2nd SUNDAY OF LENT

 

Readings: Genesis .22:1-19
                 Romans 8:31-34

                 Mark 9:2-10

 

 

"There in their presence he was transfigured:
his clothes became dazzlingly white.”

 

 

Last Sunday, we meditated on the reality of temptation, and we realized that the meaning and beauty of Christian life lies precisely in doing the hard way. We know we are no sadist. But we prefer the long and winding road for we believe the reward of such kind of journey is sweetest.

 

Today's gospel is an account of Jesus' transfiguration. This gives us an added opportunity to have a glimpse at a brighter horizon in the midst of this world's trials and sufferings. Together with the first and second readings, let us meditate on how the transfiguration is a consolation to Christ himself, to his disciples and to us.

 

1. There are tests which are truly difficult. Abraham’s test is a classic example of it. Perhaps, there is no more bitter case than for a father to be asked to slaughter his own beloved son. Even in our ordinary life's setting, a parent prefers his own life to be taken away if only to spare his child's. But in case of the child's death, will he not accuse God of being so cruel? If this is the normal flow of human feelings, we have all the good reasons to believe that such must have also been the feeling of Abraham when asked of his son's life. But did Abraham resent? Or was God that cruet? Neither. God was not that cruel as to put Abraham down and out. And Abraham was not that stubborn as to put his son over and above God. Thus, Abraham won God's favor and became the father of nations. And for God's part, he knew that his servant loved him more than anyone and anything in this world. The reward of Abraham surpassed all his expectations. It was a million times more than a mere consolation.

 

2. But if Abraham was subjected to and survived from that painful test, so too was and did Isaac. Although Genesis presents how tactful Abraham to answer Isaac that God would be the one to provide the sacrificial animal, tradition has it that Isaac soon knew his fate in the mountain. At his tender boyhood, things must have simply been difficult to understand. Fear must have accompanied him as he climbed the mountain of sacrifice. And yet, he lied down at the altar with no resistance. This likened the little Isaac with Isaiah's suffering servant and, for that matter, with Christ. However, if Isaac was actually spared at the end by God (though not by Abraham), Christ was not. This is the idea St. Paul has in today’s second reading: "God did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all…” But as "through Isaac shall your descendants be called (cf Heb 11:17-18),” so too everything good flows from the death of Christ. We become inseparable from the love of God. For indeed, if God is with us, who shall be against us...How will he not give us all things with him?

 

3. All these things must lead us to the right understanding and meaning of Christ’s transfiguration. The consolation of the transfiguration points at least to three directions: to Christ himself, to his disciples, to us believers.

 

a. First, the consolation it brings points immediately to Christ himself. He knows his suffering and death is soon to come. He is just aware that “show time” is near. In fact, he predicts his own passion just before they climbed the mountain. Being truly human, fear and anguish would not leave him. This we see even unto the last hour of his struggle to be spared from it. His prayer at Gethsemane was crucial. The human plight to escape from such impending test is evident; If only he could bend his Father’s will by his tears of blood! But being truly an obedient son, he knows too that he already gets into the point of no return. And it is here that the significance of the transfiguration enters. He has to be strengthened. He has to be to be consoled. This can happen by letting him experience the sweetness of a future reward. This is just what it means by justice. If his passion and death is necessary as a matter of God's justice, so too must his reward be. So, the fact that his appearance is changed and his clothes become dazzlingly white is a foretaste of a future glory. Such glory is just the necessary exchange of his suffering. And even more. The Father knows exactly how to reward. To his death is rewarded life that never ends. To his humiliation is rewarded a kingly exaltation. In fact, this glorious exaltation makes everything and everyone on, above and below the earth cry that Jesus is Lord (cf Phil 2:6-11).

 

As we see, therefore, the transfiguration proves a consideration and strength for Jesus to hurdle the agony in Calvary. The three tents Peter offers become now the least important. What concerns him more is to hurry .down to Jerusalem. .It's not up here but down there. And everyone must hurry. It's show time!

 

b. Second, the transfiguration is also a consolation to the disciples. Peter, James and John must have been especially close to Christ. Only these three disciples were permitted by Christ to come along and enter the room where he healed the sick child. These three are now with Christ in the mountain. These same three will be called later to accompany him to pray in Gethsemane. The frequent mentioning of Peter, James and John in the significant events of Jesus' life is not a matter of coincidence. Perhaps more than anything else, they represent the twelve.

 

The disciples must be prepared for that Calvary event. Surely, it will rock them to the bottom. It will shatter and scatter them into pieces. Besides, they have no idea whatsoever about the resurrection. The transfiguration, therefore, serves as an eye-opener to them. And although they come to understand it fully only after the resurrection of Christ himself, it helps them anyhow to put together the scattered pieces of their faith. Peter will now realize why Christ would never mind his tents. He knows now what and how it is to be a follower: to live and die, and live again!

 

c. Lastly, the transfiguration is a consolation to all who believe. As believers, our lives must run parallel to that of Jesus and the apostles. They suffer and so must we. The power of darkness will put to the test the reign of God, and Christ’s mission will become an apparent failure. This we shall also experience. But as Christ and the apostles are strengthened by the experience of the transfiguration, so too must we build our consolation and hope on it. We are even quite more fortunate today as to understand the flow of events holistically from a distance. As we look at it now, transfiguration becomes a shadow of the resurrection, for indeed, that must surely be the ease. The resurrection is the higher and fuller reality of which the transfiguration is only a foretaste. Thus, this must embody our hope. After all, the sufferings of this life is nothing compared to the glory promised to us by the risen Christ (cf Rom 8:18).