Second Sunday in lent – February 28, 2010
Discovery and revelation of who Jesus and the disciples are.
A Sunday School teacher began her lesson with a question, "Boys and girls, what do we know about God?" A hand shot up in the air. "He is an artist!" said the kindergarten boy. "Really? How do you know?" the teacher asked. "You know - Our Father, who does art in Heaven...
Yes, it is a discovery and revelation for the child and teacher! A man in Topeka, Kansas decided to write a book about churches around the country. He started by flying to San Francisco and worked east from there. Going to a very large church, he began taking photographs and notes. He spotted a golden telephone on the vestibule wall and was intrigued with a sign which read: "$5,000 a minute." Seeking out the Pastor he asked about the phone and the sign. The Pastor answered that the golden phone was, in fact, a direct line to Heaven and if he paid the price he could talk directly to God. The man thanked the Pastor and continued on his way. As he continued to visit churches in Seattle, San Diego, Greensboro, Tampa, Chicago and all around the United States, he found more phones with the same sign with the same answer from each Pastor. Finally, he arrived in Texas. Upon entering a church in Dallas, behold, he saw the usual golden telephone. But THIS time, the sign read: "Calls: 50 cents." Fascinated, he asked to talk to the Pastor. "Reverend, I have been in cities all across the country and in each church I have found this golden telephone. I have been told it is a direct line to Heaven and that I could talk to God, but, in the other churches the cost was $5,000 a minute. Your sign reads 35 cents. Why?" The Pastor, smiling benignly, replied, "Son, you're in Texas now . . . it's a local call." The Heaven and God are here! It is a discovery and revelation.
The Hollywood film-maker James Cameron claims that archaeologists have discovered the tomb of Jesus. According to the documentary to be aired on Discovery channel, Jesus had a son named Judas and was buried alongside Mary Magdalene. Hollywood just cannot think beyond boy meets girl plots. Can it? One of my friends told me, she had met a man, who has lost his “faith” because of the discovery. If a Hollywood documentary can destroy someone’s faith, then I think that there was not much “faith” there in the first place.
A discovery and a revelation!
On this the second Sunday, in lent we reflect on the transfiguration of Jesus. For the disciples the transfiguration was a discovery and revelation too. It was a discovery that revealed to them, first, who Jesus was, and second, who they were.
From a human perspective, although the transfiguration seems like a super natural experience it really exposes the human existence of Jesus. For example, the small detail that “Jesus took Peter, James and John and went up the mountain to pray,” is a very important piece of information. We can speculate, then, that Jesus had no idea about what was going to happen on the mountain. “While he was praying,” Luke says again, Jesus was transfigured. We get a glimpse of the human Jesus spending time in intense prayer.
There are other details that are important. Among all the holy people of the Old Testament, it was Moses and Elijah who appeared to Jesus. Luke even gives us details of the conversation – it was about “the exodus he was going to accomplish in Jerusalem.” Just like Moses led the exodus of his people from slavery to freedom, and just like the blood of the lamb saved them from death, Jesus would lead his people from eternal death to eternal life. The only difference was that Jesus himself would be the sacrificial lamb. And that is why, immediately after the transfiguration Jesus predicts his death to his disciples.
Toward the end, from the clouds came a voice that said, “This is my beloved son…” As human beings we know that a little bit of love can work miracles. The task ahead for Jesus was in some ways inhuman and in other ways superhuman. The sin of the whole world since time began was going to be laid on His shoulders. Only His Father’s love could carry him through; “This is my “beloved” Son…”
These details, once again, reveal the human side of Jesus. Like any other human person who takes life seriously or wants to live life meaningfully, Jesus spends time in prayer seeking God’s will. And it was in prayer that Jesus’ mission was revealed to him. In the confirmation from the Father, Jesus finds the strength to “accomplish” his mission. “Accomplish” in this context meant the death and resurrection. On the cross Jesus would say, “It is accomplished.”
The transfiguration is also important from the perspective of the Peter, James, and John. These three would later become the pillars of the church in Jerusalem. The fate that awaited Jesus, awaited them as well. It was important for them to see the human Jesus’ divine identity. The voice asked them to “listen to him.” Listening is more than a function of the ear; it implies a close following of Jesus, his words and his life example.
All in all, the intensity of Jesus’ experience at the transfiguration is proportional to the intensity of the task ahead.
Three practical implications:
1. Our one time existence on the earth is a very fragile experience. The most delicate task we must “accomplish” is to discover the purpose of our life. The lesson that Jesus teaches us is that we can only discover the purpose of our life in our relationship with God – in prayer. If Jesus needed to pray, how much more do you and I need to pray. Lent is a time set aside for this purpose. If we have not discovered that prayer is the most important thing in our life – today, God is inviting us into a deep relationship with him.
2. At the end of the transfiguration, the disciples who are mere human beings want to stay up on the top of the mountain; Jesus, who is divine, on the other hand, resolves to go down. Our prayer must be lived in the world not on the top of a mountain. The world is where the rubber hits the road. The world is where our faith is tested, lived, strengthened.
3. The transfiguration of Jesus helped the disciples to fix their vision on eternity. The crucial question for us is this – On the day that we die, like Christ, can we say to God, “It is accomplished!” And on the day that we die, will God say to us, “This is my beloved son/daughter.” I personally believe that if I cannot hear God say that to me, then I have wasted my entire life.
My dear friends, every Eucharist is a transfiguration experience. At every Eucharist, bread and wine is transformed into the body and blood of Jesus. Let us allow the transfigured Jesus to transform us. Amen.
