Homily Lent 2 Year A: A sneak-peek of heaven on the Lord's Mountain

Homily for 2nd Sunday of Lent Year A 2017 

Genesis 12:1-4; 2 Timothy 1:8-10; Matthew 17:1-9 

Introduction 

Marketing experts know that the best way to persuade us to buy a product or service is to provide an enticing sample of the real thing. 

• That is why at Costco or Sam's Club, they give you samples of delicious treats, hoping that you then buy tonnes of the stuff. 
• The Movies also provide you with an attractive sneak peak, so that you can then go and see the real thing. 

Scripture and Tradition 

Jesus seems to be doing something similar, when he brings Peter, James and John to the mountain as we have just heard in the gospel. 

Just before this field trip, Jesus had 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 unthinkable.  How could their Messiah suffer?  How could someone who should come in glory and power be killed?  In fact Peter even suggests that Jesus is out of his mind!  To which Jesus responds quite sternly: “get behind me Satan.” Jesus even goes further and tells his followers that they too will have to suffer like him.  For “whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.” 

And so, having proposed this rather stark picture of what it means to be a disciple, Jesus needs to give his disciples a morale booster, an antidote, if you like.  That is why he takes this threesome, this inner group of close confidants, to show 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 so on the mountain, they experience the transfiguration of Jesus and so have a sneak-peek of that glory, to which they must look forward, for which they must work hard. 

One might say that Jesus is like the plastic surgeon who shows his patients, what they will look like after all the cutting, tucking and stitching.  The after picture is the nice reward at the end of all the pain and suffering; at his transfiguration, he shows them a foretaste that reward.  For example: 

• They saw the face of Jesus shining like the sun and his clothes becoming white as light. 
• They saw Moses and Elijah, two Old Testament heroes, appearing in glory, standing there and chatting with Jesus. 
• But best of all, 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.” 

Any of us would have been impressed, not just by the facelift and wardrobe change of Jesus, but especially by the appearance of revered dead men and the voice of God the Father himself. 

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

And there is reason that Jesus took them to a mountain and not the desert that we heard about in last Sunday's gospel.  Mountains have a special role in the Bible, as the places where God reveals the most important things about himself.  Moses himself received the Ten Commandments from God on Mount Sinai; and Elijah defeated the false prophets and showed them that the God of Israel is the one true God, on Mount Carmel. 

And that is why the expression “mountain-top experiences” has come to mean any powerful and inspiring incidents, especially the spiritual experiences. 

Christian Application 

We Christians of today perhaps also need this encouragement that Jesus gave to his disciples.  We too need a sneak-peek, or preview or sample of what heaven is like.  We too need mountain-top experiences like the Transfiguration, to encourage us on our journey of faith, especially, the difficult journey of Lenten penance. 

And indeed the Lord has not left us without encouragement; he has provided us with mountain-top experiences.  While they may not be as extraordinary as the experience of Peter and his friends, they should really arouse our interest in the things of heaven and life with God for ever. 

• Sometimes this sneak-peek into things heavenly is our experience of nature, like 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 things heavenly is our experience of the goodness of others, of the innocence of children, or even of falling deeply in love.  In all these things we see God at work. 

But the most compelling mountain-top experience should occur during our personal prayer and during the liturgy and sacraments, especially the Mass. Thoughtful as ever, Jesus left us this weekly mountain-top experience we call the Mass.  Like the three disciples who went up the mountain, we come to Church every week and temporarily leave behind the cares and concerns of the everyday world, so as to have a foretaste of what life with God will be like.

The weekly Eucharist is for us the mountain of the Lord, where we experience and receive Jesus himself in a very different way. 

• We receive him in communion, for he said, “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day” (Jn. 6:54). 
• We hear his voice in the readings and in the homily of the Mass. 
• In fact, when done well, the whole experience of the Mass, being together as a community, the music, the prayers or as they say "the bells, yells and smells" combine to provide us with an extraordinary foretaste of God's banquet awaiting us in heaven. 

And then having experienced this special communion with the Lord, we must come down from the mountain and live life fully.  We cannot like Peter decide to build three tents and remain on the mountain; rather we must bring our experience from the mountain-top to the valleys of everyday life.  Just like we cannot just keep eating the samples in Costco without buying anything, or watch only previews of movies, without seeing any of them.  We must let that special experience inform our life. 

For Peter that meant coming down and enduring the suffering and death of his Lord and Master as well as his own; for us this means that we must return to the world ready face the daily hustles of family life and work life.  And indeed if we let ourselves enter into the experience of the Mass fully, we can proudly leave the Church reassured that the crosses of our daily life are not in vain; there is light at the end of the tunnel.  That is why when the deacon or priest dismisses us: “Go in peace, glorifying the Lord by your life,” he is asking us to come down from the mountain and get to work. 

Conclusion 

As we continue our Lenten journey of conversion and penance, from what samples, sneak-peek preview, what mountain, shall we draw inspiration? 

• Will your Costco sample be a devotional practice like, Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, the Way of the Cross and the Rosary? 
• Will your sneak-peek preview be going to your annual confession?. 
• Will your mountain-top experience be attending daily Mass? 

If Peter and his friends needed to be strengthened and encouraged by such experiences, what about you and me?