are complex and interwoven. They include, but are not cir- cumscribed by, those specifically appropriate to the Messianic Hope. His Self is greater. That at the Baptism and the Temptation Christ saw the plenitude of its greatness and the multiplicity of its interior self-relationships is not to be believed. It revealed itself in the living process of His mental and practical powers which it excited to constant energy, and which all radiate from and converge again into it. It is a Self whicli has its definite stages of progression, whose outward signs are traceable,§ but which finds within the veil of
Sermons. Cf. also Browning's fine passage in Easter Day, in which he suggests the thought of Michael Angelo painting in heaven.
* Cf. the disciples' awe.
f Cf. Mt 172, Mk 93.
J The name used by Christ Himself (Mt 179) — to i>/>xuk = ' vision,' not in the sense of dream, but ' that which has been seen.' For the closing reflexion, cf. Tennyson, The Higher Pantheism.