Second Sunday Of Lent

Gospel:  Luke 9:28b-36

Through the gospel of Jesus’ desert experience — fasting and temptation — the liturgy of the First Sunday of Lent invited Christians to undertake their own desert experience, a time of purification. To accept the invitation to a desert experience, Christians need motivation. The Second Sunday of Lent gives that motivation through Jesus’ Transfiguration, which is a symbol and promise of his and our resurrection. There are three versions in our gospels. Mark, Matthew, and Luke. This year we read and hear Luke’s version.

Peter, John and James, accompany Jesus onto the mountain. Mountains are important, biblically speaking, for they are often the scene of encounters with God. These three disciples are of particular importance to Luke as witnesses to the Transfiguration as a symbol of the resurrection. In Luke’s second volume to his gospel, Acts of Apostles, Peter and John play major roles as witnesses to and pro-claimers of Jesus’ resurrection. In Acts of Apostles 12:1-2 James bears witness to the resurrection in a different way. He becomes the first of the Twelve to be martyred.

Luke, in contrast to Mark, depicts Jesus praying at the Transfiguration. While Mark writes that Jesus went up a mountain and was transfigured before them, Luke writes, “He went up the mountain to pray, and as he was praying, his appearance was altered and his clothing became dazzling white.” In Luke, it is the prayer of Jesus that brings on his transfiguration. This reminds us of the importance of prayer as a channel to our own transfiguration in the resurrection of the dead.

Moses and Elijah appear with Jesus. Two of the three major divisions of the Hebrew Old Testament are called Torah and Prophets. It was believed that Moses, the Lawgiver, composed the Torah (the first five books of our Bible), while Elijah was the first of the miracle-working prophets. Both are symbols of Jesus, who is, like Moses, a Lawgiver but in the New Testament. Elijah symbolizes Jesus in his miracles, as Luke 4:26 indicates. Moses represents the Torah, while Elijah represents the prophets. In Luke’s theology, Torah and Prophets bear witness to Jesus’ resurrection of which the transfiguration is a symbol. Their conversation with him “about his Exodus in Jerusalem” proclaims that the tragedy about to fall upon Jesus in Jerusalem accords with both Torah and Prophets. Luke will point this out in 24:44 after Jesus’ resurrection. Their appearance “in glory” with Jesus proclaims the validity and sanctity of the Old Testament.

Reaction of the three disciples: Simon Peter suggests to Jesus that they put up three tents, “one for you, one for Moses, one for Elijah.” The reference is to the Tent of Meeting in the Old Testament. It was the tent where the Ark of the Covenant was housed, and where Moses would pray and meet with the Lord to get direction. Exodus 40:34, “Then the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting and the glory of the Lord filled it.” The glory of the Lord which shone on the Mount of Transfiguration should therefore also be housed in a tent. Luke is not clear on the meaning of Peters words, and says a bit unkindly, “He did not know what he was saying.”

The Old Testament cloud that overshadowed the Tent of Meeting in Exodus, now overshadows the mountain and even the frightened disciples. Extraterrestrial experiences can be alarming. As in Jesus’ baptism, so also in his transfiguration, a voice from the cloud bears witness to Jesus in glory, “This is my Son, my Chosen One! Listen to him!” The first title, “My Son,” bears witness to Jesus’ divinity. The second title, “My Chosen One,” recalls Isaiah 42:1, “Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my Chosen One, in whom my soul delights.” Isaiah will later describe the suffering and death of the Chosen One who takes upon himself the sins of his people.

The New Testament understands Isaiah’s Servant of the Lord as predictive of Jesus. Thus Luke’s voice from the cloud proclaims not only the glory of Jesus as “my Son,” but also how his human nature (and ours) will attain to that glory — through suffering and death. The words, “Listen to him” point to Deuteronomy 18:15-18. Moses tells the people of Israel that God will raise up a prophet like him, and commands, “Listen to him.” Though this passage originally spoke of Moses’ successor Joshua, the New Testament gives a new meaning to this passage. Jesus is that “prophet like Moses,” as Luke establishes in Acts 3:21-26. To what must the disciples and all Christians listen when this Prophet speaks? To the words of Jesus just before his transfiguration, “If anyone wishes to walk behind me, let him take up his cross daily and follow me.”

First Reading:  Genesis 15:5-12, 17-18

Like the three disciples, Abraham has a terrifying experience with the divine.

Second Reading:  Philippians 3:17-4:1

Paul describes our own transfiguration, “He will change our lowly body to conform with his glorified body . . . .”