Friends, today’s Gospel recounts the story of the Transfiguration. Here, the glorified Jesus represents the fulfillment of the Old Testament revelation, symbolized by Moses, representing the Law, and Elijah, representing the prophets.

Let’s look at the two basic divisions. God gave the Torah, the Law, to his people, in order that they might become a priestly people, a holy nation, a people set apart, in the hopes that they would then function as a sort of magnet to the rest of the world. But the Law didn’t take. From the very beginning, the people turned away from its dictates and became as bad as the nations around them.

And then the prophets. Over and again we hear the call to be faithful to the Torah, to follow the ways of the Lord. The prophets turn on Israel itself repeatedly, reminding her of her sinfulness.

And then came Jesus, God and man. Jesus did what no hero of Judaism had ever done: fulfilled the Law, remained utterly obedient to the demands of the Father, even to the point of laying down his life. He brought the Torah and the prophets thereby to fulfillment.