Other Sunday and Holy Day Readings
2nd SUNDAY OF LENT (Cycle B)
Readings:
Genesis 22:1-2, 9-13
Psalm 116:10, 15-19
Romans 8:31-34
Mark 9:2-10
Abbreviations: NABRE (New American Bible Revised Edition), NJB (New Jerusalem Bible), IBHE (Interlinear Bible Hebrew-English), IBGE (Interlinear Bible Greek-English), or LXX (Greek Septuagint Old Testament translation). CCC designates a citation from the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The word LORD or GOD rendered in all capital letters is, in the Hebrew text, God's Divine Name, YHWH (Yahweh).
God reveals His divine plan for humanity in the two Testaments; therefore, we read and relive the events of salvation history in the Old and New Testaments in the Church's Liturgy. The Catechism teaches that our Liturgy reveals the unfolding mystery of God's plan as we read the Old Testament in light of the New and the New Testament in light of the Old (CCC 1094-1095).
The Theme of the Readings: The Beloved Son
Our Lenten season began with the account of Satan testing
Jesus in the wilderness. This Sunday, we continue with another tale of testing.
In the First Reading, God tested Abraham's obedience in a covenant ordeal. He
told Abraham to build an altar and to offer up his "beloved son," Isaac, as a
sacrifice on a mountain (Gen 22:1-2). Abraham passed the test because he believed
God would keep His promise to give Abraham descendants from his beloved son, Isaac
(Gen 17:19). Abraham had faith that God would resurrect his son from death to
keep His promise (Heb 11:17-19).
In the Responsorial Psalm, the psalmist expresses confidence that God watches over the lives of the righteous. Their deaths are a matter of significance because they are precious to God, who accepts their deaths as a sacrificial offering. In the response, we confess our faith in God to raise us from physical death as we sing: "I will walk before the Lord, in the land of the living."
In the Second Reading, St. Paul assures us that God is on our side. He wrote that God did not spare His Son but offered Jesus as a sacrifice on the Cross to save humanity from sin and death. St. Paul promised the elect would emerge victorious from all life's attacks and sufferings. God forgives His chosen of their sins through His beloved Son's sacrifice. In the Sacrament of Baptism, we died with Christ to be raised with Him to a new spiritual life with the hope of reaching Heaven in death and a bodily resurrection at the end of time.
In the Gospel Reading, God called Jesus His "beloved Son" on the mountain of the Transfiguration miracle in the same way that Isaac was Abraham's "beloved son" in Genesis 22:2. The difference is that God spared Abraham's beloved son; but He did not spare His "beloved Son," who died as a sacrifice on the altar of the Cross for the sins of humanity.
The Church has always read Abraham's story of testing and faith in offering his beloved son Isaac on an altar as foreshadowing how God, like Abraham, did not withhold His beloved Son from the altar of the Cross. Jesus died for all the beloved sons and daughters in the human family as a sign of God's love for the world. Jesus is the true Son that Abraham rejoiced to see (Jn 8:56; Mt 1:1). He is the beloved Son of God sent to suffer and die in atonement for our sins (Is 53:3) so that we might be strengthened in our tests of faith on our journeys to eternal salvation. Jesus's sacrificial death, Resurrection, and Ascension give us the hope of reaching Heaven and the blessing of union with the Most Holy Trinity at the end of our life's journey.
The First Reading Genesis 22:1-2, 9-13, 15-18 ~ The Testing of Abraham
1 God put Abraham to the test. He called to him,
"Abraham!" "Here I am!" he replied. 2 Then God said: "Take your son Isaac, your
only one whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah. There you shall offer him
up as a holocaust on a height that I will point out to you." [...] 9 When they
came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built an altar there and
arranged the wood on it. 10 Then he reached out and took the knife to slaughter
his son. 11 But the LORD'S messenger (*angel/messenger of Yahweh) called to him
from heaven, "Abraham, Abraham!" "Here I am!" he answered. 12 "Do not lay your
hand on the boy," said the messenger. "Do not do the least thing to him. I know
now how devoted you are to God since you did not withhold from me your own
beloved son." 13 As Abraham looked about, he spied a ram caught by its horns in
the thicket. So he went and took the ram and offered it up as a holocaust in
place of his son. [...] 15 Again the LORD's messenger called to Abraham from heaven
and said: "I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that because you acted as you
did in not withholding from me your beloved son, I will bless you abundantly
and make your descendants as countless as the stars of the sky and the sands of
the seashore; your descendants shall take possession of the gates of their
enemies, and in your descendants all the nations of the earth shall find
blessing—all this because you obeyed my command."
(*...) = literal Hebrew translation IBHE, vol. I, pages
50-51. LORD in capital letters represents the Divine Name, YHWH (Yahweh).
No other event recorded in the Old Testament so prefigures the Passion of the Christ as Abraham's test of obedience in Genesis chapter 22. The event is the last record of Abraham's direct experience with the divine and God's final command to His servant Abraham. The Jews call this event the Akedah, which means the "binding" of Isaac. Christians, from the Church's earliest years, have seen it as an archetype for the sacrifice of Jesus (Tertullian, Adversus Marcionem, 3.18).
1 God put Abraham to the test.
These events took place about ten years or more after Ishmael's
exile (Abraham's son by the slave Hagar) when Isaac was about 13 years old since
he could carry the wood for the sacrifice (Gen 22:6). The narrative begins by revealing
that God tested Abraham's covenant relationship with Him through a covenant
ordeal. A covenant ordeal tests the obedience and faith of a person in the
special relationship of a covenant union with God. In Abraham's covenant
ordeal, God tested his faith, trust, and obedience when He asked Abraham to
sacrifice his son. It was also a covenant ordeal for Isaac, who did not resist.
The importance of the opening statement allays any doubt concerning God's purpose in Abraham's covenant ordeal. It was a test, and He did not intend a human sacrifice. Human sacrifice, especially child sacrifice, was widely practiced in the ancient Near East and was an abomination to God. Archaeological excavations in Canaanite cemeteries have found thousands of clay jars containing the bones of sacrificed children.
There is a difference between Satan tempting us and God testing us. Satan tempts us to sin to separate us from our relationship with God and to destroy us (1 Chr 21:1; Mt 4:1; 1 Pt 5:8; Rom 6:23). God never tempts us to do evil. St. James wrote, No one experiencing temptation should say, "I am being tempted by God"; for God is not subject to temptation to evil, and he himself tempts no one. Rather, each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire conceives and brings forth sin, and when sin reaches maturity, it gives birth to death (Jam 1:13-15, also see Sir 15:11-15). God only tests us to strengthen and allow us to prove ourselves worthy (Ex 20:20; Dt 8:2; 1 Kng 10:1; 1 Ch 29:17; 2 Chr 9:1; Dan 1:12, 14; Wis 3:1, 4-7; 1 Cor 10:13).
| Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:1-24) | Failure |
| Abraham and Isaac (Genesis 22:1-14) | Success |
| Jesus at Gethsemane (Mt 28:36-46; Mk 14:32-42; Lk 22:39-46) | Success |
| Peter in the courtyard during Jesus's trial (Mt 26:69-75; Mk 14:66-72; Lk 22:55-62; Jn 18:16-27) | Failure |
| St. Stephen at his trial with the Jewish Sanhedrin (Acts 6:8-60) | Success |
1b He called to him "Abraham!" "Here I am!" he replied. 2
Then God said: "Take your son Isaac, your only one whom you love, and go to the
land of Moriah. There you shall offer him up as a holocaust on a height that I
will point out to you."
The Hebrew word "Moriah" is from the root r'h, meaning
"to see," and its derivative nouns, mar'a and mar'e, denote
"sight, spectacle, or vision" (Sinai & Zion: An Entry into the Jewish Bible,
Jon Levenson, page 94-95).
Yahweh first called Abraham in a test of faith and obedience when He told him to leave the city of Ur and "go to the land I will show you" (Gen 12:1). In the final call in Genesis 22, Yahweh again commanded Abraham "go," but this time to "go to the land of Moriah." Genesis 22:4 identifies the land of Moriah as a significant three-day journey from Abraham's camp at Beersheba. 2 Chronicles 3:1 identifies the Land of Moriah with the mountain range where the city of Jerusalem stood. It is the same location where the Temple of Yahweh would be built a thousand years after Abraham, during King Solomon's reign. Significantly, the same Hebrew words "go to" (lek-leka) are found in God's first command in Genesis 12:1 and again in the final command in 22:2 (Interlinear Bible: Hebrew-English, page 27, 50; Waltke page 301). These particular words do not appear together anywhere else in the Old Testament (Waltke, page 301).
The event in Genesis 22 was a test of Abraham's faith and obedience, as clearly stated in 22:1; however, it was also a test of Abraham's trust in God to fulfill His covenant promises despite what seemed to be impossible odds against the fulfillment. God promised Abraham many descendants through Isaac and the gift of the land of Canaan to Isaac's descendants, but that promise seemed unattainable if he sacrificed his "only son" (Gen 12:1-3; 15:5-6; 17:19). This is the reason Bible scholars, both ancient and modern, refer to Abraham's test as a "covenant ordeal." There is no doubt that the story's focus involved Abraham's son (apparent in the repetition of the word "son"). In the Hebrew text, the word "son" (ben) appears ten times in the narrative (Gen 22:2 (twice), 3, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, and 16), while the word "only" (yahid) son is found three times (Gen 22:2, 12, 16). Isaac is Abraham's "only beloved son." Ishmael, Abraham's son by the slave girl Hagar, was sent away because he was a threat to the "son of the promise" (Gen 17:11-14a). Isaac was the son God promised would father a nation of descendants for Abraham (Gen 17:4-9, 19) in fulfillment of parts one and two of Abraham's three-fold covenant: land, descendants, and a worldwide blessing that God first made when He called him to go to Canaan (Gen 12:1-3).
9 When they came to the place of which God had told him,
Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. 10 Then he reached
out and took the knife to slaughter his son.
Having carried the wood for his sacrifice, Isaac, the beloved
son, was bound and laid upon the rock altar, and the wood he carried was the
fuel to consume the sacrifice in fire. 2 Chronicles 3:1 identifies Mt. Moriah
as the site where God commanded Abraham to sacrifice Isaac and names the
mountain elevation located near the city of Jerusalem. It was where Isaac's
descendant, King David, would have a vision of Yahweh and where God commanded him
to build an altar. It is the same site where his son, King Solomon, built
Yahweh's Temple. Jesus of Nazareth also carried the wood for His sacrifice, the
Cross, to which He was bound and His life completely consumed in physical death.
Jesus suffered crucifixion on an elevation of Mt. Moriah outside Jerusalem's
gates.
10 Then he reached out and took the knife to slaughter
his son. 11 But the LORD'S messenger [Angel/Messenger of Yahweh] called to him
from Heaven, "Abraham, Abraham!" "Here I am!" he answered. 12 "Do not lay your
hand on the boy," said the messenger. "Do not do the least thing to him. I know
now how devoted you are to God since you did not withhold from me your own beloved
son." 13 As Abraham looked about, he spied a ram caught by its horns in the
thicket. So he went and took the ram and offered it up as a holocaust in place
of his son.
Abraham passed the test of his covenant ordeal. At the most
dramatic moment, as Abraham was about to plunge the knife into the chest of his
submissive son, the Angel of Yahweh stopped him by calling out to Abraham. The
angel, identified by God's covenant name in Hebrew as "the Angel/Messenger of
Yahweh," made an appearance at significant moments in salvation history
(Gen 16:7-11; 22:11-15;
Ex 3:2;
Num 22:22-35;
Judg 2:1, 4; etc.,
2 Sam 24:16;
1 Kng 19:7;
2 Kng 1:3, 15; 19:35;
Zec 12:8; etc.). The Jews call the offering of Isaac
in sacrifice the akeda, the "binding." The Akeda event was undoubtedly a
covenant ordeal test for Abraham. The Angel of Yahweh may be a manifestation of
the Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity, the pre-Incarnate Christ active in God's
plan of salvation. Significantly, the "angel" told Abraham: you did not
withhold from me your own beloved son" (Gen 22:12),
suggesting He was the pre-Incarnate Son of God.
The major difference in the outcome of the intended sacrifice is that Yahweh spared Abraham's son by providing a male sheep (ram) for the sacrifice. Near that site, God's "beloved Son, Jesus, would become the Lamb of Sacrifice. However, some questions remain:
Evidently, Isaac submitted and did not struggle, even though Scripture recorded that he was bound (Gen 22:9), probably a foreshadowing of Jesus secured by nails to the altar of the Cross. The inspired writer of the Letter to the Hebrews (probably St. Paul) answered the second question when he wrote that Abraham believed God would give him descendants through this son with whom the covenant was to continue. The writer of Hebrews assures us that Abraham's faith and trust in God's promises led him to believe that God would raise his son from the dead to keep those promises (Heb 11:17-18). God kept His covenant promises to Abraham in the new Israel of the New Covenant Church by raising His beloved Son from the dead to fulfill the promise of an uncountable number of descendants in a worldwide blessing and a home in the true "Promised Land" of Heaven (Mt 20:17-19).
In their commentaries on this passage, the Church Fathers point out that when the Angel of Yahweh stopped Abraham and showed him the male ram "caught up" (sebeck in Greek and achaz in Hebrew) in a tree to offer in sacrifice in place of the boy, Abraham realized that Yahweh had indeed provided the sacrifice (as he told Isaac in Genesis 22:8). At that moment, Abraham's son was "given back" to him on the third day after their journey of death had begun (Gen 22:4). The Church Fathers saw this event as foreshadowing the Passion of the Christ "caught up" (like Isaac's ram of sacrifice) on the tree of the Cross and also given back to His Father on the third day in His Resurrection from death.
The Church has always read Abraham's story of testing and faith in offering his beloved son Isaac on an altar as foreshadowing how God, like Abraham, did not withhold His beloved Son from the altar of the Cross:
Then, in verses 15-18, God gave Abraham a threefold blessing:
Jesus died for all the beloved sons and daughters in the human family as a sign of God's love for the world. Jesus is the true Son that Abraham rejoiced to see (Jn 8:56; Mt 1:1). He is the beloved Son of God sent to suffer and die in atonement for our sins (Is 53:3) so that we might be strengthened in our tests of faith on our journeys to eternal salvation. Jesus's sacrificial death, Resurrection, and Ascension give us the hope of reaching Heaven and the blessing of union with the Most Holy Trinity at the end of our life's journey.
Abraham's willingness to trust God with his life and his son's life was not just belief but a work of faith. We are all called to "works of faith" in our journeys to salvation. St. James, writing to the Church about the necessity of demonstrating living and active faith, held Abraham up as an example of such faith: Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by the works. Thus, the Scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed in God, and it was credited to him as righteousness," and he was called "the friend of God" (Jam 2:21-23).
Responsorial Psalm 116:10, 15-19 ~ Walking with the Lord
The response is: "I will walk before the Lord, in the land of the living."
10 I believed, even when I said, "I am greatly afflicted."
[...] 15 Precious in the eyes of the LORD is the death of his faithful ones.
Response:
16 O LORD, I am your servant; I am your servant, the son
of your handmaid; you have loosed my bonds. 17 To you will I offer a sacrifice
of thanksgiving, and I will call upon the name of the LORD.
Response:
18 My vows to the LORD I will pay in the presence of all
his people, 19 in the courts of the house of the LORD, in your midst, O
Jerusalem.
Response:
Psalms 113-118, called the Hallel ("praise God") Psalms, were sung in the Temple on special feast days, including the Feast of the Passover. In verse 10, the psalmist testifies that he kept his faith even during great distress. Expressing grief over misfortune does not imply a lack of faith.
Then, in verses 15-19, the psalmist wrote about how God watched over the lives of the righteous. Their deaths were a matter of significance because they were precious to God, who accepted their deaths as a sacrificial offering. The psalmist views himself as a "beloved son"/servant of Yahweh, raised to know and love God all his life from the teachings of his mother, the Lord's "handmaid." He expressed confidence that God watched over him. Even in distressful times, he attended worship in God's holy Temple. Despite his troubles, as a faithful son/servant of the Lord, he offered a sacrifice of thanksgiving in the Liturgy of communal worship as he fulfilled his vows and praised the Lord.
The responsorial phrase "I will walk before the Lord, in the land of the living" is from verse 9. It refers to the psalmist's participation in Temple liturgy, where he stood in the presence of God, which is a foretaste of Heaven, the true "land of the living." Our response is an epithet associated with worship in the Jerusalem Temple that also appears in Psalms 27:13, 52:7, and Isaiah 38:11.
The Second Reading Romans 8:31-34 ~ We are the Chosen Sons
and Daughters Acquitted by Christ
31 If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did
not spare his own Son but handed him over for us all, how will he not also give
us everything else along with him? 33 Who will bring a charge against God's
chosen ones? It is God who acquits us, 34 who will condemn? Christ Jesus it is
who died, or rather, was raised, who also is at the right hand of God, who
indeed intercedes for us.
In verse 31, St. Paul summarized what it means to be a beloved son/daughter in God's covenant family through the Sacrament of Baptism. St. Paul promised that the elect would emerge victorious from all the attacks and sufferings they endured since God would acquit His chosen of their sins through His beloved Son. We have died with Christ in Baptism and resurrected with Christ to a new life (see Rom 6:4-5). God the Son now sits at the right hand of God the Father, interceding for us in our earthly struggles and ready to greet us when we have completed our journey to eternal salvation (see Eph 2:4-6).
The Gospel of Mark 9:2-10 ~ The Transfiguration of
the Beloved Son
2 After six days, Jesus took Peter, James, and John and
led them up a high mountain apart by themselves. And He was transfigured before
them, 3 and His clothes became dazzling white, such as no fuller on earth could
bleach them. 4 Then Elijah appeared to them along with Moses, and they were
conversing with Jesus. 5 Then Peter said to Jesus in reply, "Rabbi, it is good
that we are here! Let us make three tents: one for you, one for Moses and one
for Elijah." 6 He hardly knew what to say; they were so terrified. 7 Then a
cloud came casting a shadow over them; from the cloud came a voice, "This is my
beloved Son. Listen to Him." 8 Suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone
but Jesus alone with them. 9 As they were coming down from the mountain,
He charged them not to relate what they had seen to anyone, except when the Son
of Man had risen from the dead. 10 So they kept the matter to themselves,
questioning what rising from the dead meant.
The experience with the divine on the Mount of Transfiguration was a revelation of the New Covenant Kingdom of the Messiah to the three Apostles: Peter, James, and John. The Gospels of Matthew 17:1-8 and Luke 9:28-36 record the same experience.
The disciples and Apostles must have been frightened and discouraged after Jesus's first prediction of His death in Mark 8:31-33 (also see Mt 17:1-8; Lk 9:28-36; 2 Pt 1:16-18). To give them the vision to grasp in their darkest hour in the fulfillment of His prediction, Jesus took Peter, James, and James' brother John Zebedee up a "high mountain" to let them witness a manifestation of His glory. It was an experience that would confirm for them that Jesus is the Son of God and that He will come in glory when all He told them took place.
The selection of three from the twelve Apostles was not a demonstration of favoritism. God does not have favorites. It was instead a demonstration of hierarchy in the future administration of Christ's kingdom. The fact that the event took place on a mountain is significant. Throughout salvation history, mighty works/revelations of God often took place on mountains, including the Theophany of God on Mt. Sinai (see Gen 22:2, 11; Ex 19:16-20; 1 Kng 18:19-39; 19:11-18; 1 Chr 21:15-17; 2 Chr 3:1; and Mt 5:1-2), and the chart, Mountains of God, Holy.
Jesus, the new Moses, ascended a mountain like God's great prophet in Exodus (Ex 24:12). Jesus did this not to find a revelation of God (like Moses) but to give a revelation of God the Son to His three Apostles. Two traditions identify the mountain. One tradition identifies Mt. Hermon near Caesarea Philippi. However, the more famous tradition names Mt. Tabor, an isolated mountain about eight day's journey for a religious Jew (a religious Jew could not travel on the Sabbath) from Caesarea Philippi, where Jesus and the Apostles were staying (Mk 9:27). Mt. Tabor is west of the Sea of Galilee in the northeast portion of the Plain of Esdraelon that rises to a height of 1,843 feet. Christians have celebrated Mt. Tabor as the site of the Transfiguration since the 4th century AD.
2b And He was transfigured before them, 3 and his clothes
became dazzling white, such as no fuller on earth could bleach them.
In Greek, the word transfigured is metamorphoo, from
which we get metamorphosis. Mark's Gospel records and His clothes became
dazzling white, such as no fuller on earth could bleach them. Matthew and Luke's
Gospels add that Jesus's face changed and became radiant like the sun (Mt
17:21; Lk 9:29). The phenomenon of Jesus's radiant face recalls the description
of Moses's glowing face after being in the presence of God (Ex 34:29-35).
Jesus's white garment also recalls Daniel's vision of "one like a son of man"
(probably the pre-Incarnate Christ). Daniel wrote that the "man" appeared to him
dressed in linen with a belt of fine gold around his waist, whose body was
like chrysolite, his face shone like lightning, his eyes were like fiery
torches, his arms and feet looked like burnished bronze, and his voice sounded
like the roar of a multitude (Dan 10:5-6).
4 Then Elijah appeared to them along with Moses,
and they were conversing with Jesus.
Moses and Elijah represented the Law and the prophets for
the Old Covenant people. In St. Luke's account of the Transfiguration, he tells
us Moses and Elijah appeared in glory, and they discussed with Jesus the coming
hour of His "exodus," meaning His departure, "from Jerusalem," referring to His
Passion (Lk 9:30-31). The disciples and Apostles knew Jesus in His human form;
however, in the Mt. of Transfiguration encounter, He revealed Himself in His
divine glory.
In the epiphany on the Mt. of Transfiguration, the three Apostles witnessed the coming together of the Old and New Covenants with Christ as the beginning and the end of divine revelation. Moses and Elijah represented the Old Covenant Church, embodying the Law and the prophets of the old Israel, while Peter, James, and John represented the new Israel of the New Covenant. The three Apostles also embodied the hierarchy of the new Israel, the Church of the people of the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth. It was a vision of the supernatural the Apostles would need to strengthen themselves and their brother Apostles in the covenant ordeal they were going to face in the climax of the final year of Jesus's ministry.
5 Then Peter said to Jesus in reply, "Rabbi, it is good
that we are here! Let us make three tents: one for you, one for Moses, and one
for Elijah." 6 He hardly knew what to say; they were so terrified.
St. Peter addressed Jesus as "Teacher" and made a request
that seems bizarre unless one takes into consideration the seven holy feast
days of the Old Covenant; see the chart: Seven Sacred Feasts of the Old Covenant.
Significantly, Jesus did not rebuke Peter. St. John's Gospel does not mention
the Transfiguration. St. John rarely repeated what was sufficiently covered in
the Synoptic Gospels. However, he did mention that in the second year of Jesus's
ministry, He went to Jerusalem for the pilgrim feast of Sukkoth, known in English
as the Feast of Booths/Shelters or Tabernacles (Jn 7:1-2, 10). The covenant
obligations for the festival are in Leviticus 23:33-43. In verse 42, God commanded:
During this week every native Israelite among you shall dwell in booths,
that your descendants may realize that, when I led the Israelites out of the
land of Egypt, I made them dwell in booths, I, the LORD am your God."
If it was near the pilgrim feast of Booths, Peter's suggestion about making booths/tents on the mountain is reasonable. Peter realized that the old covenantal order was no longer binding, and it was unnecessary to go to the Jerusalem Temple to worship God when they could worship God the Son on the mountain. If this is why Peter suggested building booths, then the Transfiguration event took place near the seven-day festival of Booths/Tabernacles in the early fall. The Gospel of John confirmed that Jesus traveled to Jerusalem for the Feast of Booths in His ministry's second year (Jn chapters 7-8).
7 Then a cloud came casting a shadow [episkiazo] over them; from the cloud came a voice...
A cloud is a frequent vehicle for the manifestation of God's presence in Scripture (see Ex 16:10; 19:9; 24:15-16; 33:9, 34:5; 2; 40:34; Dan 7:13; 2 Mac 2:8; Acts 1:9; Rev 11:12; 14:14). For example:
The Greek word in Mark 9:7 for the shadow of the cloud cast over them is episkiazo. It is the same word found in the account of the Holy Spirit overshadowing the Virgin Mary in the Incarnation (Lk 1:35). It is also the same word used in the Greek translation of Exodus when God's Spirit overshadowed the Tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant (Ex 40:34).
The voice from Heaven in verse 7 is the same voice heard when Jesus was baptized (Mt 3:17; Mk 3:11; Lk 3:22). It was at Jesus's baptism that, for the first time, the Most Holy Trinity was clearly manifested in an event. The same manifestation occurred in the Transfiguration: God the Father's voice was heard from Heaven, God the Son was present in His glory, and the overshadowing cloud represented God the Holy Spirit.
The voice from Heaven said: "This is my beloved Son.
Listen to Him."
In this significant event, Jesus is "transfigured" both in time
and meaning to confirm Peter's confession of Jesus as the "Messiah and the Son
of the Living God" (Mt 16:16; also see Mk 8:29; Lk 9:20) and the prediction of
His coming Passion (Mt 16:21-23; Mk 8:31-33; Lk 9:22). The pronouncement of the
Divine Voice, "this is my beloved Son," is confirmation of Peter's confession
of Jesus as Messiah, and the command: "Listen to Him," is a warning to listen
to Jesus's announcement of His coming Passion and to cooperate in His mission.
The command of the Divine Voice of God from heaven, "Listen to Him," also confirms that Jesus is the prophet like Moses that God promised the covenant people in Deuteronomy 18:15-19. That prophecy ends with a promise and a command: I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their kinsmen and will put my words into his mouth; he shall tell them all that I command. If any man will not listen to my words which he speaks in my name, I myself will make him answer for it (Dt 18:18-19 NJB; emphasis added).
8 Suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw
anyone but Jesus alone with them.
Like the children of Israel who heard the voice of God in the
Theophany at Sinai (Ex 20:18), and like the prophet Daniel who experienced a
divine apparition (Dan 9:15-18; 10:7-9), the three Apostles are amazed at what
they experienced. "At that time" (Lk 9:36b; Mk 9:9-10), they did not tell
anyone about their experience, but later, they not only spoke of it but wrote about
it. Peter wrote about the Transfiguration in a letter to the universal Church: We
did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming
of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he
received honor and glory from God the Father when that unique declaration came
to him for the majestic glory, "This is my Son, my beloved, with whom I am well
pleased." We ourselves heard this voice come from heaven while we were with him
on the holy mountain (2 Pt 1:16-18).
9 As they were coming down from the mountain, He charged
them not to relate what they had seen to anyone, except when the Son of Man had
risen from the dead. 10 So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what
rising from the dead meant.
Coming down from the mountain after the Transfiguration
experience, Jesus commanded the three Apostles not to reveal what they discovered
about His true identity. Notice He did not tell them to never talk about the
experience. He only asked them to remain silent until His death and
resurrection.
10 So they kept the matter to themselves,
questioning what rising from the dead meant.
The Apostles must have wondered if "rising from the dead"
meant to have life returned so one could go on living everyday life as in the
case of the Synagogue official's daughter (Mt 9:18-19, 23-26; Mk 5:22, 35-43;
Lk 8:41, 49-56), or did it mean something else? It is a question that wasn't
fully answered until Jesus's Resurrection, His forty days teaching the Church
after His Resurrection, and finally answered at His Ascension to the Father in
Heaven.
Abraham felt the wonder of God's love and mercy after passing a test of faith that must have been the darkest experience of his life (First Reading). Despite his afflictions, the Psalmist felt his connection to God as a beloved son. And in faith, he praised God for His intercession in his life. In the Gospel reading, the Apostles Peter, James, and John felt doubt and fear concerning Jesus's announcement of His coming Passion and death. But their Lord allowed them to become the privileged witnesses to His glory in the Transfiguration of the Beloved Son that gave them confirmation of His divine nature. These experiences of God can be part of your life today when you confidently claim the mantle of sons/daughters in the Sacrament of Baptism and in faith, "walk before the Lord" in anticipation of one day being with Him "in the land of the living." After all, beloved children, it is as St. Paul wrote in the Second Reading: "If God is for us, who can be against us!"
Catechism References: (* indicates Scripture quoted
or paraphrased in the citation):
Genesis 22:1-2,
9-13 (CCC 1819*);
22:11 (CCC 332*)
Romans 8:31 (CCC 2852); 8:32 (CCC 603, 706*, 2572*); 8:34 (CCC 1373, 2634*)
Mark 9:1-8 (CCC 554-6*); 9:2 (CCC 552*); 9:7 (CCC 151*, 459); 9:9 (CCC 649*)
The Transfiguration (CCC 554*, 556*, 568)
The obedience of Abraham (CCC 59*, 145*, 146*, 2570*, 2571*, 2572*)
Characteristics of faith (CCC 153*, 154-157, 158*, 159)
God manifests his glory to make known his will (CCC 2059*)
Christ is for us (CCC 603*, 1373*, 2634*, 2852*)
Michal E Hunt, Copyright © 2015; 5revised 2024 Agape Bible Study. Permissions All Rights Reserved.