Raphael’s Transfiguration of Christ

Transfiguration is a feast for the eyes and for the ears. Jesus is suddenly changed. The face of Jesus shines like the sun. His clothes are dazzling in their brilliance. Glory beams in bright rays from His body. Just before Jesus heads down the mountain to be brutally beaten, scourged and crucified, He displays His honor and glory for three of His disciples to witness.

Those same disciples hear God the Father’s voice from the Majestic Glory. They are told to give their undivided attention to this glorified and shining person, who is the beloved Son of the Father from heaven. They are also privy to the conversation between the Son of God and Moses, the Lawgiver, and Elijah, the Prophet.

In our Lutheran churches this Sunday, we will be celebrating the Feast of the Transfiguration of Our Lord. Although this festival is rather new to our Lutheran churches - only being celebrated with regularity in the past 100-200 years - it is a very ancient festival. It has been observed as a major festival in the Western Church since the ninth century, and in the Eastern Church since the fourth century. 

The Italian High Renaissance master, Raphael, used the subject of the Transfiguration as his final triumphal masterpiece. Raphael worked on the painting until his death in 1520. The painting is now in the Pinacoteca Vaticana in Vatican City.

Raphael’s depiction of the Transfiguration is unique in Christian art in that the subject is combined with an additional biblical event in the lower half of the painting. It is a depiction of two consecutive, but distinct, biblical narratives from the Gospel of Matthew, also related in the Gospel of Mark.

In the upper half of the painting, the transfigured Christ is floating in front of illuminated clouds. According to tradition, He is on Mount Tabor. Moses is on the right and Elijah is on the left, conversing with the Lord. Peter, James and John have fallen to the ground, terrified as they look at Christ in all His glory (Matthew 17:1-9 and Mark 9:2-13).

Raphael adds two figures who are kneeling on the left, looking on. They are commonly identified as Justus and Pastor, who shared the ancient festival day of August 6 with the Feast of Transfiguration. (August 6 is still the festival date for Transfiguration in the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches. Lutherans, however, now celebrate the Transfiguration on the last Sunday after the Epiphany.) Justus and Pastor were the patron saints of the cathedral of Narbonne, France, where the painting was originally intended to serve as the altarpiece.

In the lower half of the painting, Raphael depicts the disciples attempting – unsuccessfully – to free a possessed boy of his demonic possession (Matthew 17:10-20 and Mark 9:14-29). They are unable to cure the sick child until the arrival of the recently-transfigured Christ, who performs the miracle of exorcism. In all the commotion with the demon-possessed boy and the disciples of little faith, the apostle-evangelist Matthew is pointing to the transfigured Christ on the mountain. He is urging them to put their faith in Christ.

It has been stated that Raphael’s Transfiguration of Christ depicts a dichotomy. It is the redemptive power of Christ portrayed by the purity and symbolism in the top half of the painting, contrasted with the flaws of Man, as portrayed by the dark, chaotic scene in the bottom half of the painting.

May we overcome our weak faith as disciples by paying attention this Sunday to the transfigured Christ. Open your eyes to witness Christ in all His glory. Open your ears to hear the testimony from the Majestic Glory. As Raphael depicts so vividly in his painting – Transfiguration is a feast for the eyes and the ears.