Our Sunday gospel reading for the Second Sunday of Lent is about the Transfiguration of our Lord Jesus Christ in Mt. Tabor. This is a manifestation of the coming Glory of our Lord, which happens just before his Passion and his Death on the Cross. Call it God’s way of strengthening his disciples for the horrors that they would soon be witnesses of.
The Transfiguration of our Lord Jesus Christ is an important event in the Catholic Church as it seeks all the faithful Catholics to also experience their own transfiguration… that sinners like us can be cleansed so white, we too can share in God’s glory. When he was still alive, Blessed Pope John Paul II ordained the fourth mystery of the Holy Rosary of our Blessed Virgin Mary, which is called the “Luminous Mysteries†where the fourth decade is about the Transfiguration. You can read today’s gospel in Luke 9:28bained the fourth mystery of the Holy Rosary of our Blessed Virgin Mary which is called the “Luminous Mysteries†where the fourth decade is about the Transfiguration. You can read today’s gospel in Luke 9:28b-36.
“28 [Jesus] took Peter, John, and James and went up the mountain to pray. 29 While he was praying his face changed in appearance and his clothing became dazzling white. 30 And behold, two men were conversing with him, Moses and Elijah, 31 who appeared in glory and spoke of his exodus that he was going to accomplish in Jerusalem.
32 Peter and his companions had been overcome by sleep, but become fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him. 33 As they were about to part from him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good that we are here; let just make three tents, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.†But he did not know what he was saying.
34 While he was still speaking, a cloud came and cast a shadow over them, and they became frightened when they entered the cloud. 35 Then from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my chosen Son; listen to him.†36 After the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. They fell silent and did not at that time tell anyone what they had seen.â€
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The Transfiguration narration is one gospel story that is found not only in Luke’s gospels, but also in Matthew and Mark. What came as a surprise to me was that John, the beloved disciple and evangelist (he is one of my favorite evangelists) who was one of the three disciples who was with Peter, did not mention this event in his gospel. I searched his entire book and he failed to mention this very unforgettable event in his gospels.
What most Biblical scholars find in the glorious Transfiguration of our Lord is that it is the beginning of the end of his public ministry, which as you know started right in his hometown in Nazareth, where even his own peers immediately rejected him. This event happened in Mt. Tabor as Origen, one of the Church’s early fathers pointed, because at some point, there was even a question as to where this event really occurred. Back then they spelled it as Mt. Thabor.
There is no doubt that such an event would be so unforgettable to Peter and his companions. When I first read this scripture story, the first question on my mind was, “How did Peter know that Jesus was talking to Moses and Elijah? Did the Jews have a bust of Moses or Elijah in the temple so that if they appeared somewhere, they would recognize these two characters from the Old Testament? Or perhaps, Peter, who confessed that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the Living God was also given a special blessing of knowledge by the Holy Spirit, he instantly recognized Moses and Elijah speaking with Jesus in the mountain.
Peter and his disciples’ saw the face of our Lord Jesus, shining as bright as the sun and his garment as white as snow. What they really saw was the Shekinah Glory of God. In fact, a cloud covered the top of the mountain and they heard the voice of God the Father saying, “This is my chosen Son; listen to him.†If you searched the New Testament, the only time we heard the voice of God was at the Baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan. After the Transfiguration, no one has heard the voice of God the Father anymore.
That our Lord Jesus Christ brought Peter, James and John to Mt. Tabor so they could see his glory was to prepare them for the coming horror on his passion and death… that the man that they call Master, whom they believed was the Son of God… was not only human, but divinity himself.
God has allowed his only Son to become one of us… so he could be our sacrificial lamb, whose blood would be shed for the remission of our sins. Jesus is the unblemished Lamb whom we are exhorted to eat in Holy Communion so we could be worthy to enter life eternal and share in God’s glory.
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