Be New! Be Transfigured!!

(Homily for the 2^nd Sunday of Lent Yr. C)

      In exception of what I read and saw on movies about mountains, I never knew the existential importance of mountains, until my experience at the Northern part of Italy. There, people go to the mountain for relaxation, to enjoy the beauty of nature, to enjoy fresh and uncontaminated air, it is a place of peace, tranquility and rest. It does not only introduce one in a wonderful contact with nature, it also leads to the imagination of the brain behind such beauty, and as such to the Creator. In the Sacred scriptures, the mountain is a place of encounter between God and man, even in the Old Testament, it is a place of prayer. When I remember the first time I climbed a mountain, I recognize the aim of Jesus for climbing the mountain, without being told. And in our Gospel today, St. Luke (Lk. 9: 28-36) readily tells us that Jesus went to the mountain to pray, and not to be transfigured. The transfiguration happened within the context of an intense prayer, when Jesus elevated His Soul to His Father. It was as if his prayer triggered of that event, because while he was praying his face changed. Prayer transforms and changes us and our different situations. St. Luke never talked about transfiguration in his Gospel; rather he talked about the change of his countenance and his clothing that became dazzling white. Indeed, prayer transforms, it changes us and makes a person become one with what he contemplates. And the collocation of this episode in the context of prayer is the particularity of Luke. In his own account of the episode instead Mark never talked about prayer (cf. Mk 9: 2-13). A closer look, at the Liturgy of the Church reveals that every second Sunday of Lent the Church invites us to reflect on the episode of Jesus’ Transfiguration. The Church draws our attention to this biblical episode in order to confirm our faith in Jesus as Son Of God and as God. Secondly, that his transfiguration is an indication that we his followers should also strive to be transfigured, to change in mind and heart.

     In the third Gospel, the episode of the Transfiguration is collocated in a difficult context: Jesus just finished announcing to his disciples for the first time about his passion: “The Son of Man is destined to suffer grievously, to be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and scribes and to be put to death, and to be raised up on the third day” (Lk. 9:22). And after this moment of obscurity, the Gospel presents a luminous moment, on which we have to fix our gaze especially in difficult and bloody moments of life. Besides, the transfiguration event is not an episode that occurred unexpectedly in the life of Jesus, rather it is to be understood within the range of the incidents preceding and succeeding it. In the earthly life of Jesus, one question kept on bothering many: who is Jesus? He has performed signs and wonders (Lk. 4, 5, 6), he cast away demons (8), and he declares himself superior to Moses (6, 5). He gathered around himself disciples and apostles like one of the great masters of that time (6:12-16) and he sent them on mission (9: 1-6). It is obvious that the public will begin to question his identity. Even Herod interrogated: John I beheaded, who then is he? Who is Jesus? (Cf. Lk. 9:9).

      The transfiguration in no small way sheds light on the identity of Jesus and to the question of who he is. The answer to the great question who is Jesus is proffered in the transfiguration event. Indeed, the answer is that Jesus is not only a man, He is above all, the “Son of God”, as the voice from above proclaimed. It also reveals that He is God. In the Old Testament we see a similar event in the book of Exodus, the change in the appearance of Jesus’ face is reminiscent of Moses’ on Mount Sinai (cf. Ex. 34:29), it talked about the splendor of Moses’ face. But while in the case of Moses the splendor on his face was a reflection from the glory of Yahweh, Jesus’ splendor is his own glory.

      We can reflect on the transfiguration of Christ in two major ways: ●With reference to Christ (Christological); ●With reference to the Church and every single Christian (ecclesiological). With reference to Christ it is the revelation of his identity. For the three apostles (Peter, James and John), it was a sensible, visible and audible manifestation of the glory, the power of God that covered Him and the voice that says “this is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him”. Jesus is revealed as the fulfillment of the Old Testament represented by Moses and Elijah (law and prophets respectively). The Cloud that covered him and the apostles are indications of the divine presence (theophany). At the same time, the transfiguration is a kind of prelude to the future glory of Jesus, of his resurrection. Similarly, it pre-empts the way through which Jesus will enter into his glory (the way of the Cross), and this formed the content of his discussion with Moses and Elijah. Furthermore, with reference to every single Christian, it is a sign, a prelude, a prefiguration and an anticipation of the “future” for which the Church and all of us are in a continuous journey. Moreover, transfiguration is also about our actual identity as Christians, because every Christian has experienced a form of transfiguration, assimilation to Christ, a transformation in Christ. And the transfiguration in question here started with our Baptism.

      The peak of the episode was the voice from above: “this is my Son, the chosen, listen to him”. We equally heard the same words at the event of his Baptism: “You are my Son today I have fathered you” (Lk. 3:22).  In the Lukan redaction he emphasizes on the revelation of the Father, who proclaims Jesus “The chosen Son”. Prior to the voice from heaven, probably the apostles were ready to accept Jesus as one of the end time figures, alongside with Moses and Elijah. But the Voice from heaven proclaims and ascertains the finality of Jesus: “This is my Son, listen to him”, this alludes to Deuteronomy (18:15): “Yahweh your God will raise up a prophet like me; you will listen to him”. This episode proclaims Jesus as the Son of God and the second Moses who accomplishes the new exodus through his Cross. And having known Him, the voice invites us to listen to Him. How often do we actually listen to Him? And while coming down from the mountain Jesus ordered the apostles not to tell anyone, because the event serves as a sort of preparation to them for the scandal of the cross. The transfiguration episode is incomplete without the cross episode (they are like Part 1 and part 2). Little wonder, Jesus makes prediction of his passion and death within the context of his transfiguration.

     Besides, we cannot but remember that the scene of the Transfiguration is concluded with the account of the miracle of the epileptic boy (9:37-43). When Jesus was on the mountain, it was as if the Church, the apostles were unable to drive the Devil out, this made Jesus to address them as a faithless and perverse generation. But when there seems to be no remedy, Jesus intervenes in favour of his people, and he imposes the devil to go out of the boy and thus gives rise for the hope of the final victory. Interestingly, while everyone was awestruck and full of admiration about what he has done, he said to his disciples: “The Son of man is going to be delivered into the power of men” (Lk. 9:44). Jesus continues to situate the upcoming event of the Cross into the context of the manifestation of his glory, for his glory will be manifested eloquently on the Cross.

      In the second reading (Phil.3:17-4:1) St. Paul gives us an interpretative key to the readings of today, especially the Gospel. He reminds us that our true homeland is in heaven, and that Jesus one day will transfigure our mortal bodies to conform it to his glorious body. The theme that dovetails into the epistle and the Gospel readings is the theme of change. While the former speaks of the change of our earthly existence at last, the Gospel speaks of the change of Jesus’ countenance as he prayed on the Holy Mountain. In this passage we see an allusion to the term “glorious body” or spiritual body to denote the apocalyptic hope, in this hope the life to come is not a sort of a prolongation of the present life, rather an entirely new one, a transformed existence. It is in this transformed way of existence that Christ entered into, after the event of his Resurrection. Indeed, he entered into that existence mainly as the “first fruits” (1Cor. 15:20). As such, he made it possible for believers to enter into that transformed existence. This indeed, is at the basis of our Christian hope!   

     Therefore, the transfiguration of Jesus is a sign and a prophecy of what will become of us one day. Our Christian life is tailored in being and becoming, between reality and hope, between the already and the not yet. Our being, our reality or our already is in Christ. Little wonder, the apostle reminds us: “You are in Christ Jesus” (1Cor. 1:30). St. Paul reminds us that our homeland is in heaven, but to participate in his glory, to transfigure in him we need to stand firm in Him (Phil. 4:1). Therefore, we don’t have to behave like the enemies of the cross of Christ, whose god is stomach; their glory is in their ‘shame’. Their minds are occupied with earthly things (v.19). My dear friends let us strive to become friends of the cross of Christ, so that we shall be transfigured like him.

     In the passage of the first reading (Gen. 15:5-12, 17-18) we see the combination of three different themes: God’s promise to Abraham, His promise to the land of Israel, and the sealing of that promise with a covenant ceremony. In and through Abraham God intervened out rightly in human history in order to establish a people for himself. This indeed, is a manifestation of God’s grace. The Responsorial Psalm serves as a bridge between the first and the second readings. For in stanza 4 it says: “I believe I shall see the Lord’s goodness in the land of the living”. In the context of the first reading, for Abraham this land is the land of Israel, while in that of the second reading, for Christians, the land is the Kingdom of God.

     Lord Jesus may our daily encounter with You and your Word be a veritable source of transformation and change for us! Help us to understand that our present and future, our being and becoming, our reality and hope lie in you!! Lord make us transfigurable!!! Be new, be transfigured!!!

(Fr. Vitus M. C. Unegbu, SC)