SECOND SUNDAY OF THE LENT - YEAR C

SECOND SUNDAY OF THE LENT – C (Gen 15:5-12, 17-18; Phil 3:17- 4:1; Luke 9:28b-36) Theme: We are invited to follow the Way of Jesus to participate in His Transfiguration Reflection: A Pilgrimage towards the Future Glory - We are in the second Sunday of the Lent. We are in the preparation period for the Great Feast of the Resurrection of the Lord. It is a period of Spiritual Renewal. Every Sunday/ every week, the Church offers the scriptural nourishment for our spiritual pilgrimage. Last week we have been reflecting on the desert experience of Jesus. Jesus is with his Father in prayer and fasting, in order to gather all the strength to initiate his mission. The first hurdle has come already in the beginning of his mission in the form of the famous three temptations – hunger, power and success. It is with the power of the desert experience – with the power of being with his Father and with the presence of the Spirit – that Jesus has thrown out the evil and its inclinations. We have carried with us the possibility of the desert experience of life in which we will finally win all the hurdles with the power of the Word (scriptures) and with the strength of the Spiritual Food (sacraments). We have also learnt that it is through our being with the Lord in prayer and fasting that we transform of our life of desert into the life of joy. - With the same intention of the enabling us to move forward in our spiritual walk, the Church offers us today, in the second week of Lent, the episode of Transfiguration. The main theme to which we need to turn our attention is this: Jesus is transfigured in glory and all those who follow him will also participate in the splendor of his transfiguration. The theme of the transfiguration is important in this period of spiritual renewal because it arouses in us the hope of becoming like the Lord. It provides courage to encounter the daily difficulties with the hope of receiving the crown of glory. It opens the space to realize the original dignity and splendor with and for which we are created. It also pushes us forward in our daily struggle with the hearts raised with the faith in the Lord. We are well acquainted with the details of the episode of transfiguration because we have been reading it and listening to it often. In order to enter into the spiritual significance it offers us for this Lent, we need to look at it from its contextual reading with which Luke places it. In other words, we need to understand the context of the episode of the Transfiguration. - The context – Jesus is in the mental and spiritual crisis: If we analyze what has happened in the chapters prior to the ninth chapter in which there is the story of transfiguration we can understand the context better. There are two things that disturb and agitate Jesus: the first is the tension between the Old and New Testaments and the second is the incomprehension of his identity. o The tension between the Old and New Testaments: Jesus preaches about the Kingdom of God which embraces the entire world. He reaches out to the needy and sick with the miraculous healing. He proclaims the preference of the Lord to the poor and dejected ones of the society. He invites all, even sinners and outcastes, into the salvation that God is about to bring. This is the novelty of the message of Jesus. In fact, the whole gospel of Luke has the characteristic of God’s preference for the poor. The chapters that preceded the present episode indicate the Good News that Jesus brings to each and everyone. His discourse on the Beatitudes shows the crystal clear distinction that Jesus makes preferring the poor and rejecting the rich and further he preaches love for the enemies (Luke – sixth chapter: the poor are blessed and the rich are cursed, further the love for the enemies). His acts of healing and forgiveness makes his intention evident that God wants to embrace all (Luke – seventh chapter: he heals the servant of the roman officer, brings into life the son of the widow, and above all, forgiving the woman). He proclaims belongingness to the family of God all those who accomplish his will (Luke – eight chapter: the true family of Jesus in the verses 19-21). What Jesus speaks and does is in the contradiction to the belief that the religious and political authority of his time have. They consider Jesus’ message as directed to question their power and authority. They grow in hatred towards him because of his message of salvation. The belief they have preserved until now seems to be shattered. They believe that the salvation is only for them. They feel that they are the only preferred ones by the God of their fathers in the Old Testament. With the coming of Jesus and with the arrival of his Gospel there is a tension between the Old Testament and the New. The tension arises because former speaks of God’s intervention only in the history of the people of Israel and latter invites all into the possibility of salvation without any barriers. The tension is only created with the human logic because they have failed to understand that Jesus is, in reality, not abolishing the Law and the Prophets but giving them the new meaning. Jesus is tired of the attitude of the authority, both political and religious, which is creating unnecessary tension. o The incomprehension of the identity of Jesus: Apart from the tension that has come about with the novelty of Jesus’ preaching, there is also a misunderstanding of his person and mission. It is seen as an immediate context to the episode of transfiguration. Both the people and the disciples do not understand him properly. Jesus asks the disciples about the public opinion about him (Luke 9:18ff.). The public has different opinions of him: some consider him to be John the Baptist, some Elijah and others one of the prophets. Jesus turns towards his disciples to know what they think of him. Even they have misunderstood his identity. Indeed, they consider Jesus to be the Messiah but their idea of Messiah is different. They have the idea of Glorious Messiah who will come to fight and thus establish his kingdom on earth. The disciples have only partly and partially understood his presence and his person. Jesus is tired of the incomprehension on the part of both people and his own disciples. - With the tension and with the incomprehension Jesus is undergoing a mental agony and spiritual crisis. He is tired of the attitude of all the people towards him – be it religious, political, be it common public and be it his own chosen ones. He desires to offer this critical situation to his Father. He wants to regenerate the strength amidst the discouragement and the crisis that surround him. The only way he prefers to regain the spiritual energy is the prayer. All these conditions lead him to the prayer. Jesus goes on the high mountain to pray. The prayer and all the preceding incidents that lead him to it, is the context of the episode of transfiguration. Reading: Glory and Splendor are only the Fruits of the Passion and Death - Jesus goes to pray: Gospel is clear in indicating that Jesus climbs the mountain with the three preferred disciples – Peter, John and James – to pray. His only occupation for now is to pray, not to be transfigured. With all the mental burdens and spiritual agony Jesus wants to be with his Father. It is his prayer. Prayer for Jesus is to be in the presence of his Father. Prayer for Jesus is to listen and follow the will of his Father. In prayer he pours out all the conditions of tension and incomprehension to the Father and asks for the energy of the Spirit. - He is transfigured: While he prays, he is being transfigured. The transfiguration appears here as the fruit of the prayer. When one is united with God and he allows himself to be immersed in spirit of the Lord, he becomes transfigured. He receives splendor and glory. His face shines like the sun and his garments become candid. Jesus experiences this transfiguration. He shines with the heavenly glory. The transfiguration on the Mount Tabor is only the anticipation of the ultimate glory he receives in the Resurrection, after his being disfigured on the Mount Calvary. It is revealed by the two men that stand by him in the next scene. - Law and the Prophets accompany him: Moses and Elijah appear with the glory in the transfiguration. Moses represents the Law and Elijah represents the Prophecy. By their presence and conversation with Jesus they indicate two things. First, they respond to the tension between the Old and New Testament and reveal that Jesus is the One who is proclaimed and promised in the Old Testament. Second, they respond to the novelty the Jesus brings by offering himself in the passion and in the cross for the accomplishment of the salvation. Thus, they reveal both Jesus’ person and his mission. They unveil the true significance of the transfiguration. - The reaction of the Peter: The disciples are astonished with the amazing appearance of Jesus. They are also wonderstruck with the presence of the great personalities of the Old Testament. The Messiah appears in Glory. Indeed, they want and they expect for this glorious Messiah. When he finally appears to them on this mountain they could not but react to it. Peter, taking the word of all, tells Jesus: “Master, it is beautiful for us to be here”. Immediately the gospel makes it clear that he does not know what he says. It is not the first time. Peter is often inspired to speak out without knowing exactly the meaning of the words he utters. In the Gospel of Mathew 16:13-23, the unawareness of Peter of what he speaks is made clear. He receives appreciation from Jesus and immediately after a little while he receives also admonition from him. Even here in this context of transfiguration, the disciples are content with the glory. The want to be always with that glory. They do not want to come down from the mountain. They ignore the life that has to be faced down the mountain. They forget that this glory is only a momentary anticipation and soon they have to go back to the normal life. They want only glorious Jesus, not the suffering servant of the Lord. Their eyes become blind with the wrong idea of Jesus. At the same time, the reaction of Peter represent every ones overwhelming joy in the presence of the Lord. - The presence and testimony of the Father: As soon as the Old Testament figures have disappeared, now enters the Father. He gives his testimony to his Son. He reveals to the world the identity of his Son. He appears in the form of cloud. The cloud in the life of Israel signifies the presence of God. God accompanies them and guides them in the form of the pillar of cloud. Not only with his presence in the form of cloud, but also with his voice he manifests the person and the mission of his Son. The Old Testimony is over and it disappears and gives the space for the New Testimony. The New witness is the Father himself. Conclusion: Let us confront the crisis – it is the only way to the Transfiguration - We are already transfigured in Baptism: The context and the content of the episode of the Transfiguration is the spiritual nourishment for us for this Lent. We learn one important aspect from this. We are given the glance of the glory. As it is given to the disciples on the mount Tabor, it is given to us every day in the Word proclaimed and in the Sacraments celebrated. We know who Jesus is and what he has done for us through the liturgical activities. We enter into the very person and mission of Jesus for us. We become partakers of his glory. Indeed, by the Baptism we are already transfigured and given the face of Jesus. We already carry within us this identity and these sparks of glory. Yet, all this is only temporary. They only give the taste of that eternal glory for which we are waiting. - The ever-lasting glory will appear “afterwards”: We are only in the journey. We need to arrive at the point of destiny. Our Christian destiny is to participate in the fullest manner in the celestial splendor. It happens, as the Christian faith teaches, not now. We need to complete the exile of this world and only “afterwards” we receive the crown of glory. Meanwhile we can experience this glory through the prayer and through the commitment to our Christian vocation. We need to wait for this future glory. Here enters the virtue of hope. We carry on our life with the hope of final transfiguration. Until then we move forward with the faith and confidence, following the foot prints of Jesus. His way is only the way of the Cross which leads us to the grotto of the life of Resurrection. - Let us confront the crisis with the Christian Hope: The transfiguration gives us the courage to face the crisis in which we find ourselves. Our life is full of complexes: fears, mental and spiritual crisis, and every existential tension. One thing that we are still under the mountain. We need to climb the mountain for the experience of the glory. We have every possibility to confront the difficulties. We need not fear. Jesus never promises the way of roses but the way of thorns and stones. He promises the spiritual nourishment of the Christian faith to confront them with joy and hope. He has done it before us. He has paved the way for us. With him and through him we can carry our cross and travel towards the Calvary. First we need to be disfigured with the renouncement of the worldly passions and inclinations. Only then we have the possibility for the transfiguration. This is what we are invited to do in this pilgrimage of spiritual renewal: let us follow Jesus, confront our life’s conditions and climb along with him on the mountain of life to be transfigured.