Alliance for Catholic Education
Second Week of Lent - Sunday, March 1st
What is the Gospel of the Transfiguration doing in Lent – especially on the heels of last Sunday’s Gospel of Jesus tempted in the desert? Jesus revealed in all his stunning glory is quite at odds with the weary Man of the Cross to whom we seek to unite ourselves during these forty days. Why the Transfiguration in the midst of Lent?
A closer look, however, reveals a deeply Lenten spiritual dynamic at work. The Transfiguration occurs in chapter seventeen of Matthew’s Gospel. This means the revelation of Christ’s divine power that the disciples experienced on the top of Tabor… had already been experienced by them on dozens of occasions.
They were right there when the eyes of the blind man were opened, and when the paralyzed man picked up his mat. They had delivered the multiplied loaves and fishes with their own hands. Even the voice from the clouds that they heard at the Transfiguration – “this is my Beloved Son” – they had already heard at Jesus’ baptism.
This does not downplay the incredible event that occurred on Tabor. But just here is a profound Lenten spiritual dynamic. The disciples, like us, already know that Jesus is the Son of God living in their midst. But they, like us, lose this sensibility often in their lives.
As all the evangelists frequently underscore, the disciples are so sluggish to recognize God at work in their daily life; so ready to see any struggle or suffering as a sign that God has left them. And this, of course, makes them… just like us.
When our vision of Jesus dims, what’s needed? Time in the desert. Or, in this Sunday’s case, time up the mountain. Time to fast – from the immediate demands of our daily grind, time to fast from preoccupations and worries, all the things that have obscured our vision of Christ.
The Transfiguration in Lent is about being brought back – like the Prodigal Son, like Jesus in the desert – to a clearer vision of God’s presence in our lives. To see Christ anew, to unclutter our vision, and see the Light.
Lead us up Mount Tabor, Lord, that we might see again!