JUN URIARTE
luke 9: 35
Then from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my chosen son; listen to him.”
During our pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 2000, I led the worship of three busloads of pilgrims visiting the Church of the Transfiguration at Mt. Tabor. Although the Transfiguration of Jesus is reported in all the Synoptic Gospels (Mk 9:2-8, Mt 17:1-8, Lk 9:28-36) and the Second Letter of Peter (2 Pt 1:17), the name of the mountain is never mentioned. While the Transfiguration has no parallel in the Gospels, it is evident that it is patterned after the Exodus experience (Ex 20,24,34) since there are at least eight parallel events between the Transfiguration and Exodus accounts.
All the accounts in the Synoptic Gospels begin with a reference to an event about a week earlier, “after six days” in Mark/Matthew and “about eight days” in Luke. But all accounts cover the same length of time. Mark and Matthew must have counted only the six intervening days to emphasize the parallelism with the Exodus account. At the same time, Luke included the day of the earlier event and the day of the Transfiguration. The earlier event occurred in Caesarea Philippi six days before the Transfiguration when Jesus asked his disciples a penetrating question, “Who do people say that I am?” Jesus asked his disciples about his real identity, predicted his passion, and described the conditions of discipleship, but was misunderstood by his disciples. Jesus’ identity was later confirmed in his Transfiguration.
The Synoptic Gospels report that Jesus goes to a high mountain with Peter, James, and John, which echoes the Exodus of Moses going up Mt. Sinai with Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu (Ex 24:1,9). There, Mark relates that Jesus’ “clothes became dazzling white,” while Matthew adds that Jesus’ “face shone like a sun,” and Luke adds that Jesus’ “face changed in appearance,” thus recalling the Exodus account of “how radiant the skin of Moses’ face had become” (Ex 34:30).
On the mountain, Jesus is seen conversing with Moses and Elijah. Mark and Matthew do not tell us the subject of the conversation. Still, Luke reports that Moses and Elijah “spoke of his (Jesus) exodus that he was going to accomplish in Jerusalem” (Lk 9:31). The appearance of Elijah and Moses fulfills the prophecy of Malachi, “Remember the law of Moses, my servant, which I enjoined upon him in Horeb, the statutes and ordinances for all Israel. Lo, I will send you Elijah, the prophet, before the day of the Lord comes, the great and terrible day” (Mal 3:22-23). Moses represents the Law and Elijah the Prophets. Moses went to Mt. Sinai (Ex 24:15) while Elijah went to Mt. Horeb (1 Kings 19:18), and both had a vision of God’s glory on the mountain. Both men also transformed – Moses when his face was shown with reflected glory (Ex 34:29-35) and Elijah when “a flaming chariot and flaming horses” took him “to heaven in a whirlwind” (2 Kgs 2:11).
THE TRANSFIGURATION
Jesus’ Transfiguration must have occurred during the Feast of Booths (Feast of the Tabernacles), during which the Israelites lived for a week in temporary booths or tents made of plaited branches to celebrate the harvest festival and commemorate the Exodus event. This is perhaps why Peter suggested making three tents for Jesus, Moses, and Elijah, but in doing so, he placed Jesus as a mere equal to Moses and Elijah. But he did not propose making tents for themselves. In Luke, Moses and Elijah were already about to leave when Peter made this suggestion. Peter might have wanted to prolong their stay in the mountain and their wonderful transfiguration experience. Then a cloud came, casting a shadow over them; then from the cloud came a voice, “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.” Suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone but Jesus alone with them (Mk 9:7-8).
In the Old Testament, “cloud” is often used to symbolize God’s presence. God’s Tabernacle reveals his glory (e.g., Moses met God in the cloud). God is thus present at the Transfiguration. He identified Jesus (the only one left) as his beloved Son. In Jesus’s baptism, the voice from heaven was addressed to Jesus (“You are my beloved Son”), but in Jesus’s Transfiguration, the voice from the cloud was addressed to the disciples. And God commanded them to listen to him.
During our visit to the Church of the Transfiguration, I experienced a bit of a personal “transfiguration.” Here is what I wrote in my pilgrimage diary on 25 May 2000.
We woke up at 5 a.m. When I opened the drapes of our hotel window, I was greeted by a breathtaking view of the Sea of Galilee. The sun was rising beyond the sea, a panoramic view to behold.
We had community worship at 6:30 a.m. and breakfast at 7 a.m. I was asked to lead the morning worship.
Our tour’s first stop was the Church of the Transfiguration at Mt. Tabor. The buses parked at the mountain’s base, and we took the stretched Mercedes Benz limousine to the church. Bishop Arguelles celebrated the Mass. Near the altar was a hole in the floor where the original rock on which Jesus, Peter, James, and John stood was placed. After the Mass, we bent over and touched the rock.
I knew God would talk to me during this pilgrimage. All I needed to do was to be attentive. Jesus did ask everyone to join him at Mt. Tabor. He chose only three of his disciples. I felt privileged to have been given the grace to come and visit Mt. Tabor. During the Mass, I felt the presence of Jesus, particularly when we were singing the “Ama Namin” (Our Father). The words that deeply touched me during the homily were: “Listen to Him.
This is printed with permission from Reflections of Jun and Jean Uriarte, Letters of Aquila and Priscilla, Vol. 21 Issue 3, February 2024.
