The Transfiguration!

 

Second Sunday of Lent

Year B

Genesis 22:1-2, 9-13, 15-18; Psalm 116:10, 15-19; Romans 8:31-34; Mark 9:2-10

Jesus took Peter, James, and John and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves.  And he was transfigured before them.
Mark 9:2

Every year the Gospel reading for the Second Sunday of Lent is about the Transfiguration of Jesus.  Why has the Church chosen this event to showcase at this particular juncture of the liturgical year?  Some say it is because the Transfiguration took place at this time- about 40 days before Good Friday.  Others think it is a foretaste of the Resurrection intended to provide comfort and hope to the disciples as the time for our Lord’s death was drawing near.  I think there’s probably something in all of that.  But there’s something else I see as well that makes me think this reading is very providentially placed.

Let’s consider the Transfiguration.  What’s happening?  Jesus takes His inner circle- Peter, James, and John, up on a high mountain by themselves.  No one else is with them.  Suddenly Jesus appears in radiant white clothing.  Along with him appear Moses and Elijah who converse with Him.  Awed by this unprecedented and amazing sight, Peter offers to worship… all three.  Keep in mind, this is the man who has just confessed Jesus to be the Christ, the Son of the living God.  But here he all but loses his mind.  That’s when the voice of the Father is heard from heaven saying, “This is my beloved Son.  Listen to him.”  And then there is only Jesus.  The other heavenly messengers have vanished.  It’s at this point that Jesus charges them not to tell anyone what they have seen until He has been raised from the dead.  Naturally, the disciples don’t understand that reference and wonder what it means.

That’s the story.  But why?  What is happening?

For a moment heaven comes down to earth.  The privileged inner circle of disciples are blessed to see our Lord both in the glory which He had from eternity past as well as that which is yet to come.  Nowhere could the teaching of the communion of saints be clearer as the disciples yet on earth are privileged to hear part of the heavenly conversation between two of the great saints of the Old Testament and our Lord.  Ironically, Peter’s reaction is what people suspect Catholics are doing when we pray to saints.  However, our teaching is informed by this event that while the saints are alive in heaven they are merely human and not deserving of the worship which is reserved for God alone.  In this way Christ’s deity is revealed.

Whatever Peter, James, and John thought about the entire event at that moment, it couldn’t help but seal in them the vital truth that Peter had previously confessed- that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.

I would like to propose that nothing actually happened to Jesus in this event.  He was always just as much divine as He was in that moment.  But in that moment His disciples were allowed to see it.  Jesus was transfigured- meaning He appeared momentarily in His glory.  But it was the disciples who were intended to be transformed as a result.  Think about it, if they had prayerfully pondered what they had experienced they could never have been so shaken by the events that were shortly to transpire.  I believe this was our Lord’s intent.  But, of course, He also knew how they would react.

This brings a couple of realities to mind that I think are pertinent to the matter at hand.

Our Lord has graciously given us His presence in the Holy Eucharist.  However, we are in need of having eyes of faith to see it.  It’s an objective reality, but it only can be seen by those with faith.  So what do we see?

What we should see is a Man crucified, tattered and torn to shreds, writhing in agony as He gasps out His final breaths on a cruel cross.  And why?  For love of us!  Is that what we see?  Too often I hear us speak of the presence of the Lord in the Eucharist in sentimental terms.  “Oh, isn’t it so wonderful?  Isn’t it so peaceful?”  Could we say such things while beholding our crucified Lord?  And yet, that is what is before us. 

The same thing happens at Mass.  Why don’t we spice up the music or make this a bit more entertaining like the Protestant services?  Because we are being brought before our crucified Lord.  It’s not a “hand-clappy” kind of thing.  Too often, we want to make this about a table fellowship as if we’re attending a spiritual pot luck.  No, that’s not what’s happening.  This is the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.  Solemnity and sobriety are what is appropriate.

Now, I have painted this in somewhat narrow terms.  This isn’t the only sense in which our Lord is present to us in the Eucharist.  Countless saints through the ages have testified to the power and, yes, the comfort they have experienced in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament.  It need not be seen exclusively in such stark terms.  Nevertheless, that is what it is at its root and we are in need of such reminders from time to time lest we become too familiar with what is before us and then begin to become indifferent about it.

I propose, then, that each time we are before the Blessed Sacrament we are experiencing a personal Transfiguration.  If we have eyes of faith to see it our experience with our Lord can be just as powerful as that of the disciples on the mountain.  However, what will we do with that experience?  Will it have enough of an impact to take us through the horror of the crosses that God brings into our lives?

And that leads me to the second sense in which I want to consider the Transfiguration.  Our encounter with the Transfigured Lord is intended to transform us into Him.  Our union with Him makes us more like Him.  Therefore, we should ask the question: can the world around me see the Transfigured Christ within me?  In part, this will depend on whether or not those around us have eyes of faith; if they are seeking for God.  But it also calls us to remember that we are the means through which Christ now makes Himself known to the world.  Let us prayerfully consider the ways that Christ, who is always with us and in us, can be transfigured so as to be seen by those who are searching for Him.

One final thought- this Transfiguration is intended to encourage us in our Lenten journey as well.  While we may experience discomfort in our sacrifices we are in need of being reminded that the Transfigured Lord is with us in this journey.  If we persevere, we will come out on the other side into Easter and we will be made a little more like Him.  If we continue in the lessons learned during Lent we continue forward into a renewed Easter that lasts the rest of our lives.  Therefore, do not be discouraged at the outset of our journey… even if you have already failed in some of your intentions.  The road is still before us.  Get back up and let’s pick up our cross and continue to follow Jesus.  It leads into the glory of heaven, to the company of saints, and the embrace of the Father!