The Transfiguration: A Brief Thoughts on the Mountaintop Experience

This past weekend, the church celebrated the feast of the Transfiguration of Our Lord. It’s the last Sunday before the season of Lent begins, and it’s one where we find out just who Jesus is before he begins his journey to Jerusalem to complete his mission among us.

With Jesus were his disciples James and John and Peter. What they experienced, I’m sure, shaped them and molded them for the rest of their lives. It’s telling that this event happened on top of a mountain. We might say that these disciples experienced a “mountaintop experience!”


Several events in the bible occur on the top of mountains—Noah’s boat comes to rest, Moses receives the law, Elijah defeats the prophets of Baal, etc. The most significant event that occurs atop a mountain is Jesus’ transfiguration (Matthew 17, Mark 9, and Luke 9), where Jesus is declared the son of God in the presence of Moses and Elijah before the disciples. A mountaintop experience is one considered transformative in someone or something’s life, much like the transfiguration was transformative for our understanding of who Jesus is.

-DS