Obeying the Father’s command in The Holy Land

There are five things a visitor to the Holy Land must do. What are they? Archbishop Charles Jason Gordon found out on his visit to the Holy Land from the pilgrims’ Israeli guide Anton Farah.

First, the Annunciation; second, the Nativity of Jesus in Bethlehem; third, the Jordan River where Jesus was baptised; fourth, Calvary, the site of Jesus’ crucifixion and death; fifth, the tomb, where He rose from the dead. “What do you see in the tomb?” Farah asked the pilgrims, to which they replied in unison “nothing”.

At Mt Tabor, the site of the transfiguration of Christ, Archbishop Charles Jason Gordon said, “He brought them [the disciples] here, where He was transfigured and He shone, whiter than any earthly bleacher could make.”

In Peter 2:1–16, Peter said the disciples were witnesses to the transfiguration. Present at this event were three earthly witnesses and two heavenly witnesses, Elijah and Moses. Archbishop Gordon stated in Jewish tradition, two witnesses are required for something to be true.

“The heavenly witnesses Elijah and Moses were those two witnesses, the prophet and the law are those witnesses and what we have here in the transfiguration is the Father’s voice speaks, ‘this is my son the beloved’. The Spirit is there overshadowing with the cloud and the Son is there, Jesus, and the Father says, ‘this is my Son, the beloved, listen to Him’. That means obey what He says.”

The faithful are eyewitnesses to the glory that was given when Jesus was transfigured.

The Archbishop asked: “Do we listen deeply to Jesus? Do we obey what He says? That’s what the Father asks us to do here.”

On sacred ground, the site of the transfiguration, he appealed to the faithful to spend some time listening to Jesus and whatever He asks, “obey Him”.