Second Sunday of Lent

fr Dominic’s Homily

Where do you go to pray and how do you pray? Do you pray in the mornings? In the evenings? At night? Do you pray alone or with others?

Today we hear that Jesus goes up a mountain to pray. Mount Tabor. And he prays to his Father in heaven probably for the whole night.

He has taken Peter, John and James with him who also came to pray - but who probably fell asleep after an hour or so. They probably didn’t pray the whole night.

Then suddenly Jesus radiates a tremendous light. A supernatural light. Remember that Moses went up Mount Sinai all those years before to receive the 10 commandments and when he returned his face was radiant from his encounter with God.

And here today the whole person of Jesus radiates this bright light of divinity. Jesus of course is the New Moses.

It’s a glimpse of the glory that will accompany his resurrection that will help to strengthen his apostles for what they are about to witness in terms of the passion of Jesus.

But first Jesus will have to ascend a different mountain. That of his crucifixion before he can be resurrected from the dead. And this will be a great trial for all those who witness it. Especially his Mother and his disciples. It will test their faith.

As Jesus is transfigured in Glory two people appear next to him and speak with him. They are Moses and Elijah. Why is it that those two out of all the prominent people of the bible appear to him? Why not Adam and Eve? Or any of the other prophets?

Well Moses represented the Jewish Law - the Torah and Elijah was considered the greatest of all the prophets.

Both of these prophets had themselves, of course, experienced their own theophanies. Moses had the loud thunder of Gods voice on Sinai whereas Elijah had the quiet whispering of Gods voice which he heard from his cave.

But the thing that they both had in common was that none of them had actually seen the face of God despite the fact that they had earnestly yearned to see it. They both knew that if a person did see the face of God they would not survive the experience.

So here in this transfiguration God now has a human face in the person of Jesus Christ and Moses and Elijah are allowed to see him at last. Peter then says those words which make him sound a bit silly. It’s wonderful for us to be here – shall we make three tents.

It’s thought that he didn’t really know what he was saying as he was probably in a bit of a daze. But actually it wasn’t so strange because it was the Jewish feast of tabernacles coming up during which they would pitch their tents and celebrate the times of the Exodus in the desert.

So why not build their tents here and now in the peace of the area rather than go down to the city and try and fine a space in the business of the feast.

But then a cloud overshadows them. When you hear of a cloud overshadowing in scripture this usually denotes the presence of the Holy Spirit. And we hear the voice of God the Father saying “This is my son the beloved – listen to him”

He doesn’t say that this is an extremely good theologian, you might want to take note and learn something. He doesn’t describe Jesus as a priest, prophet or king.

He doesn’t say get your mobile phones out and film all this please because your families might be interested. He simply says this is my son – in other words a close relationship. And listen to what he has to say – not what the world tells you.

We should all desire to see the face of God. And to listen to him.

We are now well into our Lenten journey where we will follow the path of Christ eventually to his passion and death before we can witness his resurrection.

As we endure our various trials and tribulations over the next few weeks may we pray for the grace to persevere. 

Remember that in some ways it is a little easier for us because we know how the story ends:

With the glorious resurrection of Christ and the triumph of good over evil for ever.