Okay, here we go! We’re in it now – the Second Sunday of Lent! We had Ash Wednesday, and then the First Sunday of Lent – the anticipation and the excitement. What am I going to give up? How am I going to increase my prayer life? Where can I be more charitable? But now we’re past that, well to an extent. We should continue to ask ourselves those questions, but it’s getting real now, and hopefully you’re starting to feel it – physically, mentally, and spiritually. There’s still that excitement, that feeling of community as our Universal Church again comes together for this powerful season. And we’re jumping right into the deep end with the readings today – the Transfiguration.
The Transfiguration is one of my favorite passages in the Bible. I’m not sure why, I just picture Jesus leading Peter, James and John on a long, strenuous hike up a mountain. No one knows for sure which mountain, but many speculate Mt. Tabor or Mt. Hermon. Mt. Tabor is about 2000 feet in elevation, and Mt Hermon surpasses 9000 feet. But whichever mountain they climbed, it was probably not an easy walk. Perhaps they left early in the morning, and spent all day journeying up this mountain, through the heat, and the rocky, rugged terrain.
Peter, James, and John are probably wondering, and asking Jesus – where are you taking us? Why are we doing this? What is the point? Jesus simply tells them – patience. Just keep walking, soon, we’ll be there.
And so they finally get to the top of that mountain. Jesus gets up there first, encouraging His disciples through those final steps. And then He stops, looks up towards the sky, closes his eyes, perhaps raises His hands and takes a few deep breaths of the cool, crisp air. Jesus is closer to His Father right now, and He’s soaking in His Light. And then He turns around to the three disciples and he’s filled with that light of Heaven – He’s been transfigured by that Light. He’s been changed, gone through a metamorphosis, and Peter, James, and John don’t know what to think. And then they see Moses! And Elijah! And then, from the cloud, they hear the voice of God, clearly telling them Who Jesus is!
They don’t know what to say, or what to do, or how to act. They fall to the ground in reverence. Finally, Jesus tells them it’s okay, get up, and when they do, only Jesus is there.
What are they to make of all this? What are we to make of this?
They were in the middle of it. Everything that Jesus was telling them, showing them and teaching them was new. And often, they just did not understand. They wouldn’t, and the world wouldn’t until Jesus is resurrected from the dead. The event on that mountain, that Transfiguration prefigured what was to come. And even though we have the luxury of being able to read the whole account over and over, we still don’t fully understand it.
But I think that this event shows, that as Jesus was transfigured to His true self through His Father’s Light, so can we be transfigured through the Light of Christ.
And this is Lent. We journey through Lent like we are journeying up a mountain. It’s rugged, it’s tough. The rocks are sharp. As the 40 days continue, we keep journeying. We keep fasting and sacrificing and giving. Each time we do this for God, it is a powerful prayer to Him because it is an action, and we’re sacrificing our bodies, our comforts to Him, which brings us closer to Him.
Each time we fast, each time we abstain and sacrifice, each time we give more of ourselves, and each time we pray – it is a step up that mountain, bringing us closer to God.
Each step hurts though. It’s supposed to. And then we get to Holy week, when it seems the darkest, and we don’t think we can make it in our Lenten sacrifices and we’re tempted to give up – but then we get to the top. It’s Easter Sunday and Christ is risen, and we see the light! The Light of Christ.
If we do Lent right, then entire 40 days, and as Paul writes to Timothy today in the second reading, “Bear your share of hardship for the gospel with the strength that comes from God.”
If we sacrifice some of our comforts, and endure our struggles for Christ, in thanksgiving for Him sacrificing Himself for us – through that, He will give us the strength to do so, transforming us. The two go hand in hand. Fascinating when you really think of it.
Your soul will be strengthened, and little by little, you will be transfigured into the person God intended you to be.
This is Lent. This is our journey up the mountain. Don’t give up and turn around halfway. Be all in. Let it strengthen you, and embrace the journey, and be transformed. Bear your sacrifices – and your hardships – all for Christ, as a gift to Him. I know some of us have more hardships than others, and some of us may feel like Job. And we may ask God why? Or how much more do I have to take? The point is, you keep turning to Him, keep following Him, and keep asking Him… Don’t turn away. In some way, it will make sense at some point, as the right things come to pass.
We know that the Light is there at the end of the journey, and for moments throughout, just as it was for the three disciples all those years ago. The journey is what brings you closer to Christ. And each Lent has the opportunity to being you closer to Christ, and transform you a little more.
Let this Lent transform you.
GN 12:1-4A; PS 33; 2 TM 1:8B-10; MT 17:1-9
