Sunday Gospel Reflection
Jesus transfigured in glory

Introduction

Looking to the Future in a Rearview Mirror

What do people fear about the future? Why do they harbor such fears?

As much as we are focused on the present moment, we Americans like to peer into the future. To see visions of what can be, to dream about what is possible. To let go of the baggage from the past, to feel the freedom of tomorrow.

Of course, change means the instability of the unknown. So, we may no longer want to rush to the future. We may want to conserve what we have and what we understand.

The stress we feel in our culture is the tussle between the rocky rush to the future and the comfort the past gives. We might be pulled between the fresh and the stale. But, we stand between the uncertainty of the unknown and the certainty of the already known.

Peter and his partners followed Jesus up the mountain to pray. There, they experienced a vision that gave them a choice. What was to be vs. what they relied on.

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

5 He took him outside and said, "Look up at the heavens and count the stars-if indeed you can count them." Then he said to him, "So shall your offspring be."
6 Abram believed the LORD , and he credited it to him as righteousness.
7 He also said to him, "I am the LORD , who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it."
8 But Abram said, "O Sovereign LORD , how can I know that I will gain possession of it?"
9 So the LORD said to him, "Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon."
10 Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half. 11 Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away.
12 As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him.
...

17 When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces.
18 On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram and said, "To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates

Second Reading
Philippians 3:17-4:1

3: 17 Join with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you.
18 For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ.
19 Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things.
20 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.

4: 1Therefore, my brothers, you whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, that is how you should stand firm in the Lord, dear friends!

Gospel Reading
Luke 9:28-36

28 Now about eight days after these sayings he took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray.
29 And as he was praying, the appearance of his countenance was altered, and his raiment became dazzling white.
30 And behold, two men talked with him, Moses and Eli'jah,
31 who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was to accomplish at Jerusalem.
32 Now Peter and those who were with him were heavy with sleep, and when they wakened they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him.
33 And as the men were parting from him, Peter said to Jesus, "Master, it is well that we are here; let us make three booths, one for you and one for Moses and one for Eli'jah" --not knowing what he said.
34 As he said this, a cloud came and over-shadowed them; and they were afraid as they entered the cloud.
35 And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, "This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!"
36 And when the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silence and told no one in those days anything of what they had seen.

Bible Study/Meditation


What do you imagine Moses and Elijah were thinking and experiencing? Here standing before them was the man, Son of God and Son of Man, who would make possible the genuine deliverance of Israel, the mission upon which Moses staked his life, and the fulfillment of Elijah's prophesy regarding the holiness of God. I wonder if they were recalling God's words, "I have observed the misery of my people. ... I have heard their cry... I know their sufferings, and I have come to deliver them." At long last Israel would be set free, free from enslavement to sin, and along with Israel all mankind too could be saved. This inclusion of the Gentiles in salvation was always God's plan: that through Israel all nations of the earth should be blessed. How they must have glowed with the joy of knowing that now the promise was coming to completion, now it was about to be fulfilled.

Sometimes we smugly laugh at Peter's feeble attempt to process all that he saw. Prior to the cross, he did not comprehend all that was taking place, but he did recognize that it was a holy occasion. Do we, looking back with all of the wisdom of hindsight, also recognize and appropriately respond to this holy event and the occasion it foresaw? Probably not. Yet we can take courage that even in the midst of their ignorance the cloud of God's presence engulfed Peter, James and John, and spoke to them, so he might also overshadow us. We should not expect to be thrilled and excited by some "new" message, but simply expect to evermore hear the Father say, "This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him." And so we should, especially during Lent.

Saint Jerome reminds us, "'This is my Son; hear him,' my son, not Moses or Elijah. They are servants; this is the Son. This is my Son, of my nature, of my substance, abiding in me, and he is all that I am. This is my beloved Son. They, too, indeed are dear to me, but he is my beloved; hear him, therefore. They proclaim and teach him, but you, hear him. He is the Lord and master, they are companions in service. Moses and Elijah speak of Christ; they are your fellow servants. He is the Lord; hear him."

Peter desired to make three booths, or tents, for Moses, Elijah, and Jesus. Perhaps the "booth" we should build in honor of this redemptive departure of Jesus should not be a booth of tents but a spiritual space in our head and heart wherein we strain to grasp his every word.

As you enter this second week of Lent how will you create this space of receptivity in your life to contemplate him, and listen to him.