The Face Transfigured

Once, for a short time, we are told that Jesus was transfigured—His face shone as the sun (Matthew 17:2). That was because of the glory within. If he had been a hard, bitter man, or proud, or vexed by care, His face never would have appeared in transfiguration.

The Bible tells us of two other faces that shone thus—the face of Moses when he had been long in communion with God on the mount (Exodus 34:29), and the face of Stephen when he sat in court before his enemies (Acts 6:15). The faces confronting him were dark with rage, but his wore a heavenly brightness—revealing the peace, the quiet, the joy that dwelt within, “an angel face, all radiant with celestial grace.”1

The face of Jesus shone not one hour only, but always, with the splendor of the holy soul that dwelt within. Paul speaks of “the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”* (2 Corinthians 4:6) Those who looked upon the Master with open hearts saw something more than physical beauty in Him, something more than the ordinary graces of human loveliness (Psalm 45:2). That face was the very outshining of divine glory, although many did not see that glory. Most men were blind to the beauty of God before them. But to those with eyes anointed by the Father to see Him as He is, it was and is a face “altogether lovely.”* (Song of Solomon 5:16) Those who have looked up on it cannot easily forget it. Like a blessed vision, its memory lingers in their hearts.

The Incarnation is the most wonderful fact of all human history. The child that was born in the little town of Bethlehem that first Christmas night, was different from any other child that ever was born in the world. The angel, announcing the great event to the shepherds, told them that He whose birth had brought such joy to the earth was “a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.”* (Luke 2:11)

We are in danger of missing much of the meaning of this truth, when we read the story of the human life of the Master as it is told in the gospels. The message which Christmas brings to us anew year after year is that God so loved the world that He came down to live with men in a real human life. He did this that He might get near to us—within our reach—that He might show to us in a common human life all the glory of divinity. But that halo of glory encircling His head was only seen by those humble few who were enlightened through the Spirit of God (Luke 2:25-32).