Posted on 03/12/2022 2:14:32 PM PST by fidelis
Slavery is not a good thing. God's liberation of the people of Israel from the condition of slavery—an event we call "the Exodus," literally, "the road out"—is one of the most important events and motifs in the whole Bible.
Although loosely related, the Readings for this Sunday are linked by the theme of the Exodus. In the First Reading, the Exodus is prophesied; in the Gospel, Jesus begins a New Exodus that culminates in the Last Supper and Calvary.
1. Our First Reading is Genesis 15:5-12, 17-18:
The Lord God took Abram outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars, if you can. Just so,” he added, “shall your descendants be.” Abram put his faith in the LORD, who credited it to him as an act of righteousness.
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.” “O Lord GOD,” he asked, “how am I to know that I shall possess it?” He answered him, “Bring me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old she-goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” Abram brought him all these, split them in two, and placed each half opposite the other; but the birds he did not cut up. Birds of prey swooped down on the carcasses, but Abram stayed with them. As the sun was about to set, a trance fell upon Abram, and a deep, terrifying darkness enveloped him.
When the sun had set and it was dark, there appeared a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch, which passed between those pieces. 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.”
This is a very strange reading to many people, and I would not be surprised if numerous homilists this Sunday are at a loss to explain what is going on in this passage. What is this ritual? Is it something along the lines of Huckleberry Finn's famous cure for warts: to swing a dead cat around your head in a graveyard at midnight?
For ancient readers, however, the actions described in this passage would have made perfect sense. The animals that Abraham brings are "clean" animals, that is, animals suitable for sacrifice or other holy use, according to biblical law. He cuts them in two and lays the pieces opposite one another.
The smoking fire pot and torch that appear are representations of God's presence, a theophany. The passing between the pieces of the animals had an established meaning in the ancient Near East: whoever passed through the pieces was saying, by means of this ritual, "May I be slain like these animals if I do not keep the commitments of the covenant I am now making." By causing his presence (represented by the fire pot and torch) to move between the animals, God was saying to Abraham: "I invoke upon myself a curse of death if I do not fulfill the promises I am making to you right now."
How God could possibly invoke a curse of death on himself is a great mystery, but it recalls to mind certain themes from the New Testament, such as St. Paul's statement that "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us — for it is written, “Cursed be every one who hangs on a tree” ... (Gal 3:13).
A covenant is a kinship relationship established between two non-relatives by means of an oath. In Genesis 15, the ritual of passing between the animals constitutes a non-verbal oath (an oath-ritual) that establishes a kinship relationship between God and Abraham. Most covenants included specific promises about how the covenant partners would treat each other now that they were family. The specific promise in this covenant is that God (the covenant "father") would grant Abraham (the covenant "son") the whole land of Canaan.
In a part of this story omitted in this First Reading, God prophesies the Exodus while He is moving between the pieces:
Then the LORD said to Abram, “Know of a surety that your descendants will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs, and will be slaves there, and they will be oppressed for four hundred years; but I will bring judgment on the nation which they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions. (Gen 15:13-14)
It's a shame that these verses are omitted, because they make explicit the Exodus theme that unites the readings.
This covenant-making event between God and Abraham in Genesis 15 foreshadows the covenant-making event between God and Israel at Sinai in Exodus 19-24.
In Genesis 15 and at Sinai, God's presence is manifested by darkness, smoke, cloud, fire, and "torches" (in Hebrew, "lightning" and "torches" are the same word). In both cases, a covenant is made. In both cases, the promise of the covenant is the Land of Canaan (the "Promised Land"). In both cases, animals are sacrificed to solemnize the covenant.
This Reading provides us the back story for understanding the Exodus and the Passover. These were events that God foresaw hundreds of years before they came to pass. The Passover and Exodus were, in fact, fulfillments of the promises of the covenant God had made to Abram the ancestor of the Israelites long before they cried out to God in their suffering as slaves.
Exodus and Passover are powerful themes in Lent, as we prepare to re-live the Crossing of the Red Sea in Baptism and the Passover in the Easter Eucharist.
2. Our Second Reading is Philippians 3:17—4:1:
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. For many, as I have often told you and now tell you even in tears, conduct themselves as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction. Their God is their stomach; their glory is in their “shame.” 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. 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.
Therefore, my brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, in this way stand firm in the Lord.
In keeping with the theme of slavery and liberation from it, St. Paul here describes people who live in slavery to their physical desires: "many…conduct themselves as enemies of the cross... their god is their stomach, their glory is their shame."
These people are "enemies of the cross." This means, among other things, they resist any form of suffering or self-denial. They do not embrace Jesus teaching that "Whoever would come after me, must take up his cross daily and follow me." They cannot except the restrictions on their gluttony, their drinking, or their sexual habits that following Jesus requires. Such folk regard unrestrained indulgence of their physical desires as "freedom," but in fact it is a slavery to their passions, a "slavery" that St. Paul describes as a form of false religion: "Their god is their stomach." By giving in to constant physical pleasures, they worship their appetites.
St. Paul is, of course, describing contemporary Western (including American) culture. Statistics say 77% of Americans watch internet porn at least once a month. Obesity is rampant and increasing. About one-quarter of the adult population engages in binge drinking. And why not? Since the state-funded public-school system teaches all children that humans are essentially biological robots, accidental products of a mindless process (evolution) that began with a meaningless accident (the Big Bang), why shouldn't we just try to have as much physical pleasure during our brief and meaningless lives? As the ancient poet expressed it so well:
“Short and sorrowful is our life, and there is no remedy when a man comes to his end, and no one has been known to return from Hades. Because we were born by mere chance, and hereafter we shall be as though we had never been; because the breath in our nostrils is smoke, and reason is a spark kindled by the beating of our hearts. When it is extinguished, the body will turn to ashes, and the spirit will dissolve like empty air. Our name will be forgotten in time and no one will remember our works; our life will pass away like the traces of a cloud, and be scattered like mist that is chased by the rays of the sun and overcome by its heat. For our allotted time is the passing of a shadow, and there is no return from our death, because it is sealed up and no one turns back. “Come, therefore, let us enjoy the good things that exist, and make use of the creation to the full as in youth. Let us take our fill of costly wine and perfumes, and let no flower of spring pass by us. Let us crown ourselves with rosebuds before they wither. Let none of us fail to share in our revelry, everywhere let us leave signs of enjoyment, because this is our portion, and this our lot. (Wisdom 2:1-9)
It was written c. 100 BC, but could have been written today.
Getting back to St. Paul and his words to the Philippians, we notice that he promises us freedom from slavery to the body by the power of Jesus. Jesus has the power to transform our lowly bodies—with all their unruly desires—to be like his glorious body. And this is a process that starts even now. Through the disciplines of Lent—prayer, fasting, and almsgiving—we learn freedom from domination by our bodily desires. We learn to be like Christ, to "bring all things into subjection" to him, including our disordered passions.
Strong hope in heaven is necessary to experience an "Exodus" from slavery to our "stomachs" (physical desires) in this life. Unless there is hope for a life to come, it doesn't make sense to abstain from any pleasure in this life. So St. Paul reminds us: "our citizenship is in heaven, and we await a savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ." During this Lent, let's pray for an increase in hope.
3. The Gospel is Luke 9:28b-36:
Jesus took Peter, John, and James and went up the mountain to pray. While he was praying his face changed in appearance and his clothing became dazzling white. And behold, two men were conversing with him, Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of his exodus that he was going to accomplish in Jerusalem. Peter and his companions had been overcome by sleep, but becoming fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him. 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. While he was still speaking, a cloud came and cast a shadow over them, and they became frightened when they entered the cloud. Then from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my chosen Son; listen to him.” After the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. They fell silent and did not at that time tell anyone what they had seen.
This passage plays a pivotal role in the Gospel of Luke, because shortly after the Transfiguration, Jesus "sets his face to go to Jerusalem" (Luke 9:51), and for the next ten chapters (Luke 10-19) Jesus is journeying from Galilee to Jerusalem. Scholars call this section of Luke "the Travel Narrative." Theologically what is taking place is this: Jesus is gathering the New Israel around him as he journeys to Jerusalem in a New Exodus that will culminate in a New Passover (the Institution of the Eucharist) marking the deliverance of Israel not from Egyptian bondage but the bondage to sin.
Moses and Elijah arrive to talk with Jesus. Moses represents the Law, Elijah the Prophets. Together, the "Law and the Prophets" were the Jewish way of referring to their Scriptures, what we would now call the Old Testament. So Moses and Elijah talking to Jesus is a sign of the Old Testament testifying to Christ, a sign of the unity of God's revelation through the Old and New Covenants. The God who spoke to Moses and Elijah is the same God who reveals Jesus and is revealed in Jesus.
Peter does not grasp the full significance of the situation. He suggests three tents (or tabernacles, Gk skēnas), one each for Moses, Elijah, and Jesus, as if each held the same status. Although he has previously confessed Jesus as "the Christ of God" (Luke 9:20) or "Son of the Living God" (Matthew 16:16), here he does not seem to act consistently with that confession. The voice from heaven, the voice of the Father, has to remind him that Jesus, as the "beloved Son," is incomparable even with the great prophets of old.
God's presence becomes manifest in a cloud, as it was frequently in the Old Testament. For example, the Israelite Exodus was led by a pillar of cloud, and a cloud enveloped the Tabernacle when it was dedicated (see Exodus 40:34-38). In fact, the cloud covering the Tabernacle is probably the most significant connection with the cloud here at the Transfiguration. It marks Jesus out as the New Tabernacle, the dwelling place of the Presence of God. Peter wanted to make three tabernacles (Gk.skēnas), one for each prophet. But Jesus is the unique Tabernacle (Gk. skēnē) of God.
After the voice of the Father speaks: "This is my chosen Son. Listen to him!", only Jesus remains. Jesus is the fullness of revelation. While the Law and the Prophets testify to him, Jesus lacks nothing in himself. He is the complete Word of God made flesh, sufficient in himself for salvation.
The Transfiguration, this glorification of Christ at the top of a mountain at the beginning of his Exodus journey, foreshadows his Crucifixion, the paradoxical glorification of Jesus on a mountaintop at the end of his journey. At the transfiguration, the glory is visible. At Calvary, the glory is hidden under humility and sacrifice. Yet the greatest glory of God is his mercy, his self-gift of love. The Cross is the glory of Christ and the glory of Christians, since it signifies the ultimate self-gift of God.
During Lent, through prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, we learn to "take up the cross daily," that is, make our lives into a self-gift of love to others. Through these practices of liberation, we experience a New Exodus from our bondage to physical desire and pride. Then we truly become children of Abraham, a people who live in freedom and walk by faith (Genesis 15:6) as he did. Our lives become transfigured, luminous.
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Dr. John Bergsma is Full Professor of Theology at the Franciscan University of Steubenville, in Steubenville, Ohio. He holds the M.Div. and Th.M. degrees from Calvin Seminary, Grand Rapids, Michigan, and served as a Protestant pastor for four years before entering the Catholic Church in 2001 while pursuing a Ph.D. in Theology from the University of Notre Dame. He specialized in the Old Testament and the Dead Sea Scrolls, graduating with high honors in 2004. His major study of the interpretation of the Year of Jubilee in ancient times is published as The Jubilee from Leviticus to Qumran (Brill Academic, 2007). These weekly meditations are now available in three hardcover volumes as "The Word of the Lord: Reflections on the Sunday Mass Readings for Years A, B, & C" (2021, Emmaus Road) https://www.johnbergsma.com/biography/
© 2013 thesacredpage.com
A foretaste of the Kingdom: the Transfiguration
CCC 554 From the day Peter confessed that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, the Master "began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things. . . and be killed, and on the third day be raised." (Mt 16:21) Peter scorns this prediction, nor do the others understand it any better than he.(Cf. Mt 16:22-23; Mt 17:23; Lk 9:45) In this context the mysterious episode of Jesus' Transfiguration takes place on a high mountain,(Cf. Mt 17:1-8 and parallels; 2 Pet 1:16-18) before three witnesses chosen by himself: Peter, James and John. Jesus' face and clothes become dazzling with light, and Moses and Elijah appear, speaking "of his departure, which he was to accomplish at Jerusalem".(Lk 9:31) A cloud covers him and a voice from heaven says: "This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!"(Lk 9:35)
CCC 555 For a moment Jesus discloses his divine glory, confirming Peter's confession. He also reveals that he will have to go by the way of the cross at Jerusalem in order to "enter into his glory".(Lk 24:26) Moses and Elijah had seen God's glory on the Mountain; the Law and the Prophets had announced the Messiah's sufferings.(Cf. Lk 24:27) Christ's Passion is the will of the Father: the Son acts as God's servant;(Cf. Isa 42:1) the cloud indicates the presence of the Holy Spirit. "The whole Trinity appeared: the Father in the voice; the Son in the man; the Spirit in the shining cloud."(St. Thomas Aquinas, STh III, 45, 4, ad 2)
You were transfigured on the mountain, and your disciples, as much as they were capable of it, beheld your glory, O Christ our God, so that when they should see you crucified they would understand that your Passion was voluntary, and proclaim to the world that you truly are the splendor of the Father.(Byzantine Liturgy, Feast of the Transfiguration, Kontakion)
CCC 556 On the threshold of the public life: the baptism; on the threshold of the Passover: the Transfiguration. Jesus' baptism proclaimed "the mystery of the first regeneration", namely, our Baptism; the Transfiguration "is the sacrament of the second regeneration": our own Resurrection.(St. Thomas Aquinas, STh III, 45, 4, ad 2) From now on we share in the Lord's Resurrection through the Spirit who acts in the sacraments of the Body of Christ. The Transfiguration gives us a foretaste of Christ's glorious coming, when he "will change our lowly body to be like his glorious body."(Phil 3:21) But it also recalls that "it is through many persecutions that we must enter the kingdom of God":(Acts 14:22)
Peter did not yet understand this when he wanted to remain with Christ on the mountain. It has been reserved for you, Peter, but for after death. For now, Jesus says: "Go down to toil on earth, to serve on earth, to be scorned and crucified on earth. Life goes down to be killed; Bread goes down to suffer hunger; the Way goes down to be exhausted on his journey; the Spring goes down to suffer thirst; and you refuse to suffer?"(St. Augustine, Sermo 78, 6: PL 38, 492-493; cf. Lk 9:33)
CCC 568 Christ's Transfiguration aims at strengthening the apostles' faith in anticipation of his Passion: the ascent on to the "high mountain" prepares for the ascent to Calvary. Christ, Head of the Church, manifests what his Body contains and radiates in the sacraments: "the hope of glory" (Col 1:27; cf.: St. Leo the Great, Sermo 51, 3: PL 54, 310C).
CCC 2583c ...Elijah, like Moses before him, hides "in a cleft of the rock" until the mysterious presence of God has passed by.(Cf. 1 Kings 19:1-14; cf. Ex 33:19-23) But only on the mountain of the Transfiguration will Moses and Elijah behold the unveiled face of him whom they sought; "the light of the knowledge of the glory of God [shines] in the face of Christ," crucified and risen.(2 Cor 4:6; cf. Lk 9:30-35)
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
On the Second Sunday of Lent, the Evangelist Luke emphasizes that Jesus went up on the mountain “to pray” (9: 28), together with the Apostles Peter, James and John, and it was “while he prayed” (9: 29) that the luminous mystery of his Transfiguration occurred.
Thus, for the three Apostles, going up the mountain meant being involved in the prayer of Jesus, who frequently withdrew in prayer especially at dawn and after sunset, and sometimes all night.
However, this was the only time, on the mountain, that he chose to reveal to his friends the inner light that filled him when he prayed: his face, we read in the Gospel, shone and his clothes were radiant with the splendour of the divine Person of the Incarnate Word (cf. Lk 9: 29).
There is another detail proper to St Luke’s narrative which deserves emphasis: the mention of the topic of Jesus’ conversation with Moses and Elijah, who appeared beside him when he was transfigured. As the Evangelist tells us, they “talked with him… and spoke of his departure” (in Greek, éxodos), “which he was to accomplish at Jerusalem” (9: 31).
Therefore, Jesus listens to the Law and the Prophets who spoke to him about his death and Resurrection. In his intimate dialogue with the Father, he did not depart from history, he did not flee the mission for which he came into the world, although he knew that to attain glory he would have to pass through the Cross.
On the contrary, Christ enters more deeply into this mission, adhering with all his being to the Father’s will; he shows us that true prayer consists precisely in uniting our will with that of God. For a Christian, therefore, to pray is not to evade reality and the responsibilities it brings but rather, to fully assume them, trusting in the faithful and inexhaustible love of the Lord.
For this reason, the verification of the Transfiguration is, paradoxically, the Agony in Gethsemane (cf. Lk 22: 39-46). With his impending Passion, Jesus was to feel mortal anguish and entrust himself to the divine will; his prayer at that moment would become a pledge of salvation for us all.
Indeed, Christ was to implore the Heavenly Father “to free him from death” and, as the author of the Letter to the Hebrews wrote: “he was heard for his godly fear” (5: 7). The Resurrection is proof that he was heard.
Dear brothers and sisters, prayer is not an accessory or “optional”, but a question of life or death. In fact, only those who pray, in other words, who entrust themselves to God with filial love, can enter eternal life, which is God himself.
During this Season of Lent, let us ask Mary, Mother of the Incarnate Word and Teacher of the spiritual life, to teach us to pray as her Son did so that our life may be transformed by the light of his presence.
Bergsma nails this trifecta of Readings... brings us back to school...
Great Post..
This is where I got this.
Let us eagerly move up the mountain! How long, after all, shall we delay in the foothills of our discourse, gazing in wonder at the beauty of the ascent before us, when it is possible to ascend ourselves with those who have been raised up by the Word and have been judged worthy of higher things? When it is possible for us to be illuminated by the cloud ourselves, and so have our own eyes blinded and yet to be initiated, by an excess of light, into what is above human power? It is now possible for us too, to listen to what is said, even by that blessed voice that reaches us from the Father, as it bears faithful witness to the divinity of the Only-Begotten, and clearly presents to us their substantial identity. Guided by the Spirit, then, let us revel in mystical knowledge of what has come to pass in the Transfiguration of the Lord. For I know myself that the purpose of the Transfiguration has this in view, and that the mystery invites us to sing its praises in this way. For it wants us to understand the depth of what has been accomplished here, and in knowing what is said here, to absorb the grace of the story more effectively by imitating the one who is transfigured—a grace that works this same marvelous and strange mystery also in us….
For Christ has become human, and so shares our present life; and he has introduced into our pattern of life the gift of sharing with us a way of life above this world. If we accept the gift, our human life is revealed as fertile in the things of the Spirit, since it has laid aside the sterility caused within it by sin. For this reason, then, humans from now on dance with the angels, praising God together with them and saying, Glory to God in the highest places, and peace on earth, good will among men and women.
Here you have, my beloved, the message of the mystery; even if much that we hope for is still missing, still it is not outside what lies in our power. And you may hope for a still higher and more mystical promise from the Word himself, who for your sake bore flesh and endured the cross. If you accept it, you can treasure it up within yourself with all eagerness, as an inexplicable, unspeakable word, trusting in the Word until he himself, the Lord who suffered in flesh, conquers death in you and raises you from the dead; and by raising you, as one who had been killed by sin, he will make you divine in the Spirit.
Saint Andrew of Crete
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Saint Andrew of Crete († 740) was a Greek monk, archbishop, theologian, and hymnographer. He was influential in the development of the Byzantine liturgy
The apostles had an idea of the kind of conversation they were eavesdropping on at the Transfiguration, but Moses knew better
By Rob Bennett • 3/14/2022
Yesterday, we heard about how “Jesus took Peter, John, and James up on the mountain to pray” (Luke 9:28)—intentionally excluding nine of the twelve from witnessing the astonishing transfiguration that Jesus knew was about to take place there.
John was taken to the mountaintop, the natural-born mystic, traditional author of the profoundest Gospel; the greater James was taken, probably a cousin and lifelong friend to our Lord; and Peter, keeper of the keys. “And as he was praying, the appearance of his countenance was altered, and his raiment became dazzling white”—as white as light, according to St. Matthew’s version, and his face shone like the sun.
The Early Church Was the Catholic Church free eBook This change, the apostles would later realize, was not Jesus advancing to some new state of perfection or donning some new garment . . . but dropping an old one: “Rather,” as we have already read, “he [had previously] emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness . . . found in human appearance, he [had] humbled himself.” It was a look that John would recognize when he saw it a second time many years later—a vision he records in the book of Revelation: “In his right hand he held seven stars . . . and his face was like the sun shining in full strength” (1:16).
“And behold, two men talked with [Jesus], Moses, and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was to accomplish at Jerusalem” (Luke 9:31). These two men, whose lives on earth had been separated by as much as 700 years, are here to stand in symbolically for the Law and the Prophets: the Old Covenant giving its stamp of approval to the New. If John felt a sense of déjà vu when he saw the glorified Christ again during the events of the Apocalypse, Moses must have undergone a similar experience here at the Transfiguration. Moses, recall, had once climbed to an awesome mountaintop, taken three trusted companions with him, and—as we shall see in a moment—heard God speaking through a heavenly voice (Exod. 24). “Now Peter and those who were with him were heavy with sleep but kept awake, and they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him” (Luke 9:32).
What does it mean that Moses and Elijah spoke with Jesus “about his departure”? The Greek word translated here as “departure” (exodos) is the same term that the Septuagint uses for the departure of the Hebrews from Egypt, the Exodus. In other words, Moses learned (along with Elijah) that Jesus would soon lead an exodus from bondage at the Holy City, just as Moses himself once led the Israelites in an exodus from their servitude in Egypt. Not unnaturally, the eavesdropping apostles likely interpreted this news of an exodus solely in terms of literal liberation from the yoke of Rome. Moses knew, however—perhaps better than anyone—that Israel’s real troubles began after their release from pagan captivity.
Whether in Egypt or in the Promised Land, the Israelites were still sinners, and Moses, for all his inspired leadership, had never been able to break that spiritual yoke. By this point, he would certainly have agreed with the author of Hebrews that “the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices which are continually offered year after year, make perfect those who draw near. . . . For it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins” (10:1,4). The Great Jubilee of the Essenes promised a better liberation, from the debt of sin and bondage to the devil . . . but the concept was still, even at this late hour, being confounded with the mere political freedom with which most Israelites might have been content. Moses knew better.
Nine of the twelve, remember, had not made the cut, were not allowed to be present at the Transfiguration. And worse than that, our Lord did not even permit those who had been present to tell anyone about it—not even, it would seem, the other apostles! “As they were coming down the mountain, he ordered them to tell no one about what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead. So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what this rising from the dead could mean” (Mark 9:10). Luke’s version doubles down on this, making it clear that this temporary embargo really was strictly observed for the entirety of the prescribed period: “And they kept silent and in those days told no one any of the things they had seen” (Luke 9:36). What was the thinking behind this?
Several of the early Fathers ventured to guess that our Lord was concerned that his less mature disciples might take the Transfiguration as a sign that the kingdom had already come, or that his victory was now such a foregone conclusion that further work and prayers on their part would be superfluous. We are never, at any rate, told the reason outright in Scripture. We can only assume that master Teacher, in his infinite wisdom, simply knew that these others needed to grasp the Great Mystery in some other way.
It is perfectly certain, however, that the tone of Jesus’ teaching changes from about the Transfiguration forward; the “minor key” kicks in now, and it becomes the dominant tenor until the embargo is lifted—“until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead.” And Peter, James, and John, God bless them, move smoothly on to their next task at hand: “questioning,” that is, “what this rising from the dead could mean.”
This article is adapted from Rod Bennett’s new book These Twelve, available now at the Catholic Answers shop
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