Lent 2nd Sunday Year A 2008

Transfiguration of Jesus
My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
The scripture readings today provide us with a vital insight for living an authentically Christian life. The Book of Genesis recounts for us the call of Abram, and his moving from one place to another, from the familiar to the unknown. Our second reading from St. Paul’s Second Letter to Timothy reminds us of the hardship which the gospel entails, a hardship necessarily connected with change. And, our Gospel reading from St. Matthew describes for us the transfiguration of Jesus on Mount Tabor. What do these three readings reveal to us about the Christian life? That transformation, moving from one state to another, from the familiar to the unknown, is at the very core of the Christian life. The process of transformation often involves hardship, even pain and suffering, which are connected with movement or change. When we link these three scripture readings together, we see more clearly a fundamental process in life: transformation happens only through some kind of movement or change and it is usually effected only when it involves hardship, pain, sacrifice or self-denial. As one traditional idiom states: "no growth without change and no change without pain." Or, as a more contemporary idiom would phrase it: "no pain, no gain."
Transformation cannot take place without a movement or change on our part and that will cost us. It will involve the hardship which the Gospel entails, but God will also give us the strength we need. Transformation is gradual; it does not happen all at once, nor does it happen once and for all.
A young and successful executive was traveling down a neighborhood street, going a bit too fast in his new SUV. He was watching for kids darting out from between parked cars and slowed down when he thought he saw something.
As his car passed, no children appeared. Instead, a brick smashed into the SUV’s side door! He slammed on the brakes and backed the SUV back to the spot where the brick had been thrown.
The angry driver then jumped out of the car, grabbed the nearest kid and pushed him up against a parked car shouting, "What was that all about and who are you? Just what the heck are you doing? That's a new car and that brick you threw is going to cost a lot of money. Why did you do it?" The young boy was apologetic. "Please, mister...please, I'm sorry but I didn't know what else to do," He pleaded. "I threw the brick because no one else would stop..." With tears dripping down his face and off his chin, the youth pointed to a spot just around a parked car. "It's my brother, "he said "He rolled off the curb and fell out of his wheelchair and I can't lift him up."
Now sobbing, the boy asked the stunned executive, "Would you please help me get him back into his wheelchair? He's hurt and he's too heavy for me."
Moved beyond words, the driver tried to swallow the rapidly swelling lump in his throat. He hurriedly lifted the handicapped boy back into the wheelchair, then took out a linen handkerchief and dabbed at the fresh scrapes and cuts. A quick look told him everything was going to be okay. "Thank you and May God bless you," the grateful child told the stranger. Too shook up for words, the man simply watched the boy push his wheelchair-bound brother down the sidewalk toward their home.
It was a long, slow walk back to the car. The damage was very noticeable, but the driver never bothered to repair the dented side door. He kept the dent there to remind him of this message: "Don't go through life so fast that someone has to throw a brick at you to get your attention!" It was his Tabor experience.
God whispers in our souls and speaks to our hearts. Sometimes when we don't have time to listen, He has to throw a brick at us. It's our choice to listen or not.
There is a mysterious story in 2 Kings that can help us understand what is going on in the transfiguration. Israel was at war with Aram, and Elisha the man of God was using his prophetic powers to reveal the strategic plans of the Aramean army to the Israelites. At first the King of Aram thought that one of his officers was playing the spy but when he learnt the truth he dispatched troops to go and capture Elisha who was residing in Dothan. The Aramean troops moved in under cover of darkness and surrounded the city. In the morning Elisha’s servant was the first to discover that they were trapped in and feared for his master’s safety. He ran to Elisha and said, “Oh, my lord, what shall we do?” The prophet answered, “Don't be afraid. Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” But who would believe that, when the surrounding mountainside was covered with advancing enemy troops? So Elisha prayed, “O Lord, open his eyes so he may see.” Then the Lord opened the servant's eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha (2 Kings 6:8-23). This vision was all that Elisha’s disciple needed to reassure him. At the end of the day, not only was the prophet of God safe but the invading army was totally humiliated.
What Peter and his fellow disciples needed was for God to open their eyes and then give them a glimpse of God’s abiding presence with their master Jesus.
The Transfiguration experience was, therefore, God’s way of delivering the disciples from a crisis of faith. The cause of their crisis of faith was the way in which they saw people and things around them. God helped them out of it by enlightening their vision so that, at least for a moment, they could see from God’s own perspective. Seen from below, in ordinary human light, people and things around us may look drab, commonplace and sometimes repulsive. But seen from above, in the light of divinity, the same people and things take on a more honorable, resplendent and lovable appearance. This glimpse into the true nature and divine aspect of persons and things can be called a transfiguration experience. It is the kind of experience which makes us say with Jacob, “Surely the Lord is in this place, [person, or situation] and I did not know it!” (Genesis 28:16).
Every time we gather for the Eucharist we experience a moment of transfiguration where our divine Lord is transfigured before our eyes in the forms of bread and wine.
Here is a story. Once upon a time there was an oyster, let's call him Oliver and he lived in a shell at the bottom of the Ocean. One day in the course of the oyster’s development, a foreign substance such as a grain of sand gets into the little muscle and irritates the oyster. In response, the oyster covers that irritant with a secretion. The longer the irritation is there, the more the oyster coats it. Pearl oysters vary in size and can be quite rough and ugly. Yet what is happening inside is a combination of rainbows, moonlight, and bits of flame. Once the oyster accepts the irritation as part of itself, the pearl begins to develop. The worst storms, gales, even hurricanes will not dislodge it. As time goes by and this oyster is finally pulled up from the bed where it has been for many years, it is opened only to reveal a beautiful pearl.
Yes dear brothers and sisters today we have two options in front of us. We can blame the sand which got into our life or we can transform this uncomfortable sand into a beautiful pearl.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.