Sunday, March 7, 2004
2nd Sunday of Lent

1st Reading: Gen 15:5-12, 17-18

Yahweh brought him outside and said to him, "Look up at the sky and count the stars if you can. Your descendants will be like that."

Abram believed Yahweh who, because of this, held him to be an upright man. And he said, "I am Yahweh who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land as your possession."

Then Abram asked, "My Lord, how am I to know that it shall be mine?" Yahweh replied, "Bring me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtle dove and a young pigeon." Abram brought all these animals, cut them in two, and laid each half facing its other half, but he did not cut the birds in half. The birds of prey came down upon them, but Abram drove them away.

As the sun was going down, a deep sleep came over Abram, and a dreadful darkness took hold of him.

When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot and a flaming torch passed between the halves of the victims. On that day Yahweh made a covenant with Abram, saying, "To your descendants I have given this country from the river of Egypt to the Great River, the Euphrates."

2nd Reading: Phil 3:17--4:1

Unite in imitating me, brothers and sisters, and look at those who walk in our way of life. For many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. I have said it to you many times, and now I repeat it with tears: they are heading for ruin; their belly is their god and they feel proud of what should be their shame. They only think of earthly things.

For us, our citizenship is in heaven, from where we await the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ, the Lord. He will transfigure our lowly body, making it like his own body, radiant in Glory, through thr power which is his to submit everything to himself.

Therefore, my brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, you my glory and crown, be steadfast in the Lord.

Gospel: Lk 9:28-36 (Listen to MP3 - Transfiguration)

About eight days after Jesus had said all this, he took Peter, John and James and went up the mountain to pray. And while he was praying, the aspect of his face was changed and his clothing became dazzling white. Two men were talking with Jesus: Moses and Elijah. They had just appeared in heavenly glory and were telling him about his departure that had to take place in Jerusalem.

Peter and his companions had fallen asleep, but they awoke suddenly and saw Jesus' Glory and the two men standing with him. As Moses and Elijah were about to leave, Peter said to him, "Master, how good it is for us to be here for we can make three tents, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah." For Peter didn't know what to say. And no sooner had he spoken than a cloud appeared and covered them; and the disciples were afraid as they entered the cloud. Then these words came from the cloud, "This is my Son, my Chosen one, listen to him." And after the voice had spoken, Jesus was there alone.

The disciples kept this to themselves at the time, telling no one of anything they had seen.

Commentary

FOR the gospels, usually so quick-paced, that is a strangely static scene on the mountain: Jesus, flanked by Moses and Elijah. It is more a tableau than an event. Tableaux always looked artificial, with their emblematic figures and poses: various virtues and abstractions personified. The two figures in this case, Moses and Elijah, were emblems of the Law and the Prophets; and their reported speech doesn't do much to put life into it.

Then suddenly the Presence! "A cloud appeared and covered them." From the cloud the Father's voice, "This is my Son, the Chosen one, listen to him." This scene is like two other events in the life of Jesus: his baptism and his resurrection. The Father speaks the same words as at the baptism in the Jordan; and the "dazzling white clothing" are a sign of the glory of the Risen Lord. The beginning and the end of the story are brought together in one luminous moment.

In all three gospels this Transfiguration scene comes just after Jesus predicted his passion for the first time. Death, and even the thought of death, freezes the action and brings the whole of one's life into a point. But that point is not a fading into extinction; it is a moment of Transfiguration. In this lies the meaning of our own suffering too.

Read also Sundays Into Silence: Matching Face and Heart

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