Luke 9:28-36
“This is my chosen Son. Listen to him.”
Listen to him, for only in this moment of glory, this anticipation of the resurrection, will his passion and death begin to make any sense.
Peter, James and John are taken to the mountain with Jesus to experience a divine encounter. As Jesus communes deeply with his Father, his appearance radiates the glory of his divinity. It is more than just a reflection of sunlight, as was the radiant face of Moses on Mt. Sinai. But Jesus' radiance signifies even more than Moses' radiant. Jesus, one with the Father, is “light from light, true God from true God.” The Church Fathers tell us that the apostles were brought fully alert by the intensity of the light. Certainly this moment of divine revelation was also an awakening of the heart.Listen to him for he is the very revelation of God, God's Word made human.
Moses and Elijah appear. They represent the ancient Law and the Prophets. Luke suggests that they speak with Jesus of the new exodus--a new moment of passing through chaos into freedom--to be accomplished by Jesus in Jerusalem. Peter is so filled with reverence that he wants to erect three tents to memorialize this important moment of revelation.
“Moses and Elijah were privileged to receive God’s Revelation and now they are conversing with the One who IS God’s Revelation."*
It is a Trinitarian manifestation of God (theophany), reminiscent of the Baptism of Jesus. In the midst of the cloud (Spirit) the apostles fall silent upon hearing God’s voice. We, too, can only fall silent in humble adoration before this awesome mystery. Only in deep communion with the Father can we begin to understand this moment of glory fully realized beyond the cross.
*Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth, Vol. I, © 2007
