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2^nd SUNDAY OF LENT (Cycle C)

Readings:
Genesis 15:5-12, 17-18
Psalm 27:1, 7-9, 13-14
Philippians 3:17-4:1
Luke 9:28-36

Abbreviations: NJB (New Jerusalem Bible), IBHE (Interlinear Bible Hebrew-English), IBGE (Interlinear Bible Greek-English), or LXX (Greek Septuagint Old Testament translation). CCC designates a citation from the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The word LORD or GOD rendered in all capital letters is, in the Hebrew text, God's Divine Name YHWH (Yahweh).

God reveals His divine plan for humanity in the two Testaments, and that is why we read and relive the events of salvation history in the Old and New Testaments in the Church's Liturgy. The Catechism teaches that the Liturgy reveals the unfolding mystery of God's plan as we read the Old Testament in light of the New and the New Testament in light of the Old (CCC 1094-1095).

The Theme of the Readings: Divine Revelations
In this Sunday's Old Testament and Gospel readings, the Patriarch Abraham and the Apostles Peter, James, and John have a transcendent experience of the Divine. Abram/Abraham put his faith in God, and he received a reward that echoed down through the generations of his family to find its fulfillment in his descendant, Jesus of Nazareth (Mt 1:1). As a reward for his righteousness, God revealed Himself to Abraham and sealed his relationship in a ritual that ratified an unconditional covenant as God's Presence passed through a pathway of the pieces of sacrificed animals in the form of "a smoking brazier and a flaming torch." Fire in Scripture is often a symbol of God's Divine Presence such as in the fire at Moses's burning bush experience, and the tongues of fire representing the power of the Holy Spirit resting upon the disciples praying in the Upper Room fifty days after Jesus's Resurrection, purifying them as the members of a new and eternal Covenant community (Ex 3:1-6; Acts 2:1-4).

In the Responsorial Psalm, the psalmist celebrates his visit to Yahweh's Temple in Jerusalem by proclaiming his joy in his Lord and confidence that God is his light, guiding him on the path to salvation. When the psalmist declares, The LORD is my light, Christians connect his declaration with Jesus's words spoken in the Jerusalem Temple when He proclaimed: "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life" (Jn 8:12). The risen Christ also fulfills the psalmist's hope to one day be with his LORD in "the land of the living" since Heaven is the true Sanctuary of God that Jesus has opened for all who believe in Him as Lord and Savior (CCC 1026).

In the Second Reading, St. Paul invited the Philippian Christians to follow him in obedience just as he followed Christ. St. Paul wrote that those who occupy their lives with earthly pursuits must let go of those material things and look to Heaven for the transforming experience that Jesus promised all Christians. The time will come when He will give the faithful a new form to our bodies, just as three of the Apostles witnessed in the Transfiguration experience. We are destined to receive a glorious transformation and an intimate revelation of God when Christ rescues us from this temporal life to become citizens in His heavenly Kingdom.

In the Gospel reading, the Apostles Peter and the brothers James and John Zebedee also experienced a divine revelation to strengthen their faith in preparation for the ordeal they and the other disciples would face at the climax of Jesus's earthly ministry. Jesus took them away from the material world and led them up a mountain, revealing to them a divine vision of Himself. They saw Christ in His glory, and experienced the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity: God the Son in His glory, God the Holy Spirit in the cloud that overshadowed them, and God the Father's voice from Heaven announcing His pleasure in His Divine Son and the command to "Listen to Him."

In the sacrifice of the Mass, the presiding priest makes a similar invitation to the congregation of the faithful. At the beginning of the Eucharistic Prayer, the priest, like St. Paul in our Second Reading, invites us to let go of our earthly concerns and "lift up our hearts" to Heaven to experience a divine revelation of Christ in the sacrifice of the Eucharist. We must let go of our temporal concerns to fully grasp the spiritual and to sing as the psalmist sings in today's Responsorial Psalm: "I believe that I shall see the bounty of the LORD in the land of the living. Wait for the LORD with courage; be stouthearted, and wait for the LORD... for the LORD is my light and my salvation."

Genesis 15:5-12, 17-18 ~ God's Covenant Promises to Abraham
5 He looked outside and said, "Look up at the sky and count the stars if you can. Just so," he added, "shall your descendants be." 6 Abram put his faith in the LORD, who credited to him as an act of righteousness. 7 He then said to him, "I am the LORD who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land as a possession." 8 "O Lord God [Yahweh]," he asked, "how am I to know that I shall possess it?" 9 He answered him, "Bring me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old she-goat, a three-year-old ram, and a turtle-dove, and a young pigeon." 10 He brought him all these, split them in two, and placed each half opposite the other; but the birds he did not cut up. 11 Birds of prey swooped down on the carcasses, but Abram stayed with them. 12 As the sun was about to set, a trance fell upon Abram, and a deep, terrifying darkness enveloped him. 13 Then the LORD said to Abram: "Know for certain that your descendants shall be aliens in a land not their own, where they shall be enslaved and oppressed for four hundred years. 14 But I will bring judgment on the nation they must serve, and in the end, they will depart with great wealth. 15 You, however, shall join your forefathers in peace; you shall be buried at a contented old age. 16 In the fourth time-span* the others shall come back here; the wickedness of the Amorites will not have reached its full measure until then."  17 When the sun had set and it was dark, there appeared a smoking brazier and a flaming torch, which passed between those pieces. 18 It was on that occasion that the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying: "To your descendants, I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the Great River [the Euphrates]."  * "the fourth time-span" is 400 years.

Verse 15 identifies Abram's encounter with Yahweh at night when the sky was full of stars. In the text, LORD in capital letters is the Divine Name Yahweh. God called Abram/Abraham to step out of his tent and observe the sky clothed in its myriad of stars.   God uses this visible image of the stars as a sign of the promise of many descendants; it is a promise God will repeat to Abram and his descendants five times (Gen 15:5, 22:17; 26:4; 32:12; Dt 10:22). When God gave human beings a sign, it was meant to comfort and remind them of God's promises. It was always a visible sign like worship on the Sabbath that was a sign of God's covenant with Israel (Ex 31:13), or a sign they could see as in the case of Noah and the covenant sign of God's war bow, the rainbow, suspended in the heavens from horizon to horizon (Gen 9:12-16). For some examples of other visible "signs" of God's works, see Exodus 8:19/23-20/24; 13:9; 31:12-13, 17; Isaiah 7:14; Lk 11:30; Romans 4:11. Abram's response to God's renewed promise from Genesis 12:1-3 and His clarification of the greatness of the promise was to put his faith in the LORD, who credited it to him as an act of righteousness (verse 6). Yahweh acknowledged that Abram's act of trust and faith in His promise was an act worthy of reward.

The New Testament Book of Hebrews teaches that Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen (Heb 11:1). The passage continues, Because of it, the ancients were well attested, meaning acknowledged by God (Heb 11:2; see CCC 146). In their New Testament letters to the Church, St. Paul and St. James referred to Abram's faith which was credited to him as righteousness in Genesis 15:6, to teach that justification depends on living and active faith. St. Paul expressed this active faith as the obedience of faith in Romans 1:5 and 16:26, defining it as faith that is not dependent on works of the Law as stipulated in the old Sinai Covenant (Romans 3:27-28). In Romans 3:27-28, St. Paul wrote What occasion is there then for boasting? It is ruled out. On what principle, that of works? No, rather on the principle of faith. For we consider that a person is justified by faith apart from works of the law.

Paul was not saying that our "works," which are the "works of God working through us" (the definition of "active faith"), have no value. He was instead contrasting the Law of the Sinai Covenant, which was engraved on stone and only served to condemn men and women for their sins against the old covenant Law, with the kind of faith that comes from an interior Law, written on human hearts and which works through love (Gal 5:6). In Romans 8:2, St. Paul called this interior Law "the Law of the Holy Spirit." St. James emphasized that this kind of living and active faith is pleasing to God because faith without the deeds of love toward our fellow man and obedience to God is dead faith (Jam 2:17, 26).

There is no contradiction between St. Paul's teaching and that of St. James. St. Paul was anxious to dismiss the view that a human being can earn salvation without having faith in Christ. One cannot come to salvation through "works alone;" this would be a condition of self-made sanctity, usurping the sovereignty of God. We are not just called to be "good;" we are called to be "supernaturally good." These are not our works or deeds, but these are the works of God working through us. James taught that salvation could not come by "faith alone" because faith cannot be separated from deeds (Jam 2:24). St. James used Abraham's example of continuing faith, trust, and obedience to God, as expressed in Abraham's covenant ordeal in Genesis Chapter 22, as an example of living and active faith: Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by the works. Thus, the Scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness," and he was called "the friend of God." St. James taught that works/deeds demonstrate the existence of genuine faith (Jam 2:21-23; CCC 1814-16; 2001).

In Genesis 15:7, Yahweh restated His promise in Genesis 12:1-3 to give Abram/Abraham and his descendants the land of Canaan by using the formula "I am Yahweh." It was an introduction common to covenant agreements of ancient Near Eastern kingly proclamations and royal grants. The words "I am" followed by the name of the king granting the decree in the introduction to the document was to establish the unquestionable authority of the proclamation that followed. Abraham had faith in God; however, his faith was not perfect or unshakable. Abram knew that his faith needed strengthening, and so he asked God for a sign (verse 8), "O Lord God," he asked, "how can I know that I shall possess it?"

 Faith in God, like salvation and justification, is an ongoing process, not a one-time event (CCC 161-62, 166; 1987-95). In Hebrews, the inspired writer (believed to be St. Paul) wrote that Abraham was justified by his faith when he set out for Canaan (Heb 11:8). He also writes that in Genesis 15:6, Abraham's faith was reckoned as righteous because he put his faith in God. Again Abraham's faith was counted as righteousness in Genesis 22 when he trusted God to the point of being able to pass the test of faith when God commanded him to offer his beloved son, Isaac, in sacrifice. The inspired writer of the Letter to the Hebrews records: By faith Abraham, when put to the test, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was ready to offer his only son, of whom it was said, "Through Isaac descendants shall bear your name."  He reasoned that God was able to raise even from the dead, and he received Isaac back as a symbol (Heb 11:17-19).

In response to Abram's request for confirmation, Yahweh sealed the covenant promise with a bizarre sacrificial ritual in which Abram was to sacrifice his wealth in animals. He was to bring three of five different animals: cattle, sheep, goats, pigeons, and turtle-doves. God commanded Abram to split down the middle three of the kinds of sacrificed animals (the cattle, sheep, and goats), placing each half opposite the other. He was to guard the sacrifice until sundown. These five kinds of animals became the only animals acceptable to offer in sacrifice to Yahweh in the sacrificial system of the Sinai Covenant (Lev 1:2, 14). While the larger animals were skinned and the carcasses cut into pieces (Lev 1:6), the birds were offered whole but split down the middle without separating the halves (Lev 1:14-17). The pigeon and the turtle dove will be the "poor man's sacrifice," and the sacrifice that Mary and Joseph offered when they presented baby Jesus was at the Temple in Jerusalem for His dedication when He was forty days old (Lk 2:22-24).

Sundown was the beginning of the next day; therefore, nearly 24 hours had passed since God first called Abram from his tent at the beginning of his vision (Gen 15:5). He killed the animals the next day, butchering the large animals by cutting them in half. It was a feat that must have taken him all day. The ritual of "cutting a covenant" became an established norm, with the understanding that he who broke the covenant was to suffer the same fate as the severed animals. The 6^th-century BC prophet Jeremiah mentioned such a ritual, speaking for Yahweh concerning those Israelites who had broken their covenant with their God. Yahweh told His prophet: As for the people who have broken my covenant, who have not observed the terms of the covenant which they made before me, I shall treat them like the calf that people cut in two to pass between its pieces (Jer 34:18). The smell of the dead meat attracted birds of prey, which Abram drove off (verse 11). In this part of the ritual, the daylight was fading, and the night was coming. As Abram fell into a deep sleep, reminiscent of Adam's deep sleep on the sixth day of Creation (Gen 2:21), Yahweh gave Abram a prophecy concerning the descendants promised him (Gen 15:12-16).

12 As the sun was about to set, a trance fell upon Abram, and a deep, terrifying darkness enveloped him. 13 Then the LORD said to Abram: "Know for certain that your descendants shall be aliens in a land not their own, where they shall be enslaved and oppressed for four hundred years. 14 But I will bring judgment on the nation they must serve, and in the end, they will depart with great wealth. 15 You, however, shall join your forefathers in peace; you shall be buried at a contented old age. 16 In the fourth time-span, the others shall come back here; the wickedness of the Amorites will not have reached its full measure until then."
God put Abram into a death-like sleep similar to Adam's when He created Eve (Gen 2:21). Abram's death-like state, necessary in this act of covenant formation, is symbolic of Christ's death on the Cross, which was a necessary action in God's plan for securing a New Covenant for the people of God and the salvation-kingdom that would become humanity's vehicle of salvation. Christ's death on the altar of the Cross necessary to secure His New Covenant bride, the Church, was also prefigured in Adam's death-like state to receive his bride, Eve. Biblical scholars have noted the typological connection between Abram and Christ in this passage, writing that Abram's "symbolic actions [are] prophetic of the sacrificial act of obedience of the Messiah, the meritorious work that secured the ultimate salvation-kingdom for God's people of all times. In Genesis 15, it was "the oath-passage of the Lord through the way of death" (M. Kline, Kingdom Prologue, page 326). The prophet Daniel also experienced a death-like sleep connected with a divine revelation in Daniel 8:18 and 10:9.

God fulfills the prophecy in verses 13-16 at the time of Abram's great-grandson Joseph, son of Abram's grandson Jacob (renamed Israel), and during the Exodus experience:

• Abram's descendants would become exiles in the foreign land of Egypt (Gen 46:1-27).
• They would be enslaved and oppressed for 400 years (Ex 1:8-14; 12:40).
• God would bring judgment on the nation that enslaved the sons of Abram, and they would leave with many possessions (Ex 12:35-36).
• In the fourth generation after entering Egypt, Abram's descendants would leave Egypt and return to Canaan.*
• Abram would die a happy old age (he was 175 years old when he died in Gen 25:7-8).

* The prophecy of the four hundred years and the return to Canaan four generations after entering Egypt from the time of Jacob/ Israel is a rounded number with each generation spanning 100 years: (1) Levi, son of Jacob/Israel; (2) Kohath, grandson; (3) Amran, great-grandson; (4) Moses, great-great-grandson of Jacob/Israel. A more precise number of 430 years is in Exodus 12:40-41; Acts 7:6, 13:20, and Galatians 3:17.

In this ritual of covenant formation, God passed between the parts of the sacrificed animals, binding Himself by oath to the covenant with Abram. Yahweh manifested His presence in the smoking brazier (fire-pot) and the flaming torch passing between the animal pieces is in essence Yahweh Himself swearing an oath of fidelity to the covenant. The word in Hebrew for "brazier" is tannur, which is an archaic term in Hebrew for "oven." It is an oven in the sense of a brazier used for burning incense for the liturgical services of the Sinai Covenant and in a Catholic Mass. The smoking brazier and flaming torch represented Yahweh's presence in the same way the burning bush revealed God's presence to Moses (Ex 3:2), the pillar cloud and pillar of fire revealed God's presence to the children of Israel in the Exodus experience (Ex 13:21), and in the cloud on the summit of Mt. Sinai (Ex 19:16; 24:15-16) that was a manifestation of the Glory Cloud, in Hebrew the Shekinah (Ex 16:10; 19:9; 34:5; 40:34-38; Lev 16:2; Num 19:15-22; etc.). The purpose of the cutting of the animals becomes clear in the wording, the LORD made [cut] a covenant with Abram (Genesis 15:18). The Hebrew verb krt, usually translated as "made" or "concluded," and in Hebrew means "to cut;" Yahweh cut (krt) a covenant with Abram. A covenant with Abram was literally and symbolically "cut" and sealed in blood by which the covenant participants bound themselves by oath to suffer the same death as the animals if either party did not fulfill the promises of the covenant (Jer 34:18). Only God binds Himself as responsible for keeping this perpetual covenant. It is an act that only makes sense in the context of Christ's sacrifice on the altar of the Cross.

In this bizarre scene, the smoking brazier and the flaming torch become the legs of God, walking the valley of death between the split bodies of the dead animals and taking the covenant curse upon Himself to keep the covenant with Abraham and his descendants. God's action prefigures the journey of Christ, bearing the covenant curse upon Himself, as He walked through "the valley of the shadow of death" (Ps 23:4) to offer Himself in sacrifice on the altar of the Cross. He took the curse-judgments of past covenant failures upon Himself (Dt 21:22-23) as He offered Himself as the sacrifice that would establish the new and everlasting Covenant with Abraham's descendants and all humanity.

In Genesis 15:8, Abram asked God, "How can I know that I shall possess it?" In Genesis 15:18-21, Yahweh answered that question by telling Abram that this covenant would have a human historical continuity and a cultural tradition to be transmitted from generation to generation. The Lord was telling Abram that He was establishing a relationship not just with an individual but with a nation. The extent of the land promised to Abram's descendants was from the River of Egypt to the Euphrates River, with dominion over all the people who lived between the two rivers. The land was covenant promise #1, repeated from God's first promises to Abram in Genesis 12:1-3. Details on the extent of Israel's boundaries are also in Numbers 34:1-15; Joshua 14:1- 21:45; and Ezekiel 47:13-21.

The Abrahamic Covenant is the basis of all future covenants with Israel. It is also the basis of the covenant with the "new Israel," the universal New Covenant Kingdom of Jesus Christ, in which God fulfilled all the promises made to Abraham (CCC 877):

• The land is the entire earth over which Jesus Christ is King of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth that is Christ's salvation-kingdom of the Universal (Catholic) Church.
• The descendants are all who accept Jesus's gift of salvation, beginning with receiving the Sacrament of Baptism (Mk 16:16).
• The worldwide blessing is the Gospel of salvation extended to all humanity; it is the pathway to the Promised Land of Heaven. 

For a list of the seven God-ordained covenants in the Old Testament and the eighth new and eternal covenant in Christ Jesus in the New Testament, see the chart Yahweh's Covenants.

Psalm 27:1, 7-9, 13-14 ~ Yahweh is Salvation
The Response is: "The Lord is my light and my salvation."

1 The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom should I fear? The LORD is my life's refuge; of whom should I be afraid?
Response:
7 Hear, O LORD, the sound of my call; have pity on me, and answer me. 8 Of you my heart speaks; you my glance seeks.
Response:
9 Your presence, O LORD, I seek. Hide not your face from me; do not in anger repel your servant. You are my helper: cast me not off.
Response:
13 I believe that I shall see the bounty of the LORD in the land of the living. 14 Wait for the LORD with courage; be stouthearted, and wait for the LORD.
Response:

The psalmist celebrates his visit to Yahweh's Temple in Jerusalem by proclaiming his joy in his Lord and the confidence that God is his "light," guiding him on the path to "salvation." As long as he has the Lord as his refuge, he knows that he has nothing to fear (verse 1). Next, the psalmist celebrates the joy and peace he obtains through attending the liturgy of worship in Yahweh's Holy Temple and proclaims that his life is safe by making two assertions followed by two questions (verse 1):

1. The LORD is my light and my salvation; of whom should I fear? 
2. The LORD is my life's refuge; of whom should I be afraid?  

Notice that the psalmist gives three definitions of the LORD in verse 1: light, salvation, and life's refuge. The confidence contained in the words, "The LORD is my light" (in verse 1), recalls for Christians Jesus's declaration, "I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life" (Jn 8:12; also see the same imagery for the Christ in St. John's prologue in Jn 1:9).

7 Hear, O LORD, the sound of my call; have pity on me and answer me. 8 Of you my heart speaks; you my glance seeks.
The psalmist makes three petitions to the Lord in verse 7: to hear his call, have pity, and answer his call. These petitions, spoken aloud, are a plea from the heart of the psalmist who yearns for an intimate relationship with Yahweh that will allow him to see the face of God (verse 4). He both "speaks" from the heart of his faith in the Lord, and he "seeks" His Divine Presence in the liturgy of worship. Commenting on this psalm, St. Augustine wrote: "In the most hidden place, where only you may hear it, my heart says to you: 'Lord, I seek your face'; and I will continue in this search, without ever taking rest, so that I may love you freely, for I will never find anything more precious than your face" (Enarrationes in Psalmos, 26.8). Jesus's disciples realized the same hope as the psalmist as they walked with God the Son in His earthly ministry. As Christians, we have the same hope that one day, if we persevere in faith, we too will indeed "see the face of God" in the heavenly Temple.

The psalmist also professes his confidence that God will save him from spiritual death and that one day he will see the Lord in the "land of the living," God's abode in Heaven (verse 13). In the meantime, he encourages others who have faith in God to have courage and patience as they "wait for the LORD [Yahweh]" in faith for the promised day of salvation (verse 14).

The risen Christ fulfills the hope expressed by the psalmist in verse 13: I believe that I shall see the bounty of the LORD in the land of the living. The land of the living is Heaven, the true Sanctuary of God, which Jesus has opened to all who have faith in Him as Lord and Savior and profess belief in the Sacrament of Christian Baptism (Mk 16:16; CCC 1026).

Philippians 3:17-4:1 ~ Citizenship in Heaven
17 Join with others in being imitators of me, brothers and sisters, and observe those who thus conduct themselves according to the model you have in us. 18 For many, as I have often told you and now tell you even in tears, conduct themselves as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 Their end is destruction. Their God is their stomach; their glory is in their "shame."  20 Their minds are occupied with earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we also await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. 21 He will change our lowly body to conform with his glorified body by the power that enables him also to bring all things into subjection to himself. 4:1 Therefore, my brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, in this way stand firm in the Lord.

St. Paul uses the example of his own life and others in their service to the Gospel to encourage the Christians of Philippi to persist in moral conduct and to pursue a spiritual life (verse 17). In contrast, he points to the bad example of those who teach false doctrines or abuse their Christian freedom to lead lives immersed in sins of the flesh, becoming "enemies of the cross of Christ." Moreover, those people "glory in their shame" by taking pride in their sinful behavior, and the result will be that they doom themselves to destruction (verses 18-19).  

In verses 20-21, St. Paul reminds the faithful that their destiny is to become "citizens of Heaven." Their life on earth, living amid sin, is only temporary. Concerning these verses, St. Augustine wrote: "It is nature flawed by sin that begets all the citizens of the earthly city, whereas it is grace alone which frees nature from sin, which begets citizens of the heavenly city" (The City of God, 15.2). Paul's message is that Christians are citizens of Heaven because that is the glorious destiny God has planned for them. It is appropriate for them, as the children of God who are awaiting the return of Christ in glory, to live in righteousness. Therefore, says Paul in 4:1, we have every reason for joy because of the knowledge that Christ's Resurrection is the cause of our future resurrection, and in the meantime, we must "stand firm" in the Lord!

Luke 9:28-36 ~ The Transfiguration of the Christ
28 About eight days after he said this, he 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 becoming 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 us 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.

The disciples and Apostles must have been frightened and discouraged after Jesus's first prediction of His death in Luke 9:22. Jesus took the Apostles Peter and the brothers James and John Zebedee up a mountain to witness a manifestation of His glory that confirmed His identity as the divine Son of God. The vision will comfort them and the other Apostles in their darkest hour when He fulfills the prophecy of His death. It also offered them proof that Jesus has the power to defeat death, as He also told them in 9:22. Later, Jesus will choose the same three Apostles and take them apart from the others when He faces His agony in the Garden of Gethsemane (Mt 26:36-37; Mk 14:32-33).

Don't miss the significance attached to the location of this experience. Mighty works/revelations of God often took place on mountains, including the Theophany of God on Mt. Sinai (see Gen 22:2, 11; Ex 19:16-20; 1 Kng 18:19-39; 19:11-18; 1 Chr 21:15-17; 2 Chr 3:1; and Mt 5:1-2). As the new Moses, Jesus ascended the mountain not to find a revelation of God but to give a revelation of God the Son to His three Apostles. Verse 1 discloses that it was eight days after Peter's confession of Jesus as the Messiah and the first prediction of His Passion that they went up "the mountain to pray" (Lk 9:18-22; Mt 16:13-23; Mk 8:27-33). Matthew and Mark's Gospels call it a "high mountain" that they reached six days after the first prediction of His Passion (Mt 17:1; Mk 9:2). Commentators have tried to reconcile the discrepancy by suggesting that it was a six-day journey from Caesarea Philippi to the mountain and, after the Sabbath rest, on the eighth day, they ascended it. Some of the Fathers of the Church interpret the "eighth day" to suggest a symbolic connection to Jesus's resurrected glory on the "eighth day" that was the day after the seventh day Sabbath (Lk 23:56; 24:1-7).

29 While he was praying his face changed in appearance and his clothing became dazzling white.
The change in the appearance of Jesus's face recalls the description of Moses's radiant face after being in the presence of God in Exodus 34:29-35. In St. Matthew's account, he described Jesus's face as "radiant" and his garment as "as white as light" (Mt 17:2). This description also recalls Daniel's vision of the "man" dressed in linen with a belt of fine gold around his waist, whose body was like chrysolite, his face shone like lightning, his eyes were like fiery torches, his arms and feet looked like burnished bronze, and his voice sounded like the roar of a multitude (Dan 10:5-6, NABRE). The divine personage the 6^th-century BC prophet Daniel saw may have been an angel or the pre-Incarnate Christ. Daniel's vision is very much like what St. John saw of the glorified Jesus in Revelation 1:12-15.

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.
Moses and Elijah appeared with Jesus in transcendent glory and discussed the coming hour of His "exodus" from Jerusalem (Lk 9:30-31). Do not miss the significance of the Greek word "exodus" (the literal word in the Greek text) in verse 31 in the discussion of Jesus's departure (meaning of the word "exodus") from Jerusalem. Moses and Elijah were discussing with Jesus the events of His death, burial, Resurrection, and Ascension when He would make in His "exodus" (departure) from His earthly existence to the heavenly Kingdom.

The disciples and Apostles knew Jesus in His human form; however, in the encounter on the Mount of Transfiguration, Jesus revealed Himself in His divine glory in the presence of the old covenant Law-giver and liberator, Moses, and the prophet Elijah. At the epiphany on the Mt. of Transfiguration, the three Apostles witnessed the coming together of the Old Sinai Covenant and the New Covenant in Christ as Jesus embodied the beginning and the end of divine revelation. Moses and Elijah represented the old covenant Church. They represented the Law and the prophets of the old Israel. Peter, James, and John represented the Kingdom of the New Covenant, embodying the hierarchy of the new Israel, the Church of the people of the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth (CCC 751-52, 877). It was a vision of the supernatural the Apostles would need to strengthen themselves and their brother disciples in the covenant ordeal they were to face in the final hours of Jesus's life and the fear they suffered between His death and Resurrection.

33 As they were about to part from him, Peter said to Jesus, "Master, it is good that we are here; let us make three tents, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah."  But he did not know what he was saying.
The Gospel of John does not mention the Transfiguration. John rarely repeats what the Synoptic Gospels sufficiently covered. Still, he does relate in the second year of Jesus's ministry (which began with the miracle feeding of the five thousand) that Jesus went to Jerusalem for the pilgrim feast of Sukkoth, known in English as the Feast of Booths/Shelters or Tabernacles (Jn 7:1-2, 10). The covenant obligations for the festival appear in Leviticus 23:33-43. In Leviticus 23:42, God commanded: During this week every native Israelite among you shall dwell in booths, that your descendants may realize that, when I led the Israelites out of the land of Egypt, I made them dwell in booths, I, the LORD am your God." The festival lasted a significant eight days, seven days for the feast, and with a sacred assembly on the eighth day (Lev 23:33, 39; Num 29:12, 35).

Perhaps Peter suggested building booths because the Transfiguration event took place near the festival of Booths/Tabernacles. What was it that Peter suggested but may not have fully understood? Notice that Jesus did not rebuke Peter. Perhaps Peter was proposing that they did not need to keep the old covenant Feast of Booths to offer worship to God in the Jerusalem Temple when they could worship God the Son on the mountain in the presence of the great prophets. He probably didn't fully realize that the old Sinai Covenant order was coming to an end, and its festival commands and prohibitions were no longer binding. Perhaps he realized there would be new feast days to honor a new and eternal covenant as prophesied by the prophet Jeremiah (Jer 31:31-34; 32:40; 50:5).

Jesus was working to complete His work in fulfilling the Law, as He promised in Matthew 5:18, and would announce and inaugurate the New Covenant at the Last Supper (Lk 22:19-20). He would fulfill/finish the Sinai Covenant on the Cross, when He announced, "Teltelestai/It is finished." (Jn 19:30, NABRE). The moral law would remain, but the religious purity rituals, the God-ordained feasts, and their commands and prohibitions would be transformed into New Covenant worship, sacraments, and feast days (Heb 8:13; 9:11-15; 10:11-18).

34 While he was still speaking, a cloud came and cast a shadow over [overshadowed] 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.
The voice is the same voice that was heard at Jesus's baptism by St. John the Baptist (Lk 3:22). Notice how the Most Holy Trinity is manifested in this event as He was at Jesus' baptism:

• God the Father's voice was heard from heaven.
• God the Son was present in His glory (and in His humanity at the baptism).
• God the Holy Spirit was represented by the overshadowing cloud (and by a dove at Jesus baptism).

The presence of God the Holy Spirit manifested in a cloud is in both the Old and New Testaments:

1. A pillar of cloud led the children of Israel on the Exodus journey (Ex 13:21-22).
2. An overshadowing cloud took possession of the desert Tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant (Ex 40:34).
3. A cloud filled the newly dedicated Temple of the Lord in Jerusalem (1 Kng 8:10-14; 2 Chr 5:13-14).
4. A cloud overshadowed the Virgin Mary in the Incarnation of Christ (Lk 1:35).
5. An overshadowing cloud appeared at the Transfiguration (Lk 9:34).

The Greek word for the shadow of the cloud cast over them is episkiazo. It is the same word found in the account of the Holy Spirit overshadowing the Virgin Mary in the Incarnation (Lk 1:35), and it is the same word used in the Greek translation of Exodus when God's Spirit overshadowed the Tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant (Ex 40:34). A cloud is a frequent vehicle for the manifestation of God's presence in Scripture (for some additional examples see Ex 16:10; 19:9; 24:15-16; 33:9, 34:5; 2 Mac 2:8; Acts 1:9; Rev 11:12; 14:14).

Do not miss that this significant event of Jesus's Transfiguration is tied both in time and meaning to the event of Peter's confession of Christ as the Messiah and the prediction of His coming Passion. The pronouncement of the Divine Voice, "this is my beloved Son" (Lk 9:35a) is confirmation of Peter's confession of Jesus as Messiah and "listen to Him" is a warning to listen to Jesus' announcement of His coming Passion and to cooperate in His mission (Lk 9:35b). The command of the Divine Voice of God from heaven, "Listen to Him," is also a confirmation that Jesus is the prophet like Moses that God promised the people in Deuteronomy 18:15-19. That prophecy ends with a promise and a command: I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their kinsmen, and will put my words into his mouth; he shall tell them all that I command. If any man will not listen to my words which he speaks in my name, I myself will make him answer for it (Dt 18:18-19 NJB).

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.
Like the children of Israel who heard the voice of God in the Theophany at Sinai (Ex 20:18), and like the prophet Daniel who experienced a divine appearance (Dan 9:15-18; 10:7-9), the three Apostles are amazed at what they experienced. "At that time," they did not tell anyone but shared their experience later. Peter wrote about the Transfiguration years later in a letter to the universal Church: We did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received honor and glory from God the Father when that unique declaration came to him for the majestic glory, "This is my Son, my beloved, with whom I am well pleased."  We ourselves heard this voice come from heaven while we were with him on the holy mountain (2 Pt 1:16-18, NABRE).

Michal E Hunt, Copyright © 2013; revised 2022 Agape Bible Study. Permissions All Rights Reserved.