Luke gives us the
impression of the Lord glorified so much so that the Apostles are awed. Remember that Luke was a doctor writing to
Gentile readers about Christ and how to be good disciples. He is also interested in examining things. This reading as Jesus and some of the
Apostles are on the mountain praying it is hard not to think about the other
garden that Jesus would so famously pray in at Gethsemane. In this is the Transfiguration, a pledge of
Jesus Christ’s full glory revealed. In the other garden, he would be taken to
suffer through the Passion that led to the Cross.
Jesus is not alone as he prays. Moses and Elijah are with him. They were conversing about Jesus’ death and
everything that would happen in Jerusalem.
One of our early Church Fathers, Tertullian, wrote that Moses and Elijah
represented the Law and the Prophets.
They appear dwelling within the Lord High God. Peter recognizes them and wants almost to
capture them knowing that truly this must mean that Jesus is the Messiah. Peter in the passage before today’s reading
as confessed that Jesus is the Messiah, but like then, he is commanded by God
the Father to be silent and to listen to what the Word, that is Jesus the
Christ, His only Son, has to say. Christ
is the fulfillment of the Law and as prophet, speaks for God. At the same time Jesus came to make a new covenant
with his people through his love, mercy and grace upon the Cross for the
salvation of mankind.
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