20140806
TRANSFIGURATION AS A PROPHECY
Reading 1, Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14
9 While I was watching, thrones were set in place and one
most venerable took his seat. His robe was white as snow, the hair of his head
as pure as wool. His throne was a
blaze of flames, its wheels were a burning fire.
10 A stream of fire poured out, issuing from his presence.
A thousand thousand waited on him, ten thousand times ten thousand stood before
him. The court was in session and the books lay open.
13 I was gazing into the visions of the
night, when I saw, coming on the clouds of heaven, as it were a son of man. He
came to the One most venerable and was led into his presence.
14 On him was conferred rule, honour and
kingship, and all peoples, nations and languages became his servants. His rule
is an everlasting rule which will never pass
away, and his kingship will never come
to an end.
Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 97:1-2, 5-6, 9
1 Yahweh is king! Let earth rejoice, the many isles be
glad!
6 The heavens proclaim his saving justice, all nations see
his glory.
9 For you are Yahweh, Most High over all the earth, far transcending
all gods.
Gospel, Matthew 17:1-9
1 Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain by
themselves.
2 There in their presence he was transfigured: his face
shone like the sun and his clothes became as dazzling as light.
4 Then Peter spoke to Jesus. 'Lord,' he said, 'it is wonderful
for us to be here; if you want me to, I will make three
shelters here, one for you, one for Moses and one for
Elijah.'
5 He was still speaking when suddenly a bright cloud
covered them with shadow, and suddenly from the cloud there came a voice which
said, 'This is my Son, the Beloved; he enjoys my favour. Listen to him.'
6 When they heard this, the disciples fell on their faces,
overcome with fear.
8 And when they raised their eyes they saw no one but
Jesus.
9 As they came down from the mountain Jesus gave them this order, 'Tell no one
about this vision until the Son of man has risen
from the dead.'
TRANSFIGURATION AS A PROPHECY
SCRIPTURE READINGS: DN 7:9-10, 13-14; 2 PT 1:16-19;
MT 17:1-9
http://www.universalis.com/20140806/mass.htm
The
gift of prophecy was especially prevalent during the time of the Old Testament
and in the early Church. It is significant that St Peter spoke of the Transfiguration
event as a prophecy from God. He wrote, “…so we have confirmation of
what was said in prophecies; and you will be right to depend on prophecy.”
What is
the purpose of such prophecies? Prophecy is a gift to help us see
the future in the light of the present reality. The awareness of what is
imminent would propel us to move in the right direction. It can either
confirm the will of God or the consequences for failing to abide by the will of
God. Hence, St Peter said “and you will be right to depend on prophecy
and take it as a lamp for lighting a way through the dark until the dawn comes
and the morning star rises in your minds.”
It is
within this context that I would like to meditate on the Transfiguration from
the perspective of prophecy. Jesus understood the transfiguration experience
as a prophecy from His Father who wanted to confirm Jesus in His identity
and mission in the light of the passion ahead of Him. It was important
that Jesus’ identity with the Father as His only Son be affirmed. As the
Son of the Father, it was therefore necessary that He be identified with the
love of the Father for humanity. Indeed, it was after this
Transfiguration experience that Jesus “resolutely took the road for Jerusalem”
as He knew that the time had drawn “near him to be taken up to heaven” where He
truly belongs, in the bosom of the Father. (cf Lk 9:51) Thus,
this preview of the future, with testimonies from Moses and Elijah summing up
the Law and the Prophets, strengthened Jesus’ vocation to go to His passion
knowing that that was what the Father was asking of Him.
This is
true for every one of us. That is why the Transfiguration event was not
simply for Jesus alone but for the disciples too. It was important that
the disciples caught a glimpse of the past and the future, represented by
Moses, Elijah and the radiant Jesus. As in today’s second reading, the
apostles who witnessed this awesome phenomenon would again and again return to
this event especially in times of trials and doubts. It must have been a
life-transforming experience. “We heard this ourselves, spoken from
heaven, when we were with him on the holy mountain.” It was of course
from hindsight after the resurrection that they fully understood who Jesus was.
In the
Transfiguration, Jesus was reaffirmed in His identity when “He was honoured and
glorified by God the Father, when the Sublime Glory itself spoke to him and
said, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved; he enjoys my favour’. “ But true
sonship is not a matter of being one with our father in nature but in our very
being. Many of us have also received the adopted sonship given to us in
Christ through baptism. But unlike Jesus, we do not claim the fullness of
our sonship because our very life contradicts who we are and what we are called
to be. Jesus, in contrast, fully understood what sonship truly
meant. Sonship is spelt out in terms of obedience. This means
to be so identified with the Father in love and in self-emptying. In
concrete terms, true sonship is to share in the kenosis (self-emptying) of
Jesus.
Unfortunately,
the disciples were slow to understand the meaning of the prophecy.
For them, it was reduced simply to a wonderful religious experience, for Peter
suggested, “‘Lord,’ he said ‘it is wonderful for us to be here; if you wish, I
will make three tents here, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.’”
They were not conscious of the full implications of the Transfiguration
experience. They did not appear to fully understand why the Father was
telling them, “This is my Son, the Beloved; he enjoys my favour. Listen to
him.” They had yet to come to fully understand Jesus’ divinity and
identity as from the Father. Nor did they recognize Him to be truly the
Word of the Father. For this reason, they were still unable to accept
Jesus’ resolution to go to Jerusalem to suffer the passion, death and
resurrection.
What
about us? Do we take prophecies from God seriously? Indeed,
prophecies abound even in our day. Such prophecies come from the
reading of scripture, from homilies, study and the events around us. But
the question is whether we take them seriously or not. We have been
forewarned about the snares of the Evil One, just as Jesus warned the disciples
of the cross before Him. Are we taking steps to protect ourselves from
falling into the same mistakes, such as strengthening our prayer life,
deepening our understanding and conviction of the value of the evangelical
counsels, praying for the grace of humility and deepening our faith through
study and prayer?.
Unfortunately,
instead of relying on these prophecies to be “a lamp for lighting a way through
the dark until the dawn comes and the morning star rises in your minds”, we
prefer to rely on hindsight instead. Hindsight is just the opposite
of prophecies. We learn from mistakes. That was what happened to the
Israelites in exile. Instead of listening to the prophets, they paid a
high price for being disobedient to Yahweh. This, too, was the case of
the disciples who did not enter deeply into the meaning of the transfiguration
encounter. They came to understand the meaning of the Transfiguration only
after the passion and resurrection.
Like
the disciples, we too must recall the Transfiguration experience in our
lives. We must go back to those resurrection experiences we
encountered, especially when we were bearing our crosses. Unless we return
to those moments when we encountered the presence of God and His assurance of
love in our lives, we can easily lose hope and fervor. If many of us are
feeling lost and have no direction in life, it is because we have yet to
encounter God in such a way that we know that God is real and He is the Place
that we belong. Without a real transforming experience of God in our
lives, it would be difficult to stay focused based on one’s intellectual
knowledge of Jesus. Having a God-experience and remembering our
God-experience is what will always give us strength in every situation in life.
Today,
let us find strength from the prophecies of Daniel and the testimonies of
the apostles. Prophet Daniel had a vision of the establishment of the
kingdom of God by the Son of Man. Jesus Christ, who is the Son of Man, will
establish the sovereignty of His Father over all the earth. St Peter too
assures us that “it was not any cleverly invented myths that we were repeating
when we brought you the knowledge of the power and the coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ; we had seen his majesty for ourselves” We know their
testimonies are true because they confirmed their testimonies by their
transformed lives, giving themselves to the service of God and man, even to the
extent of dying for their faith. Through them, let us find courage to believe
in their testimonies so that we too can be transformed by our faith in Jesus.
Let us
not repeat the same mistake today. Like Jesus, we are called to be
transformed into sons and daughters of God. We are called to be
obedient to Jesus, the Word of the Father, by meditating on His Word
daily. We are called to encounter Jesus especially in deep prayer and by
following Him in His mission. Only by listening to Jesus and coming down from
the Mountain to face the crosses of our lives, can we spell out our sonship in
obedience to the gospel. And through Mount Calvary, we will reach Mount
Tabor. Our spiritual life on earth will always be focused on these two
mountains, for we cannot reach one without the other.
WRITTEN BY THE MOST
REV WILLIAM GOH
ARCHBISHOP OF SINGAPORE
© ALL
RIGHTS RESERVED
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