In the next scene of St. Luke's Gospel narrative of the Transfiguration, Moses and Elijah appear and converse with Jesus.
The appearance of these two key figures from the Old Testament is very interesting. Elijah never died, according to the Old Testament. Instead he was taken up into heaven in a fiery chariot (2 Kings 2:11). (I'll discuss this in more depth when I write about the fourth Glorious Mystery, The Assumption.) Moses, however, did die and never saw the Promised Land. So is Moses a ghost? Here's a link to an article about the Catholic Church's stand on ghosts. (Important caveat: Catholics should never try to "conjure" up any ghosts, attend seances or consult a medium or other "ghost expert". The Old Testament story of Saul and the Witch of Endor gives us a great example about the consequences of such actions.)
Finally, according to Catholic theologians, the presence of Moses and Elijah is not a coincidence. Moses symbolizes "The Law" and Elijah symbolizes "The Prophets". It will all tie in together in the final scene of the Transfiguration. More tomorrow...
In the meantime, read the other Gospel accounts of the Transfiguration: Matthew 17:1-9 and Mark 9:1-8
4 comments:
Actually, in the Book ofJude it talks about how Satan and St. Michael contended for the body of Moses, and Moses' body was then taken to Heaven so the Jewish people wouldn't be tempted to honor him as a god.
Therefore Elijah's body *and* Moses's bodies are both in Heaven.
Whether Moses got resurrected once his body was taken to Heaven is total speculation. :-) But the Bible also talks about Enoch as having been assumed into Heaven, so apparently it wasn't unheard-of.
BTW, I never "got" the Transfiguration, so I keep hoping you'll make it all work in my head. :-)
Thanks for the great comments and the reminder about Moses' body. Should have remembered that from my research on angels... I was going to get to Enoch when I post about The Assumption; however, readers not familiar can read it in Genesis 5:23-24. Link: http://www.usccb.org/nab/bible/genesis/genesis5.htm (Read the footnote as well.)
How did your blog appear in my blogs followed but not appear on the manage list. I have never followed your blog and don't appear on your list of 4 followers, I am against the church, so would never have done so. I am extremely angry about this. There is some type of spamming here. I want your blog removed asap.
AV
AV, I have no idea how my blog appeared on your list. I do not spam people-- I have no idea how to do that. Perhaps you can search the blogspot Help menu.
Regards,
Peggy Bowes
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