LECTIONARY READINGS
First reading: Genesis 15:5-12, 17-18
Responsorial Psalm: 26(27):1, 7-9, 13-14
Second reading: Philippians 3:17-4:1
Gospel: Luke 9:28-36
Link to readings
The mysterious episode of the transfiguration told in today’s Gospel (Luke 9:28-36) confirms the pattern of life and mission set by Jesus in his triple victory over Satan during the time of his testing in the desert, the account of which we heard last Sunday. Now the three select disciples – Peter, James, and John – undergo this new experience of Jesus at roughly the halfway and watershed point of his public life. Soon afterwards, he will begin the long journey to Jerusalem, where he will suffer and die.
A few days earlier, speaking on behalf of the Twelve, Peter had acknowledged him to be the Messiah. Jesus did not disagree but went on immediately to spell out what association with his messianic mission will involve – both for him and for them. He is destined to be rejected, to suffer and die. For them, following him will mean taking up one’s own cross daily and laying down one’s life in order to find it.
HEAVENLY CONFIRMATION
The transfiguring of Jesus on the mountain provides heavenly confirmation that Jesus truly is the Messiah and that his messianic destiny will be realised through suffering and death, rather than immediate glory.
Jesus appears in his transfigured state along with two prophetic figures, Moses and Elijah. Both of these figures had mysterious endings to their lives. Elijah was taking up alive into heaven in a fiery chariot (2 Kings 2:9-11). Moses died but no trace was found of his body (Deut 34:5-6). There was a belief current among the Jews that both would return from heaven to earth before the close of the messianic age. The appearance of these two figures, then, signals that, in the person of Jesus, especially as transfigured, the moment of age has begun.
In contrast to the parallel accounts of Matthew and Mark, which simply record the appearance of the two figures, Luke tells us the subject of the “conversation” they are having with Jesus. It has to do with the “departure” (Greek exodus) that Jesus is to accomplish in Jerusalem. The allusion is clearly to Jesus’ own death. It is called “exodus” because, although at one level it will be an act of injustice brought about by hostile human authorities, on a deeper plane it will be a divine liberation comparable with and indeed prefigured in the Exodus of old led by Moses. Through resurrection and ascension Jesus will “pass through” the bonds to death to his messianic glory.
GLORY HAS ARRIVED
Peter interprets the transfiguring of Jesus and the appearance of the two leading biblical prophets, Moses and Elijah, as a sign that the moment of messianic glory has arrived and is here to stay. Hence his proposal to make three booths or dwelling places for the three messianic figures: Jesus, Moses and Elijah. The implication is that all are basically on the same level – but, as the evangelist remarks, he does not really know what he is saying. The whole experience moves to a new degree of intensity as a cloud signals divine presence and the voice of God pronounces the true status of Jesus. He is not merely Messiah. He is “my Son, the Beloved”, a rank far outstripping that of Moses or Elijah.
The divine voice goes on to add, “Listen to him”. Listen, that is, to what he has been saying about the direction his ministry will now take and the suffering it will involve. This has in fact been the subject of the “conversation” that Jesus had been having with the two prophetic figures: “his passing (literally, “exodus”) which is to be accomplished in Jerusalem”. In obedience to the Father’s will, he will attain messianic glory only after entering fully into the pain and suffering of the world to heal it from within.
In this way the total experience sets the tone and direction for Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem on which we, along with the disciples, are invited to be his companions for the remainder of Lent. This will prepare us for a deep experience of the Paschal Mystery.
COVENANT-MAKING RITUAL
The First reading (Gen 15:5-12, 17-18) describes an obscure covenant-making ritual transacted between God and Abraham – selected presumably because the “deep sleep and terror” that seized Abraham in this encounter with God prefigures in some way the experience of the three disciples at the Transfiguration.
Deplorable in the Second reading (Phil 3:17-4:1) is the Jerusalem Bible translation, “these wretched bodies of ours”, which no preacher should let pass. The “dual citizenship” which believers enjoy – an earthly and a heavenly one – are not at odds in the dualistic kind of way the translation suggests. St. Paul wrote “the body of our lowliness”. For him our present body, vulnerable and mortal though it be, possesses great dignity precisely because of our destiny one day to share bodily the risen life of the Lord.