(Matthew 17:1-9)
“And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain apart.” After foretelling of his coming passion in Jerusalem, and rebuking the misguided sympathies of Peter, Jesus waits six days to teach us a profound lesson on the mass and the sabbath. On the seventh day, Jesus ascends the mountain apart to show us the recreative power of the sabbath in this clear echo back to Genesis and the creation of the world. This is the first lesson from the Lord of the Sabbath, keep the sabbath holy; that is to say, set apart this day from other days. Free yourself from the endless cycle of life’s abundant worries. The world will always press upon us, seeking our attention. This is because we have a celestial enemy who’s greatest tool is the world. He wants to keep us tired and distracted, for what better prey is there then an exhausted nonreactive enemy? So well can he employ these tactics, that even entertainment itself can become an exhaustive affair, and what was once refreshing becomes a laborious chore. The sabbath invitation is the celestial weapon to repel the advances of our enemy, for it was not man that made the sabbath, but the sabbath was made for man. This institution was not merely a day made for man but it was, and is, a divine action instituted by God. And so, when one simply rests on the seventh day, they are participating in the divine life of God. Let this day be something different and allow yourself the freedom to make the journey with the Lord.
“And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his garments became white as light.” Do you desire holy things? Would you like to match the grandeur of the great saints? Do you seek the radical life of love that even St. Frances lived? He did not begin life as a radical saint, but he became that way because he too created a space in time for God in his life, and after allowing God in, he too became transfigured. This is because time with God changes a person. Simon could not remain Simon journeying with Jesus, but consequently became Peter. No longer a fisherman, but the foundation of God’s kingdom on earth which, the gates of hell can never prevail. If you want to be one of the great saints, this is were to begin and are to be sustained.
“And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Eli’jah, talking with him.” Death does not separate those in the Church of God. We believe that love is stronger than death, and that this is the intercession of the saints. We are one holy Catholic and Apostolic Church; not one church in heaven, one church in purgatory, and one church on earth. We are one undivided church. Do you miss your family and friends who have gone before you? Then become a saint so you can see them again in heaven. And for the impatient, go to mass, for if the mass is really the meeting of heaven and earth, then we can always find our beloved in heaven worshiping along side us in the Divine Liturgy.
“And Peter said to Jesus, ‘Lord, it is well that we are here; if you wish, I will make three booths here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Eli’jah’.” I propose Peter is not as foolish as we think in his offer. I go even as far as to say that here his actions are admirable. Peter at this point does not know how God wishes to be honored, to be worshiped, and so he has no other recourse then to propose the good that he knows in this offering of the Festival of Booths. Pay close attention at the manner of how Peter says, “if you wish.” Peter is not demanding God conform to his idea of worship. No, he once again is standing on uncertain waters and is reaching out to the Lord. And look, God the Father does not rebuke him, but redirects Peter to the form of worship he desires.
“He was still speaking, when behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.’ When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces, and were filled with awe.” This is the shekinah, the glory cloud of God. Mustn’t this act of Peter be one of great merit to have the honor of the shekinah to descend on him? This was an honor that had been bestowed on Moses in giving him the ten commandments. An honor that God gave Solomon at the completion of the temple, which David was not permitted to build. Tolle, lege.
(Deuteronomy 4:10-15) “that day you stood before the Lord, your God, at Horeb, when the Lord said to me: Assemble the people for me, that I may let them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me as long as they live in the land and may so teach their children. You came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, while the mountains blazed to the heart of the heavens with fire and was enveloped in a dense black cloud. Then the Lord spoke to you from the midst of the fire. You heard the sound of the words, but saw no form; there was only a voice. He proclaimed to you his covenant, which he commanded you to keep: the ten words, which he wrote on two stone tablets. At that time the Lord charged me to teach you the statutes and ordinances for you to observe in the land you are about to cross into and possess.”
(1st Kings 8: 9-12) “There was nothing in the ark but the two stone tablets which Moses had put there at Horeb, when the Lord made a covenant with the Israelites after they went forth from the land of Egypt. When the priest left the holy place, the cloud filled the house of the Lord so that the priest could no longer minister because of the cloud, since the glory of the Lord filled had filled the house of the Lord.”
Look at what God is portraying, he is not rebuking Peter for speaking wrongly. No, what is happening in this passage, is God the Father revealing his son Jesus as the New Moses to lead his people from slavery and guide them through the wilderness of our earthly pilgrimage. And in reading 1st Kings we see Jesus revealed also as the new temple, the true place of worshiping and sacrifice.
“A bright cloud overshadowed them.” Remember back to Mary, how was she to give birth to God? “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy the Son of God.” Is it not fitting that the Most High should also overshadow Christs apostles? Are they not also bearing the body of our Lord Jesus into the world? But how are these men to accomplish such a task? Through the power of the Holy Spirit, Christ’s apostles bring Jesus back into the world when they obey Jesus’ command at the Last Supper. “This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”(Luke 22:19-20). “And he took a chalice, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank of it. And said to them, ‘This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many’”(Mark 14:22-24). No, I do not think Peter a fool, because in this passage God teaches us how to move from the praise we want to offer him, to the praise he desires.
“But Jesus came and touched them, saying, ‘Rise, and have no fear.’ And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.”
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