Pastor's Message
2nd Sunday of Lent
“This is My Beloved Son, With Whom I am Well Pleased Listen to Him.” Matthew 17:5
The Story of Abraham in today’s 1st Reading is very well known to us; God’s promise to Abraham, though, required a man of great faith. God promise to Abraham; “Look towards heaven and count the stars, if you are able to … so will your descendants be,” was a challenging one. Abraham and his wife were advanced in age, yet, they did not have a child. The Lord, God, made a covenant with Abraham assuring him that God would faithfully fulfill his promise.
In the Gospel Reading today, God had fulfilled this Promise to Abraham in a very unique and magnificent way. Jesus, the Son of God was of the lineage of Abraham and obediently fulfilling the Will of his Father.
In the Gospel, Jesus set to reveal himself to three of his Disciples. The Disciples had been following Jesus for some time and had come to believe that he was the Promised Messiah. The trouble was the Messiah they took Jesus to be, was apolitical one, with earthly power and glory. Several times they had been caught fighting for greatness. Jesus, on his part had been predicting, anything but early glory and placement to great earthly positions. For three times, He had revealed to them, the Will of His Father;
“Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem and everything written by the Prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. He will be handed over to the Chief Priest and the Scribes, and they will condemn him to death and hand him over to the Gentiles who will mock him, spit upon him, scourge him, and put him to death, but after three days he will rise.” (Lk. 18:31-33, Mt. 20:18-19, Mk. 10:33-34)
These predictions did not sit well with his Disciples, who had up to that time, witnessed Christ perform many wonderful signs and Miracles; turning water into wine in the wedding at Cana, the great catch of Fish, curing the sick, feeding the multitude and driving out demons, restoring the sight of the blind and the lame walking.
Luke writes, the disciples “understood nothing of this; the Word remained hidden from them and they failed to comprehend what he said.” (Lk. 18: 34)
The shock of Christ’s Passion, His Crucifixion and Death, would have a devastating effect on the disciples and the probable question was; Would the disciples have Faith strong enough to survive the shock as they witness their master, arrested, tortured, crucified and dead on the Cross? The Disciples needed encouragement and Strength;
Today, the second Sunday of Lent, the Church offers us this Gospel of encouragement; in the account of the Transfiguration of Christ.
Before starting His Journey to Jerusalem, where he is to die, Jesus went up a Mountain commonly identified as Mt. Tabor, to pray together with Apostle Peter, James and John. And there, God in his generosity, gave the Apostles the full and definitive revelation of their master in Glory. They witnessed their master in His Glory in Heaven. And in the Experience of this glory, Elijah and Moses appeared with Jesus. Elijah representing the Prophets and Moses, the Covenant. Both appeared in bodily form that the three Apostles could recognize.
Moses and Elijah had previously gone up the mountain to receive God’s Revelation, however, unlike their two episodes, in Transfiguration, it was not Jesus who received the Revelation of God rather, it’s in Jesus that God revealed himself.
Luke the Evangelist reveals the topic that Elijah, Moses and Jesus discussed, Christ’s Exodus, from this World, back to the Glory of God, having sealed the New Covenant with his people.
The Apostles were overwhelmed by the Vision in the Glory of God, so much so that Peter wanted this Glorious Experience prolonged! Then Came the Voice of God the Father; “This is My Beloved Son, With Whom I am Well Pleased Listen to Him.”
The Apostles were commanded to be attentive to Christ this Final phase in God’s Revelation; where in Christ, the Will of the Father would be fully revealed and fulfilled
In the talk with Moses and Elijah, the Disciples learn of the soon coming Exodus of their Master. Learning They learnt the bitter truth: The Cross was inevitable if the God’s infinite love for humanity and creation was to be revealed.
Meditating on this Gospel Passage, we too who are preparing to re-live the decisive events of Christ’s death and Resurrection, require Strength and Graces from God to understand the significance of God’s Love in our lives as disciples of his Son. This Glint of our Master in the Glory of Heaven should encourage us in our Faith in God! Like Abraham, we too are called and take on a Journey of Faith, renouncing all our securities and abandoning ourselves into the Will of God.
