Why did Christ command secrecy about the Transfiguration until after Easter?
Everything about the Transfiguration points towards the Passion—even if it isn’t clear at first.
Everything about the Transfiguration points towards the Passion—even if it isn’t clear at first.
Editor’s Notes
In this piece, Fr. Coleridge tells us…
Why Christ commanded the Apostles to keep the Transfiguration secret until his Resurrection clarified it
That speaking of it too soon could have led to pride among the Apostles or scandal to others
How St John the Baptist fulfilled Elias’ role in Christ’s first coming, prefiguring his own rejection.
He shows us that divine mysteries unfold according to God’s providence, preparing souls for the trials of faith.
We are featuring Part V before Parts III and IV, due its clearer link with the Lenten season. Parts III and IV will be published in August for the feast of the Transfiguration itself.
For more context on this episode, its significance and its place in the Roman Liturgy, see here:
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The Transfiguration
The Preaching of the Cross, Part I
Chapter III
St. Matt. xvii. 1–13; St. Mark ix. 1–12; St. Luke ix. 28–36
Story of the Gospels, § 83
Burns and Oates, London, 1886
Headings and some line breaks added.
Sung on Ember Saturday of Lent, the Second Sunday of Lent and the Feast of the Transfiguration (August 6)
Part I: Why did Christ reveal his transfigured glory before the Passion?
Part II: Why were Moses and Elias at the Transfiguration?
Part III: Why is the Transfiguration placed at the turning point of Christ’s public life?
Part IV: What’s the link between the Transfiguration and the Baptism of the Lord?
Part V: Why did Christ command secrecy about the Transfiguration until after Easter?
The vision to be kept secret
‘And as they came down from the mountain Jesus charged them, saying, Tell the vision to no man, till the Son of Man be risen again from the dead. And they kept the words to themselves, questioning together what they should mean, when He shall be risen from the dead. And they held their peace and told no man in those days any of those things they had seen.’
The natural disposition of most men, when they have seen or heard of anything wonderful, is to desire to communicate it, and this desire is not simply the result of a wish to let others share the knowledge of marvels, for, it is often mixed up with a subtle self-complacency, in being the channel by which such great tidings are spread abroad. Thus there might have been a temptation to self-satisfaction in the Apostles if they had told the others what they had seen, and our Lord was at this time especially occupied in rooting out anything that savoured of love and pre-eminence among them.
The other Apostles also might have taken offence at the preference of the chosen three, when they were told of the great glories which they had witnessed. Besides this, the time for the mention of this mystery was naturally to be found after the great action of our Lord by which the glory of His Body was to be won, although, as we have seen, it was already His due.
Reasons for this secrecy
But, again, the relation of the Transfiguration might have been a temptation to incredulity, even among some of the Apostles, and it might also have served to increase their danger at the time of the Passion, which might appear to cast a cloud of doubt over the whole story, and thus to impair faith in other truths as well as in this. For those who have been favoured in this sublime way, as is the case sometimes with persons who give themselves to prayer, few things are more trying than to have a doubt cast on the certainty of such revelations, especially if they have been made the ground, in any way or degree, of action, or of enterprises for the glory of God.
If doubts, and much more if any disbelief, take possession of the mind, it is more difficult to remove the danger in persons who have known of such marvels, than if they had never known them. It may also be thought that if the Transfiguration had been made a subject of conversation among the Apostles it must have got out among the other disciples and have become the property of the world. And thus the danger of scandal at the time of the Passion would have been largely increased by being spread more widely. And perhaps also if it had been believed, it might have, in some way or degree, hindered the execution of the Passion, as St. Paul says, that ‘if the princes of the world had known they would never have crucified the Lord of glory.’1
To be declared at the Resurrection
On the other hand, after the Resurrection there would be every reason for the proclaiming of the mystery, for it would shed so much light on the qualities and gifts of the Body of our Lord in its new state. The Cross was then to be preached more than ever, and it was well that the Apostles should now possess that knowledge which our Lord had already promised to some among them. Thus we find St. Paul full of the glory of the body, which is the sequel of the Resurrection, and which flows to us from the Resurrection of our Lord, but of which He did not, as it seems, give any experience to them at that time, although He appears to have exercised other of the marvellous gifts, as when He passed so rapidly from place to place, and entered the room though the doors were closed.
Christian hope was to be continually fed upon the future glory of the body, which was all the more natural as a subject of instruction and prayer to the heathen converts, who were reclaimed in many instances from a life of corruption, and who were called on to renounce many indulgences which they had not before understood to be forbidden them. We find nothing more characteristic of the early Churches than this continual expectation of our Lord’s return in glory, in order that He might glorify His saints.
Christ’s apostles then ask him about the prophecy of Elias’ return and the end of the world. But… the rest of this article is for our monthly/annual supporters.
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