28 About eight days after these sayings, he took Peter and John and James and went up on a mountain to pray. 29 And while he was praying, the appearance of his face was changed, and his clothing became white and dazzling. 30 And behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah, 31 who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. 32 Now Peter and those who were with him were heavy with sleep; and when they awoke, they saw his glory, and the two men who stood with him. 33 And as they were departing from him, Peter said to Jesus, “Teacher, it is good for us to be here. Let us make three tabernacles: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” But he did not know what he was saying. 34 While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them. And they were afraid when they entered the cloud. 35 And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is my beloved Son; listen to him.” 36 And when the voice had come, Jesus was found alone, and they held their peace and told no one in those days what they had seen.
the explanation:
After Jesus first foretold his suffering, death and resurrection, he taught his disciples what he required of them: “Whoever desires to come after me must deny himself and follow me.” Six days later, as reported by Matthew and Mark, he was transfigured before them. Luke, however, says that this happened to him “about eight days after these words.” Why this difference? Here we must know that the number 8 is a symbolic number, not a historical number, and it indicates eternal life. It is a theological number by which Luke wanted to suggest that the event of the transfiguration was a preliminary, temporary revelation of the Lord’s resurrection, which inaugurates our life in the kingdom.
Luke is unique among the evangelists who say that the Lord went up the mountain to pray. And while he was praying, “the appearance of his face was changed.” The prayer that brought the Lord into contact with the Father was the cause of the change in the appearance of Christ’s face. The tangible transformation was in his body and in his clothes, which “gleamed dazzling white.” They shone like light, says Matthew, or like lightning, says Mark. The three evangelists confirm that Elijah and Moses appeared to him and spoke to him. Luke is unique in saying that they appeared in glory, that is, they returned to God in a mysterious way. Concerning Moses, the Scripture says that God buried him, “and no one knows his grave to this day” (Deuteronomy 34:6). In later Jewish thought, he was taken up to heaven. Concerning Elijah, he “went up by a whirlwind into heaven” (2 Kings 2:11). They appeared to Jesus in a heavenly state to which they had already arrived.
Only Luke tells us the content of the conversation that took place between the three: “They began to talk about his departure from Jerusalem,” that is, his sufferings. Jesus alone had complete glory with him from that moment before his resurrection. When the disciples looked at him, they saw his glory. And when he appeared in this light to the prophets, “a cloud appeared that overshadowed them, and they entered into the cloud.” This cloud accompanied the Hebrews when they left Egypt and was a symbol of the divine presence that was walking with these people in the desert of Sinai, according to what is stated in the Book of Exodus: “Moses could not enter the tent of meeting (or the camp of testimony) because the cloud was over it, and the glory of the Lord had filled the tabernacle. But Moses saw the glory appearing on Mount Tabor in the person of Christ, and Moses entered into the glory for the first time truly. ‘And we saw his glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father’” (John 1:14).
We notice that Moses and Elijah’s talk with the Lord about His sufferings accompanies the appearance of glory on the body of Jesus, as if the intended meaning is that the sufferings of the Lord were His path to glory. We have on the mountain an incident of light shining, and during the revelation of the light, the talk is about the death of the Master. This death, then, was Jesus’ path to resurrection. The sufferings of the Lord lead Him to His glory, and the glory revealed on the Mount of Transfiguration is the same that Christ will become if He dies. The Transfiguration, in its own way, foretells the interdependence of the cross and the resurrection. So if the light shines in Christ emerging from the grave, the people of the Old Testament go to Him, are sanctified by Him, and find in Him the fulfillment of their purposes. You can only understand them through the victorious Christ.
There are things to note:
First - John did not mention this incident. Why? Because his entire Gospel is about the divinity of Christ. It is all manifestations, as if you were capturing the manifestation throughout the entire Fourth Gospel.
Secondly, why does the Lord take Peter, John and James with him? It seems that they were the closest ones. The duality of Peter and the beloved disciple is clear in the Gospel of John. It is to them that Mary Magdalene goes after she sees the stone removed from the tomb. They alone enter the tomb, and the fourth Gospel ends with their mention together. He takes the three to the Garden of Olives, because He wanted them to see in Tabor the glory in which He was manifested before they witness His moral sufferings there. The Lord had taken them to the house of the ruler of the synagogue who had revived His daughter (Mark 5:37). [He wanted them] to be witnesses of His works.
Thirdly – Why did God reveal Moses and Elijah? It is not enough to say that the first represents the law par excellence and the second represents prophecy. The setting is the setting of the glory of Christ. The two prophets had seen not glory in the past but an image of glory. They both sought it on Mount Sinai. There the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, “as we recite in the second reading on the Feast of the Transfiguration at Vespers.” There Moses said to the Lord: “Show me your glory.” He said, “I will pass before you with my face… but you cannot see my face, for no man can see my face and live.” Then the book says: “The Lord descended in the cloud,” symbolizing that there was no vision. Moses’ vision of the Lord occurred on Tabor. Moses’ vision of the Lord was postponed from the revelation of Sinai to the revelation of Tabor. Jesus is therefore the God whom Moses desired to see.
Likewise, Elijah, the Lord says to him: “Stand on the mountain before the Lord” (the third reading at Vespers). And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind split the mountains… but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire a gentle breeze, and there the Lord was.” That is, the gentle breeze indicated Him. This is a symbolic presence. On Tabor for the first time, Elijah sees the Lord.
When these two and the disciples saw the Lord, what did they see? What happened to Jesus? The Gospels make it clear that this light was not a tangible light. Here our fathers, headed by St. Gregory of Thessalonica (Palamas), say that this is the light of the divine nature. This is the uncreated light that was latent in the Lord and hid it in his humanity at the incarnation when he took the form of a servant. For when the Son wanted to live with humans, he had to appear like them, a humble man with no glory in him. But the incarnation did not cancel the glory latent in Jesus. It revealed it for a few moments as it was in him. The Lord did not create a new light. He did not change, but he enabled the disciples and prophets to see. This was a revelation for them. In the passion the power of his glory was revealed while he was living in the shining glory after the resurrection, and he also hid it after the resurrection in order to be able to speak to the disciples.
The Feast of the Sixth of August is like a pre-death Easter in religious folklore, which we should not despise because it reflects the feelings of the people. We see believers using fire and light, arrows and candles on the Feast of the Prophet Elijah, on the Transfiguration and on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross. These feasts are one in their depth. Elijah’s importance was magnified by his appearance on Tabor. The Cross is our path to glory and victory. The people transferred to folklore the anthropomorphic beliefs embodied in the divine rituals.
About my parish bulletin
Sunday, August 2, 1992
