Feb 18, 2013
Genesis 15:5-12, 17-18
Psalm 27:1,7-9, 13-14
Philippians 3:17-4:1
Luke 9:28-36 (see also "A
'New' Exodus")
In today's Gospel, we go up to the mountain with Peter, John and
James. There we see Jesus "transfigured," speaking with Moses and
Elijah about His "exodus."
The Greek word "exodus" means "departure." But the word is chosen
deliberately here to stir our remembrance of the Israelites' flight
from Egypt.
By His death and resurrection, Jesus will lead a new Exodus -
liberating not only Israel but every race and people; not from
bondage to Pharaoh, but from slavery to sin and death. He will lead
all mankind, not to the territory promised to Abraham in today's
First Reading, but to the heavenly commonwealth that Paul describes
in today's Epistle.
Moses, the giver of God's law, and the great prophet Elijah, were
the only Old Testament figures to hear the voice and see the glory
of God atop a mountain (see
Exodus 24:15-18; 1
Kings 19:8-18).
Today's scene closely resembles God's revelation to Moses, who also
brought along three companions and whose face also shone
brilliantly (see Exodus
24:1;
34:29). But when the divine cloud departs in today's
Gospel, Moses and Elijah are gone. Only Jesus remains. He has
revealed the glory of the Trinity - the voice of the Father, the
glorified Son, and the Spirit in the shining cloud.
Jesus fulfills all that Moses and the prophets had come to teach
and show us about God (see Luke
24:27). He is the "chosen One" promised by Isaiah (see
Isaiah
42:1; Luke
23:35), the "prophet like me" that Moses had promised
(see
Deuteronomy 18:15; Acts
3:22-23; 7:37).
Far and above that, He is the Son of God (see Psalm
2:7; Luke
3:21-23).
"Listen to Him,"the Voice tells us from the cloud. If, like
Abraham, we put our faith in His words, one day we too will be
delivered into "the land of the living" that we sing of in today's
Psalm. We will share in His resurrection, as Paul promises, our
lowly bodies glorified like His.