HOMILY FOR THE SECOND SUNDAY OF LENT ( YR A) MARCH 5, 2023.
“In the time of Jesus, the mount of the transfiguration was on the way to the cross. In our day the cross is on the way to the mount of transfiguration. If you would be on the mountain, you must consent to pass over the road of the cross”.-Henry Clay
Readings For The Second Sunday Of Lent
My Dearest Friends In Christ
Welcome to the second Sunday of our Lenten journey with the Lord. It is a journey from sinfulness to repentance and salvation. We must leave behind, those things ( sinful lifestyle ) we have familiarized ourselves with, to journey in obedience to God’s call to a new life of repentance. Like Abraham, God wants to settle you in a new land of grace, where you would flourish and prosper spiritually. To do this you must leave where you are now, to where God wants you to be. This is how your transformation will occur. God’s voice calls from within your soul urging you to leave behind that sinful life to embrace a new life of grace. To obey this inner voice is faith.
Today’s readings remind us of the need for interior transformation which comes with obedience to God’s word as in the case of Abraham; and the experience of a deeper knowledge of God, as in the case of the three apostles. We are in a period of interior renewal and repentance. Let’s open our hearts to the transforming word of God.
As the stage is gradually being set for the fulfillment of His earthly mission in Jerusalem, Jesus took three of His disciples up the mountain. There He transfigured. The transfiguration was to allow Jesus to consult His Heavenly Father in order to ascertain His plan for His Son’s suffering, death, and resurrection. It was also an opportunity to make His chosen disciples aware of Jesus’ Divine glory, so that they might discard their worldly ambitions and dreams of a conquering Messiah and might be strengthened in their time of trial which is almost imminent.
Prior to this mountain top encounter in Mathew 16, which sets the stage for the transfiguration, Jesus asks His disciples who He is and reveals to them His mission of suffering and dying. Jesus taught His disciples that discipleship is all about embracing the cross and not rejecting it as Peter thought. The 16th chapter of Mathew, thus, establishes Jesus’ identity, and mission. In the 17th chapter, which we heard today, Peter, James, and John accompanied Jesus to the mountain of transfiguration, in the same way, Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu accompanied Moses to the mountain of Sinai (Exodus 24:1-9). The three disciples, Peter, James, and John, will not appear again as the inner circle until Gethsemane (cf. Mathew 26:37). There they will accompany Jesus as He struggles through the night that culminates with His arrest (Matthew 26:36ff). The Transfiguration and Gethsemane are the two most intimate experiences that Jesus shares with His disciples, and the same three disciples witnessed both. So, Jesus is strengthening the faith of these three so as to plunge them into a deeper understanding of His mission and theirs too. They will be the ones to strengthen the rest when He is no longer physically present amongst them.
It would have been a presumption on the part of Jesus to think that the disciples know Him very well and that their faith is strong enough to withstand the heat of the persecution that lies ahead. Their inability, except for Peter, to articulate who Jesus is when Jesus questioned them about His identity on their way to Jerusalem at Cesarea Philippi, reveals their lack of understanding of Jesus’ true identity. Today is a heavenly confirmation of the true identity and mission of Christ in the presence of the three disciples.
Undoubtedly, not everyone, nor even every follower of Christ understands what discipleship entails. Many Christians love Jesus but don’t want to be associated with His cross (sufferings ). Paul reminds Timothy and us that we all have a share in the sufferings of Christ. In his second letter (2nd reading) he says, “Beloved, bear your share of hardship for the gospel with the strength that comes from God.” The disciples never imagined suffering and death as part of their mission or that of Christ. We too might also be thinking the same way. The cross we bear transforms our sinful nature and this transformation comes from the inner workings of the grace of God. Our Lenten journey is God’s way of strengthening us for the trials of life.
In moments of doubt, pain, suffering, disappointment, and despair, we need mountain-top experiences to reach out to God and listen to His consoling words: “This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.” Our ‘Lenten penance’ will lead us to the ‘Easter joy’.
The Lenten season is a special time we follow Christ closely like the three disciples, to understand Him more intimately and to be transformed by His grace. His grace strengthens our faith. As we meditate on His passion this season, may we persevere in prayer, fasting, and in sharing His love with others. Every day in Lent is an opportunity to grow in intimacy with Christ. The more we know Him, the less likely we shall abandon Him when challenges come our way because we will realize He embraced sufferings on the cross for our own good.
We ask God to strengthen us to listen to the voice of His Son and to transform our inner self to persevere in our faith.
“God places us in the world as his fellow workers/agents of transfiguration. We work with God so that injustice is transfigured into justice, so there will be more compassion and caring, that there will be more laughter and joy, that there will be more togetherness in God’s world”—Desmond Tutu
Transform Me O Lord. Bend My Stubborn Heart To Obey Your Word
I keep you and your family always in my prayers. ©Clem C. Aladi (2024)
