The Transfiguration is arguably the most dramatic event described in the gospels.
I guess bringing people back to life is also up there but, at least in the way the gospels talk about it, doesn’t have quite the wow factor of the Transfiguration.
If the Resurrection were described, doubtless it would take prize position, but it isn’t – not simply because there were no witnesses to the event itself, but also because that event lies beyond the power of human description. It can only be seen and understood in its results.
I have to wonder what Peter, James and John thought when Jesus invited them to head up the mountain with him. There are only a few occasions reported where Jesus singles out these three of the disciples for special treatment, so they must have realized something unusual was afoot. The other notable example is when Jesus asks them to accompany him into the garden at Gethsemane before his arrest and execution – and they didn’t acquit themselves very well then either.
I suspect the disciples had reached the point where nothing that Jesus said or did really surprised them any more. When they arrived at the mountaintop Peter seems quite nonchalant about the whole affair. Jesus’ face shone like the sun and his clothes became white as light and Moses and Elijah appeared to them. Peter could just as well be out for a picnic, discussing where to put the sandwich fixings and the cooler with the beer. He’s only brought to his senses, that is, reduced to a mess on the ground, when God actually speaks out loud. That overwhelms any human silliness and puts us in the right relationship with God – frightened out of our wits.
But Jesus doesn’t leave him or us there. If he does give us the special privilege of experiencing God directly in some way, he then goes on to tell us not to be afraid – despite the fact that we have every reason to be so! He touches us gently, tells us to pick ourselves up, and walks down the mountain with us. He also warns us that trying to discuss this with anyone else is a bad idea, unless they too have some understanding of the resurrection, that indescribable event.