2nd Sunday of Lent (01.03.15)
DISCOVERING FATHERHOOD –
What was Jesus seeking in climbing the mountain with Peter, James and John? Truthfully, we do not know. ‘The Transfiguration’, (Mark 9: 2-10) is our Gospel for this 2nd Sunday of Lent. We do know that Jesus’ public ministry was a journey of discovery for him as it was for his disciples.
Jesus would have been brought up to revere God’s will as revealed through the Commandments and the teaching of the Abrahamic law. As each day unfolded, Jesus discovered in the particular God’s will for him. Mary would have spoken only the truth to her Son. Jesus would have learnt, we presume, at an early stage that Joseph was his foster, not real, father. There are no details of Jesus upbringing other than his extended visit to the Temple at Jerusalem in his twelfth bar mitzvah year. (Luke 2: 42-52).
At the time of ‘The Transfiguration’ we can surmise that Jesus was still developing his understanding of being the only begotten Son of God. Day by day, Jesus’ daily life revealed to him not only his background but also his finite future on earth. He made this journey of discovery in a close communion of prayer with God, his Father.
Jesus prayed on the summits of hills and mountains. Above the tree line there are no resident birds and as the land is barren there are no rustle noises. At that height, when the wind is gentle, one experiences a rapturous silence. Prayer becomes easier with the absence of distracting noise. This alone is a good reason to climb a mountain! The Gospel writers mention the presence of cloud. Clouds form and disperse easily at altitude. God’s presence, in the Jewish mind, was readily associated with clouds. Moses met with God in a cloud. God revealed his presence in the Holy of Holies through a cloud. Many Jews, understandably, interpreted the descent of an enveloping cloud as a manifestation of the Divine presence.
Stillness and silence, internal as well as external, allow in-depth reflection and assessment as a pathway to discovering the truth. Was this why Jesus climbed the mountain that day? Jesus had to take responsibility for his own decisions. He had taken the decision to journey to Jerusalem not for a visit, of which he had made many in his lifetime, but as the culmination of his ministry in his acceptance of death by Crucifixion.
Such a major decision required Divine approval. On the mountain top Jesus discovered a double approval of his decision. Jesus first met with Moses, the supreme lawgiver of Israel, and Elijah, the first and greatest of the prophets. The presence of these two great figures of the Chosen People validated Jesus’ decision. But there was more. God spoke and endorsed Jesus’ decision simultaneously acknowledging Jesus as his Son and encouraging him to go on.
A believer who habitually gives time to being in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament has an aura. It’s as if the interior union of God and his creation shines out from within that person. It is neither tangible nor aural but it is real and, by its presence, it demands respect. The bearer is totally unaware of the aura and cannot appreciate what others see in them. If this can be true for finite women and men, how much more can it be true for the infinite only-begotten Son. Is it any wonder that Peter, James and John saw Jesus’ garments as ‘whiter than white’?
And what of Peter, James and John? They had been devastated and bewildered by Jesus’ announcement that he was to die in Jerusalem. His visible Transfiguration on the mountaintop would be indelibly printed on their hearts and memories. They had also the memory of hearing the heavenly Father’s voice acknowledging Jesus as his Son. What a memory to hold on to when Jesus’ prophesy became a reality in the utter darkness of Good Friday.
Reviewing forty plus years of ordained pastoral ministry and allowing for a failing memory, the outstanding parishioners remain those whose lives were clothed in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament, as faithfully in unheated church buildings in the depth of winter as in the milder seasons of the year. I cannot recall either conversations, which were few and brief, or names. These believers would mostly pass unnoticed but for those who had eyes to see.
Perhaps the recalling of the Transfiguration of the Lord will prompt you to seek stillness and silence where you also can ask the Lord to validate your retrospective as well as contemporary decisions?