“Transfiguration.” What does this big, fifteen letter word mean?

It is the gift of being able to look at the familiar and yet see the extraordinary, to see something wholly new and fresh in the normal.

Although we usually think of the traditional “Transfiguration” scene presented in the gospels (Luke 9:28ff; Matthew 17:2ff; Mark 9:2ff) as the source of all transfiguration imagery, Paul extends that concept in two different ways in this week’s epistle text. First, Paul “transfigures” the familiar scripture from Exodus 34:27-35, which describes Moses’ shining face after he had been in conversation with God. Second, Paul then goes on to describe the transfiguration that is now extended to everyone through faith in Christ.

As a pharisaic Jew, Paul had been steeped in the study of the Penta…