Please read the text before the commentary.
In this gospel account, Moses and Elijah were conversing with Jesus about his exodus that would take pace in Jerusalem. The exodus for the Jewish people was their escape from the slavery in Egypt. The exodus took them from Egypt, through the Red Sea into the desert and across it to the Promised Land.
The Exodus for them was like a dying to Egypt’s lifestyle of slavery and a rising to new life in the Promised Land of freedom. The conversation with Jesus about his exodus was conversation about his death.
We have experienced the deaths of others, but we have not experienced our own deaths. Death is a catastrophic event. It is a dramatic leaving behind of all that we have treasured on earth in things and in relationships. The Israelites had to leave behind many of their belongings which they could not carry out. Jesus would have to leave behind many things and personal relationships. He would go in faith to his Jerusalem.
Moses and Elijah were speaking with Jesus about his exodus. His passage from Egypt, through the Red Seas and deserts of life into the Promised home with the Father. The telling of this transfiguration of Jesus would strengthen the disciples for the approaching death of Jesus. The telling can also prepare us to follow Jesus in our own experience of the exodus. The Israelites made it, and Jesus made it: with Jesus and through Jesus, we shall make it also.