Luke 9:28-36 Disciples on the mountain

Luke 9:28-36 The transfiguration on the mount. Parallel passages in Matthew 17:1-9 and Mark 9:1-9. [Matthew and Mark record a subsequent conversation with the disciples about Elijah and John the Baptist that Luke does not record, which we will not address here.] Moses and Elijah appeared and were talking with Jesus, who was white and gleaming. They talked about Jesus' departure that He was about to accomplish in Jerusalem. Peter, James, and John were observing but had been overcome with sleep, but they woke up and saw Jesus in His glory. Their reaction? Let''s build tabernacles for Jesus, Moses, and Elijah. Then a cloud overshadowed them and the voice of God saying, "This is My Son, My Chosen One; listen to Him!"

         There are inevitably inexplicable aspects when the eternal comes in contact with the temporal. The gleaming appearance of Jesus may account for the tradition of the idea that angels appear with halos, that there is an aura surrounding their appearance, often characterized as a halo. Perhaps it is the eyes of the soul being opened to the power & purity of God, as for example can be found in visions in the Old Testament of the throne of God. There are various visualizations (Isaiah 6:1-5,  Ezekiel 1:4-28, 43:1-5, Daniel 7:9-10) but in all cases the frailty of human flesh is overcome, and the metaphors strain human comprehension.

         The appearance of Moses and Elijah to talk to Jesus possibly represents the epitome of the Law and the Prophets. Both spoke of the coming of Christ, and of His death for the redemption of mankind. In the Law, this is found in the symbolism of the Passover and in the prophets, Isaiah 53. Perhaps their appearance can be found partly in the Old Testament record that Moses was buried by God and no one knows the location (Deut 3:5-6) (possibly in heaven?) and that Elijah was carried bodily into heaven by a chariot of fire and therefore never died (2 Kings 2:11). Each of them had left the earth in an unique way ordained by God. Perhaps they were encouraging Jesus for the trials to come of the eternal plan of God and His role in it. In a sense it seems odd that the Son of God would need encouragement from mere mortals who have died and been glorified. Perhaps we don't fully understand this because we lack the eternal perspective.

         The reaction of Peter, James, and John is a typical human response. This is so wonderful, let's set up a permanent camp here.  Although, to be fair, they suggested a tabernacle, reaching back to the symbolism of the tabernacle in the wilderness that the Ark of the Covenant resided in during the Israelites' sojourn in the desert, and in the Promised Land until the temple was built in Jerusalem. In this view, perhaps they were wanting to enshrine Moses, Jesus, and Elijah in an Old Testament paradigm. But Jesus made it clear that that was not His reason for coming to the earth. Or perhaps they thought that it was time for fulfillment of the feast of tabernacles, and that this was the beginning of God establishing His kingdom in power on the earth. But that was not yet.

         Finally we have the cloud and the voice coming from heaven, repeating essentially the same statement that was heard at Jesus' baptism.(Luke 3:22)  Perhaps Jesus needed this encouragement to hear His Father's voice, to give Him strength in the flesh, to face the coming trials.

         Why did Peter, James, and John have trouble staying awake? Perhaps it is because the flesh has great difficulty dealing with the presence of the eternal and spiritual. How often do we struggle with sleep when we are at prayer. And we see that Peter, James, and John also had the same problem in the garden of Gethsemane (Luke 22:45-46). This is not an excuse, but we are bordering on the spiritual realities that underlie the concept of the dark night of the soul. Our human bodies, and souls, corrupted as they are by sin, have great difficulty coping with the presence of the reality of God. God wraps Himself in darkness at times as an act of mercy so that our mortal selves will not be destroyed by exposure to His glory. (Ex 33:18-23) And coming this close, perhaps the disciple were induced to sleep lest their souls be overwhelmed by God's revelation of His presence.