Sneak-peek of Heaven: Going to the Mountain of the Lord

Homily for 2^nd Sunday of Lent Year A 2014

Gen 12:1-4 • 2 Tim 1:8-10 • Matthew 17:1-9

INTRODUCTION

Mountains have a special role in the Bible.  There are the places where God reveals the most important things about himself.  There is Mount Sinai with Moses, Mount Carmel with Elijah and the Mount of Olives where today’s gospel story of the Transfiguration takes place.  And that is why the expression “mountain-top experiences” has come to mean those powerful and inspiring incidents in our lives.

A few years ago I attended an 8-day retreat, which was for me one such mountain-top experience.  Through conversation with my retreat director, through more intense prayer and through silent meditation, I experienced the love of God in a very spectacular way.  And as my retreat came to an end, I did not want to return.  Like Peter I wanted to build three tents and remain there in that dreamlike experience.

Of course that was not to be; as beautiful as mountain-top experiences are, they are not meant to be permanent.  They serve a specific purpose, after which we have to leave that bubble and return to the real world.

SCRIPTURE AND TRADITION

It is for a specific purpose that Jesus brings Peter, James and John to the mountain, to have that experience of seeing him like they have never seen him before.  You will perhaps remember that this is the same threesome that he takes with him to pray in the garden of Gethsemane on the night he was arrested; they are the inner group, the inner cabinet if you like.  He wants to teach them an important lesson; and this is the lesson.

A few verses before the story of the Transfiguration, Jesus had just announced to his disciples for the first time that “he must go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly from the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised.”  The disciples found this message both disturbing and unthinkable, since for them, a Messiah was someone who would come in glory and power; not someone who would suffer.  In fact when Peter tells Jesus that such suffering could ever happen to him, Jesus is quite stern with him, using those famous words: “get behind me Satan.” And then Jesus tells his follows that they too will have to suffer like him.  For “Whoever wishes to come after me,” Jesus says, “must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.”

And so, after proposing this rather severe picture of what it means to be a disciple, Jesus now provides a morale booster, an antidote, if you like.  By giving these three this experience of the Transfiguration, he assures them that this suffering, both on his part and on their part, is not for nothing.  It is the means by which they will share in the glory of the Father.  And in this experience of the transfiguration, they have a sneak-peek of that glory, to which they must look forward, for which they must work hard.

You might say that Jesus is acting like a plastic surgeon: he is showing them both “the before” and “the after” picture.  Yes there is all this pain and suffering, but at the end of it all, there will be a nice reward waiting for you.

·        We heard that they saw the face of Jesus shining like the sun and his clothes becoming white as light.

·        We also heard that Moses and Elijah, two Old Testament heroes appeared in glory and were standing there, chatting with Jesus.

·        And as if a facelift, a wardrobe change and speaking with revered dead men was not enough to impress the three apostles, while they were still there, a large cloud enveloped them and a loud voice cried out: “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.”

And so, this transfiguration experience gives them a preview of who Jesus really is, the Son of God and what living with him in heaven will be like.  This experience will help them to understand the suffering and death of Jesus and the hope of his resurrection that he promised them.

CHRISTIAN APPLICATION

We too need a mountain-top experience of the Lord, especially since the Lenten season is a difficult journey of penance.

·        Last Sunday, the first Sunday of Lent, we read about Jesus being led to the desert, where he fasted for forty days and forty nights.  And certainly we are called upon to go to the desert during this Lent, to fast, abstain, give alms and pray.

·        It is perhaps no coincidence then that on the Second Sunday of Lent, we read about the disciples going to the mountain and having the experience of the Transfiguration, to encourage us on our Lenten journey and show us where it all leads.

This passage should remind us of our own mountain-top experiences, which remind us in a vivid way, about the things of heaven and life with God for ever.

·        Sometimes this sneak-peek into heavenly things is our experience of a beautiful sunset, a breath-taking mountain or even a refreshing evening at the beach.  In the wonderful works of nature we see the hand of God who created an orderly and beautiful world.

·        Sometimes this sneak-peek into heavenly things is our experience of the goodness of others, of the innocence of children, even of falling deeply in love.  Once again in all these things we see God at work.

·        But the most compelling mountain-top experience should occur during our prayer, perhaps before the Blessed Sacrament and at Mass.

Jesus knew that we too would need a mountain-top experience.  And so he left us the Eucharist.  When we come to Mass every Sunday, like the three disciples, we leave behind, at least temporarily the cares and concerns of our everyday world and come to have a foretaste of what life with God is like.  That is what Jesus promised, that “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day” (Jn. 6:54); that wherever two or three would be gathered in his name, he would be among us.  And so we come back every week to the Eucharist, to the mountain of the Lord, to experience and receive Jesus himself in this very special way.  We come to remain anchored, strengthened and properly oriented for the difficult journey of life.

And then having experienced this special communion with the Lord, we have to come down from the mountain and get back to ordinary life.  We cannot, like Peter, opt to remain on the mountain; rather we must bring our mountain experience to inform the valleys of everyday life.  For Peter than meant coming down and accepting the suffering and death of his Lord and Master.  For us, coming down from the mountain means that we must return to the world ready face the daily crosses of family life and work life.  When the deacon or priest dismisses us: “Go in peace, glorifying the Lord by your life,” hopefully we shall be up to the task, for we shall have experienced the Lord personally and deeply at Mass.

CONCLUSION

As we continue our Lenten journey of conversion and penance, perhaps we might consider making a concerted effort to go more regularly to the mountain of the Lord in prayer and return down to the valley stronger.

·        We might consider going to daily Mass, if we don’t do it already.

·        We might consider making our annual confession, if we’ve not done so already.

·        We might consider other devotional practices, such as Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, the Way of the Cross and the Rosary.

May our Lenten fasting, abstinence and almsgiving continue to be inspired by fervent prayer, so that as the Letter to Timothy told us, we may bear “our share of hardship for the gospel with the strength that comes from God.”