Today’s Gospel begins: “Now about eight days after these sayings Jesus took with Him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray” (Luke 9:28).
Eight days after saying what things?
Shortly before in Caesarea Philippi Jesus had told His disciples that He was going to be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the scribes and be killed.
Shaken by the chilling announcement of His approaching suffering and death in Jerusalem, Jesus seeks to fortify the faith of His disciples by permitting some glory of His blessed soul to become recognizably resplendent for a brief instant atop Mount Tabor when Peter, John and James see Him transfigured. In this way Jesus teaches that the road to glory – for Him and for all – passes through suffering.
