Transfig23.     Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14.   The book of Daniel is not written for history but to convey an apocalyptic imagery of our glorious God, ruling in heaven.  In this Sunday’s reading there is a scene where “one like a Son of man received dominion, glory, and kingship; all peoples, nations, and languages serve him.”  To me this seems to give us the image of Jesus who comes in humanness or as one of humanity but is the ultimate in divine authority over all the created world now and forever.

Matthew 17:1-9.  This scene of the transfiguration of Jesus comes right after Jesus tells his Apostles that he must suffer and die on the cross but nonetheless will resurrect. Jesus seems to be helping his followers deal with the horrors of his passion and death by seeing them through to his unconquerable, glorious divinity.  The voice of God the Father coming from a cloud asserts Jesus’ divine origin and authority, saying, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.”  With that command, God’s rule over his People was no longer to be the Old Testament Law or Torah but the words coming from the mouth of Jesus.

2 Peter 1:16-19.  Peter relates that he was an eyewitness to the transfiguration of Jesus.  Peter encourages us to be attentive to Jesus and to the manifestation of his divinity, “as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.”