His Exodus is Our Exodus

The transfiguration of Jesus is told in the gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke and read by the Church on the Second Sunday of Lent. This year we hear Luke’s account which has one very interesting addition. All three tell of Jesus’ appearance being transformed into dazzling white, and all three tell of Moses and Elijah speaking with Jesus. But only Luke tells us what they were speaking about. They “spoke of his exodus that he was going to accomplish in Jerusalem” (Luke 9:31).

Our English translation of this verse keeps the Greek word “exodus” which means “a going forth” or “a departure.” This three-way conversation offers a key to understanding the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. As Scott Hahn notes in the Ignatius Catholic Study Bible:

“The word is used three times in the New Testament and several times in the Greek Old Testament. Sometimes it refers to the historical Exodus, when Yahweh delivered the children of Israel from slavery in Egypt (Exodus 19:1; Hebrews 11:22). Other times it refers to physical death, as when souls depart from this life and go to another (Wisdom 7:6; 2 Peter 1:15). These shades of meaning are blended together when Moses and Elijah converse about the exodus of Jesus at the Transfiguration (Luke 9:31). On the one hand, Jesus will exit this life when he dies on the cross. On the other hand, his death will accomplish a new Exodus that frees the world from slavery in sin. Jerusalem is the chosen destination for this mission because the city’s resistance to the gospel made it a new “Egypt” where Jesus must go to liberate the human family from spiritual bondage (Revelation 11:8)” (Hahn, Word Study: Exodus, p. 1851).

Fascinating! Do you see how this “exodus perspective” is a key to understanding the death and resurrection of Jesus? On the one hand, his “exodus” is an exit from this life which leads to his resurrection. On the other hand, Jesus is a new Moses, who went to Jerusalem which, because of its iniquity, the prophets compared to Sodom and Egypt (Isaiah 3:9; Jeremiah 23:14; Ezekiel 23;27). There, through his death and resurrection, he liberated the human family from spiritual bondage. For all of us have been living in bondage to sin, as in Egypt. Yet Jesus entered that desert land and became the paschal lamb, whose sacrificial blood washed away our sins and saved us from eternal death. This is why Moses and Elijah referred to the events that Jesus would accomplish in Jerusalem as his “exodus.”

Moses did not escape from Egypt alone. The goal of his adventure was to rescue God’s people from slavery. So it was for Jesus, the new Moses: He entered Jerusalem to enter death as “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). Then He rose from the tomb in transfigured glory with the children of God in both hands, leading them from darkness into light.

So take some time today to contemplate His transfiguration. With the grace of faith we can behold His glory before, during and after His crucifixion. He shines with the glory of Divine Love that comes to rescue us from sin and death. His exodus is our exodus if we dare to follow Him. “He will change our lowly body to conform with his glorified body” (Philippians 4:1).