I
guess I never realized it before, but every single year, on the second Sunday
of Lent, Holy Mother Church gives us for a Gospel proclamation this amazing
event, the Transfiguration of Christ.
This year it’s Matthew’s account.
Last year it was Luke. Next year
Mark. But every year, year in and year
out, we hear of Christ’s transfiguration at this point in our Lenten journey.
And
so all week long, I’ve been asking myself, why?
Why is that? What is there about this
Gospel that merits such a place in the Church calendar, such a place in the
holy season of Lent, only the second Sunday, still near the beginning. For there must be a very good reason, I
thought, but if there’s an “official answer” nobody’s shared it with me. So I came up with a few answers of my own.
First
answer is this – we are to begin this holy season with the end in mind. We begin our time of self-denial – of deep
prayer, fasting, abstinence, and almsgiving with a clear picture of why we are
observing this season – the vision of the transfigured Christ. A glimpse of Christ in all His glory, His
face shining like the sun, His clothes dazzling white. A glimpse of the glory of Christ on Easter
morn. And it’s the beatific vision, the
face of Christ that you and I look forward to beholding when we meet Him on the
last day, on our last day.
Second
reason – we experience in this Gospel scene the holiness, the “otherness” of
Christ. We focus a lot on the mercy
of Christ, but isn’t it just as critical
to focus on His holiness, and His call to us to holiness.
Today
we have this amazing visual, we are shown exactly who this Christ is –
transfigured in His glory. And we hear
those beautiful words of the Father, “this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well
pleased. Listen to Him.” Who is Jesus?
The Christ, the Son of the living God.
Jesus is God Himself. We see in
vivid detail His holiness, His godliness.
Now
imagine for a moment if you and I were there alongside Peter, James and
John. What would your reaction be? Mine, I decided, would be more like Peter’s
from an earlier time – “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.” In the light of Christ’s transfigured glory,
in the presence of Moses and Elijah, I would feel so unworthy. I would see, and feel, my own sinfulness in
sharp relief against His glory.
For
if Christ is transfigured, you and I are disfigured, in our brokenness, in our
sin. You and I, in our sin, fracture and
damage our relationship with Christ, the Son of the living God. Rather than to listen to Him, we listen to
other voices, too often our own. Rather
than to realize that He is God and we are not, to give Him worship and praise
and glory, we build ourselves up, we worship and praise and glorify only
ourselves.
But
the beautiful thing is, that’s why He came, that’s why He suffered and died and
rose again. So we can be healed and
restored. In a word, so that we can be
saved. Not just at the end of our lives,
but by His mercy, here and now. To live
differently
This
season of Lent is a special time of healing and restoration. Of believing in His love for us. A time of
really listening to Him. Of listening to His call to us to live a holy life, as
St. Paul writes to Timothy in our second reading.
It’s
also a time of great grace, for by His grace, you and I who are disfigured by
sin, may be configured to Him. Come to
live more and more in His image and likeness.
As Christ is seen conversing with Moses and Elijah, representing the law
and prophets, we may come to live in more perfect obedience to His law, and
more dedicated to bringing about the justice the prophets thirsted for.
And
this is the hard part – may we be configured to His Cross, to His suffering and
death. In the verses just prior to this
transfiguration Gospel, Our Lord teaches very powerfully that “anyone who
wishes to come after me must take up his cross and follow after me.” St. Paul commands Timothy, and you and me,
too, to “bear your share of hardship for the gospel with the strength that
comes from God.”
So
the third answer to my question is this – Strength and faith. Surely the vision
of Christ in His glory on Mount Tabor gave great strength and increased faith
to Peter, James and John. Strength that
was vital when only weeks later, when they walked up another mountain. When they saw Christ nailed to the Cross on
Calvary.
So
let this time of Lent be a time of great grace – of configuring our lives to
His, and uniting our sufferings, our own heavy crosses, to His passion.
Fourth
answer - this Gospel, in which Christ is transfigured, is also a picture of the
future that awaits each of us if we follow after Him and remain in Him to the
end. It is a prefigurement, if you will,
of our own eternal destiny. Of that day
when, having been saved from the disfigurement of sin by His passion and death,
and by grace strengthened and configured to Him and His life, passion and
death, you and I may be raised up and transfigured. Our own faces shining like the sun. Our clothes radiant in dazzling brilliance.
A foretaste, a
glimpse, of our own Easter Sunday, when you and I, too will rise with Him in
glory, to live eternally with the Father, His beloved Son, in the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
