Second Sunday of Lent - Year A Commentary: Saint John Chrysostom (c.345-407), priest at Antioch then Bishop of Constantinople, Doctor of the Church Do not tell the vision to anyone until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead. Jesus Christ talked to his disciples a great deal about his sufferings, Passion and death, and he foretold the afflictions they themselves would have to endure and the violent deaths they would one day have to undergo (Mt 16,21-26). That is why, after telling them such hard and difficult things, he tries to comfort them by drawing attention to the reward he will give them when he comes in his Fathers glory (v.27)... He wants to show them beforehand, so far as they are capable of it in this life, the great majesty in which he was to come and thus forestall the trouble and sadness his apostles, particularly Saint Peter, might feel before his death... “Jesus took with him Peter, James and John.” Why only take these three apostles? No doubt because they outstripped the others. Saint Peter because of his ardor, his love; Saint John because he was the disciple Jesus loved (Jn 13,23); and Saint James because he had said along with his brother: “We can drink your cup” (Mt 20,22) and subsequently kept his word (Acts 12,2)... Why did Jesus cause Moses and Elijah to appear?... He was constantly accused of breaking the Law and blaspheming, appropriating for himself a glory that did not belong to him, the glory of the Father... Therefore, wanting to show that he did not violate the Law and did not attribute to himself a glory that did not belong to him, Jesus calls on the authority of two of the most unimpeachable witnesses: Moses, who had given the Law..., and Elijah, who had burned with zeal for the glory and service of God (1Kgs 19,10)... He also wanted to teach them he was lord over life and death by causing one man who was dead, and another who had been carried off alive in a fiery chariot (2Kgs 2,11), to appear. He wanted, too, to reveal the glory of his cross to his disciples and comfort Peter and his companions who were frightened by his Passion, reviving their courage. For Moses and Elijah spoke with him about the glory he was to receive in Jerusalem (Lk 9,31). That is to say, they spoke of his Passion, his Cross, which the prophets had always called his glory.
Posted on: Sun, 16 Mar 2014 20:06:46 +0000
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