“At that time, Jesus taketh unto him Peter and James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into a high mountain apart: And he was transfigured before them. And his face did shine as the sun: and his garments became white as snow. And behold there appeared to them Moses and Elias talking with him. And Peter answering, said to Jesus: Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles, one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias.
“And as he was yet speaking, behold a bright cloud overshadowed them. And lo a voice out of the cloud, saying: ‘This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased: hear ye him.’ And the disciples hearing fell upon their face, and were very much afraid. And Jesus came and touched them: and said to them: ‘Arise, and fear not.’ And they lifting up their eyes, saw no one, but only Jesus.
“And as they came down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, saying: ‘Tell the vision to no man, till the Son of man be risen from the dead.'”
There were three times that Jesus separated Peter, James the Greater, and John for a special revelation. The Transfiguration is one, the raising to life of the daughter of Jairus was another, and the third was in the Garden of Gethsemane. On Tabor it was that they might see His glory and be strengthened in the event of the Passion to come. In Gethsemane it was so that they might more closely see His agony of soul and His sweating of blood. Tabor prepared them for the humility of Christ in the Garden, His arrest, and His subsequent passion.
Why these three? Peter, because of his great faith and love for Christ, John, because he was the singularly Beloved Virgin Apostle, also thought in tradition to be the youngest of the twelve, and James the Greater, brother of John, “sons of thunder,” who would be the first to shed his blood for Christ. John was the most beloved also because he alone stood at the foot of the Cross and into his pure hands was given the care of the Immaculate Mother of God.
Peter was greater than the rest on account of the superabundance of the love and the unquenchable enthusiasm which he had for the Savior : Jesus saith to Simon Peter: Simon son of John, lovest thou me more than these? He saith to him: Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. He saith to him: Feed my lambs. (John 21:15) Indeed, Peter loved the Lord more than any of the other Apostles, so says Saint Augustine in his final tractate on John. Too, the higher truths were to be given to the others through mediation, as were the loaves and fishes, delivered to the people by the hands of the Apostles.
Jesus performed His miracles before all the people, but the unveiling of the glory that was His as the Son of God made Man, was revealed to just three chosen ones. And to Moses and Elias. But hidden even from the angels. John writes it down in his Gospel: And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we saw his glory, the glory as it were of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. (John 1:14) This revelation was made known to the other nine Apostles as Christ commanded “after the Resurrection.” All of the Apostles saw Him with their mortal eyes in His resurrected body, but not so resplendent, not “shining as the sun,” “white as snow,” and “transfigured” in glory.
Saint Thomas says:
“Lofty mysteries should not be immediately explained to everyone, but should be handed down through superiors to others in their proper turn. Consequently, as Chrysostom says (on Matthew 17:3), ‘He took these three as being superior to the rest.’ For ‘Peter excelled in the love’ he bore to Christ and in the power bestowed on him; John in the privilege of Christ’s love for him on account of his virginity, and, again, on account of his being privileged to be an Evangelist; James on account of the privilege of martyrdom. Nevertheless He did not wish them to tell others what they had seen before His Resurrection; ‘lest,’ as Jerome says on Matthew 17:19, ‘such a wonderful thing should seem incredible to them; and lest, after hearing of so great glory, they should be scandalized at the Cross’ that followed; or, again, ‘lest [the Cross] should be entirely hindered by the people’ [Bede, Hom. xviii; cf. Catena Aurea]; and ‘in order that they might then be witnesses of spiritual things when they should be filled with the Holy Ghost'” [Hilary, in Matth. xvii]. (Summa Theologica III, q.45, a.3, ad 4)
