A reading of the holy gospel according to Saint Luke. Our lord took Peter, John, and James, three of them, and went up onto a mountain to pray. While he was praying, his face changed in appearance and his clothes became dazzlingly white. Then suddenly, two men were talking with Jesus, Moses and Elijah. They all appeared in glory and spoke of his passage of his passage, which he was about to fulfill in Jerusalem, his en route to Jerusalem.
Peter and those with him had fallen into a deep sleep. But awakening, they saw his glory. And likewise, they saw the two men who were standing with him, with Jesus. When these were leaving, Peter said to Jesus, master, how good it is for us to be here. Let us set up three booths.
One for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. Notice how it's good old Peter right on the spot. Peter did not really know what he was saying. That's in in parenthesis. While he was still speaking, however, that is Peter was speaking, a cloud came and overshadowed all of them, and the disciples grew fearful as the others entered it.
Then from the cloud came a voice, said, this is my son, my chosen one. Listen to him. When the voice fell silent, Jesus was there alone. The disciples kept quiet, telling nothing of what they had seen at that time to anybody. And this is the gospel of the lord.
Praise to lord. In the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit. Amen. Well, this is a mysterious episode in our lord's life. By that, I mean, what is it what does it mean?
Let's begin with some facts. I like to begin right down there with our feet on earth. First of all, this transfiguration episode is in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, both all three synoptics. We don't know. It was on some kind of a mount or a mountain.
That's all. It may have been Taber. It may have been Mount Of Olives. Take your pick. We don't know that, but it was on some kind of a mountain.
We also know, without a doubt, that this took place while our lord is going to Jerusalem where he's going to suffer his the trial, the passion, his death, and the resurrection. And he's been talking about that as they are en route. That's another fact. Now what is the significance of it? What does it mean?
Well, there are all there are all kinds of means. And I'm not the one who likes these, what do you call it, the way they interpret the text to our personal lives, you know. The first thing to do is to get the facts, madam. The facts. Get your feet on earth and then keep your head in the heavens if you want, but be anchored.
A boat without an anchor is making trouble if it's not tied up in a slip. Now what's perfectly clear is our lord is en route to Jerusalem. He has already spoken to the disciples, telling them what's going to happen because, you know, they said, lord, don't go up there. So they they they also knew that something terrible was going to happen in Jerusalem. But on route now, this takes place.
These are facts. Now what does it mean? Well, I think the most obvious meaning, as far as I can make out, the meaning which is the interpretation which is generally accepted is the first one. There are others there are a number of them. I'm only gonna go do the one that seems to make more the most sense.
And that is he is trying notice these it's it's it's James and John and Peter. Only one of them was on Calvary. John. And Peter denied him. I don't know what happened to James.
They had to be our lord is telling them, listen, you guys. You're going to see some terrible things up. He's already said this. He didn't exactly use this language I'm using. He didn't speak English, you understand.
He was one of those benighted people who didn't speak English in those days. Well, we all understand that. Anyway, he now is telling them, look. I'm going to go up there. I'm going to suffer and die.
And he made enough references in bringing in the Old Testament to bring in the prophecy of what was to happen to the Messiah. Isaiah is full of it. Now notice that two people who are in this revelation, whatever transformation or whatever word you wanted, theosophy is the fancy word for it, are notice who they are. They're Moses. And Moses gave the Jews the law.
He carried the tablets down from the mountain before he smashed them. And the other one is Elijah, the first of all, the prophets. And remember, there are plenty of messianic texts in the Old Testament, plenty of them, even after you eliminate all the doubtful ones. I'm talking in terms of hundreds. And so here what seems to me that this interpretation makes the most sense.
It's what I think any sensible person was going to do under these circumstances. He's bringing home to his disciples that he is more than a man. He's bringing home to them that he is the summation of the old law. Moses, the law. Elijah, the prophet.
He's bringing home to them that this is going to be a tremendous event in Jerusalem, and they must not lose their faith not lose their faith when there's no cloud, when there is nothing dazzling, when there's no Elijah, when there is no Moses, and when Jesus is nothing but himself, that they will say, my lord and my god. I don't think that that's the generally that's the the the interpretation that is most often given, and it seems to me to be the sensible one. Because, certainly, when you take if you start if you started to if all you knew about Christ was what happened after the transfiguration, wouldn't you excluding the resurrection, of course, you'd have trouble in thinking that this is god almighty. When you saw the way he was treated by Herod, when you saw the way he was treated by the soldiers, when you was when you saw how he was treated en route to Calvary, when you see the kind of death, they not only executed him, but they gave him the most hideous, the most debasing, the slimiest kind of a death. Very difficult to see that and to say, my lord and my god, unless you read the resurrection story.
And so it seems to me that here we have something in our own lives, and I'm speaking within the last twenty four hours of my lifespan life. People are still searching for Christ. Why in the name of heavens are they searching? He's with them. He's at our beck and call.
We are not wanderers. We may be travelers, but we're not wanderers. And as one one commentator said on this text, quoting Saint Thomas Aquinas, that's my late friend, you know, he's that you have to know where you're going in order to choose the way. We are not wonder wonderless kids. We know where we're going.
We know how to get there. We know the way. Jesus told us that. But you've got to accept Jesus. And it's very easy to accept Jesus on your first communion day or maybe confirmation or your wedding day or or, you know, these great events in their life.
Four or five of them take care of a whole life. And we feel close to God, and we feel near only yesterday, I said, I I can't pray because I I can't even bring myself to feel the presence of god. Notice that darn word feel. You cannot you cannot build your spiritual life on your feelings. They're almost inevitably tied to your indigestion.
Is that any way of having a spiritual life when you had a good meal? I'm not the I may I mean these words literally. If you're if you're tied all with a case of a bad indigestion, you're gonna have trouble praying. And when everything is fine, your business is going well, things are good at home, this is a very unusual situation. The car is running, the mortgage is paid, you know.
Oh, the world is great. Forget it. In the next minute, you're gonna slide down, and you're going to see Jesus alone, alone. No dazzling clothes, no Moses, no Elijah, no Peter saying, Lord, this is great to be here. You bet it was.
You we're we're just happy. Let us let us stay up here. Let's establish a camp on this blooming mountain. That's what we like it to be. But in the end, all they saw was Jesus alone.
Remember, that's all god he promised us that he would be with us alone. In the name of the father, and of the son, and holy spirit. Amen.