Commentary on Matthew 12.41–12.43

But since, without yet having taken pains to interpret the passage figuratively, we have said these things examining them according to the letter, let us next see whether those led up to the height of the doctrines of truth, who have seen the transfiguration of Jesus and Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory with him—the Peter we have spoken of, and the sons of thunder—might wish to make tents in themselves for the Word of God, who would dwell in them, and for his law, contemplated with glory, and for the prophecy that speaks of the departure of Jesus which he was to fulfil; and whether Peter, as one who loved the contemplative life and preferred its delight to being among the many with some trouble for the purpose of helping those who wish it, said, “It is good for us to be here.” But since love “does not seek its own,” Jesus did not do what Peter thought good; therefore he came down from the mountain to those unable to go up it and see his transfiguration, so that they might at least see him such as they can receive. It belongs, then, to the righteous man, who has the love that does not seek its own, “being free from all, to make himself a slave to all” those below, “that he may win the more” of them. But someone might say, in answer to what was explained about ecstasy and the working of a worse spirit in Peter concerning “not knowing what he was saying,” not admitting that explanation, that in Paul some “desiring to be teachers of the law” do not know what they are talking about—not in that sense, but in that, not making plain the nature of what they say nor understanding its intent, they make confident assertions about what they do not know; and that Peter too had experienced something of this kind. For not having grasped what was good concerning the dispensation of Jesus and the appearance of Moses and Elijah on the mountain, he says, “It is good for us to be here,” and so on, “not knowing what he was saying”; “for he did not know what he was saying.” For if “the wise will understand what comes from his own mouth, and carries knowledge on his lips,” one who is not so does not understand what comes from his own mouth, nor grasp the nature of what he says.

Next after these is: “While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them,” and so on. I think that God, turning Peter away from making three tents, under which he was going to dwell as far as his wish went, shows a better tent, so to speak, and one far superior: the cloud. For if the work of a tent is to overshadow and cover the one in it, and the bright cloud overshadowed them, God made for them, as it were, a more divine tent, since it was bright, as a pattern of the resurrection to come; for a bright cloud overshadows the righteous, who are at once sheltered and enlightened and illumined by it. And what might the bright cloud overshadowing the righteous be? Perhaps the Father’s power, from which comes the voice of the Father, bearing witness to the Son as beloved and well-pleasing, and urging those overshadowed by it to listen to him and to no one else? And he speaks, as of old, so always through whom he wills. Perhaps also the Holy Spirit is the bright cloud that overshadows the righteous and prophesies the things of God, who works in it and says, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” And I would make bold to say that our Saviour too is a bright cloud. Peter, then, said, “Let us make three tents here” … one from himself, and one from the Son, and one from the Holy Spirit; for a bright cloud of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit overshadows the genuine disciples of Jesus. Or a cloud overshadows the Gospel and the law and the prophets, bright to one who can see by its light in the Gospel and the law and the prophets. And the voice from the cloud perhaps says to Moses and Elijah, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; listen to him,” since they longed to see the Son of Man and hear him and behold him as he is; and perhaps it teaches the disciples that the one who is properly Son of God, his beloved in whom he is well pleased, to whom above all one must listen, was the one then being contemplated, transfigured, shining in his face like the sun, and clothed in garments white as the light.

After this it is written that the three apostles, hearing the voice from the cloud bearing witness to the Son, and not bearing the glory of the voice and the power upon it, fell on their faces and besought God; for they were greatly afraid at the strangeness of the sight and of what was spoken from the sight. Consider whether you can say this too about the passage: that the disciples, having understood that the Son of God had spoken with Moses, and that it was he who said, “For no one shall see my face and live,” and having received in addition God’s testimony about him, being unable to bear the rays of the Word, humbled themselves under the mighty hand of God; but after the touch of the Word, lifting up their eyes, they saw Jesus only, and no one else. Moses, the law, and Elijah, prophecy, became one only with Jesus, the Gospel; and they did not remain three as they were before, but the three became one. Understand these things, I pray, as regards the mystical matters; for as regards the bare intent of the letter, Moses and Elijah, having appeared in glory and talked with Jesus, went away to where they had come from, perhaps to give of the words that Jesus spoke with them to those who were very soon to receive his benefit at the time of the passion, when “many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep,” their tombs being opened, were to go away into the truly holy city—not the Jerusalem wept over by Jesus—and appear there to many. And after the dispensation on the mountain, as the disciples came down from the mountain so as to go to the crowd and serve the Son of God for their salvation, “Jesus commanded the disciples, saying, Tell no one the vision until the Son of Man is raised from the dead.” And “Tell no one the vision” is like what was examined above, when “he charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ.” Therefore what was said on that passage can be useful to us for the matter before us too, since here too Jesus wishes the things of his glory not to be told before his glory after the passion; for the hearers, especially the crowds, would have been harmed on seeing one so glorified being crucified. Therefore, since his being glorified in the resurrection was akin to his transfiguration and to his face appearing like the sun, for this reason he wishes these things to be told by the apostles then, when he has risen from the dead.