20240806 THE TRANSFIGURATION STRENGTHENS OUR FAITH IN THE IDENTITY AND MISSION OF JESUS
06 August 2024, Tuesday, Transfiguration of the Lord
First reading |
Daniel 7:9-10,13-14 |
His robe was white as snow
As I watched:
Thrones were set in place
and one of great age 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.
A stream of fire poured out,
issuing from his presence.
A thousand thousand waited on him,
ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him.
A court was held
and the books were opened.
I gazed into the visions of the night.
And I saw, coming on the clouds of heaven,
one like a son of man.
He came to the one of great age
and was led into his presence.
On him was conferred sovereignty,
glory and kingship,
and men of all peoples, nations and languages became his servants.
His sovereignty is an eternal sovereignty
which shall never pass away,
nor will his empire ever be destroyed.
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 96(97):1-2,5-6,9 |
When a Feast of the Lord falls on a weekday, there is no reading after the Psalm and before the Gospel.
Gospel Acclamation | Mt17:5 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
This is my Son, the Beloved:
he enjoys my favour.
Listen to him.
Alleluia!
Gospel | Mark 9:2-10 |
This is my Son, the Beloved
Jesus took with him Peter and James and John and led them up a high mountain where they could be alone by themselves. There in their presence he was transfigured: his clothes became dazzlingly white, whiter than any earthly bleacher could make them. Elijah appeared to them with Moses; and they were talking with Jesus. Then Peter spoke to Jesus: ‘Rabbi,’ he said ‘it is wonderful for us to be here; so let us make three tents, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.’ He did not know what to say; they were so frightened. And a cloud came, covering them in shadow; and there came a voice from the cloud, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved. Listen to him.’ Then suddenly, when they looked round, they saw no one with them any more but only Jesus.
As they came down from the mountain he warned them to tell no one what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead. They observed the warning faithfully, though among themselves they discussed what ‘rising from the dead’ could mean.
THE TRANSFIGURATION STRENGTHENS OUR FAITH IN THE IDENTITY AND MISSION OF JESUS
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [DN 7:9-10, 13-14; 2 PT 1:16-19; MK 9:2-10]
How convinced are you of Jesus as the Son of God? It is true that we repeat on our lips that Jesus is the Son of God and our Saviour. But what is the depth of our conviction? The truth is that if we are truly convinced of Jesus as our Lord and Saviour, we would listen to His every word and take the gospel seriously. We will not compromise the Word of God or try to dilute the truth of the gospel to suit our selfish desires and preferences as what many Catholics are doing today. If Jesus is the Son of God, then, like Peter we would have confessed, “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life”, even when His teaching is hard to accept and when many of His disciples left Him after His discourse on His real presence in the Eucharist. (cf Jn 6:66-69)
To strengthen our faith, the Church celebrates the feast of the Transfiguration in the liturgy so that we too will come to conviction, just like the apostles, on the real identity and mission of Jesus. This was a historical event that happened in the lives of the apostles. St Peter reassured us, “It was not any cleverly invented myth that we were repeating when we brought you the knowledge of the power and the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” The first question we need to ask is, “What did they see?” They saw the majesty, glory and power of the Lord for themselves. The evangelist recounted, “In their presence he was transfigured: his clothes became dazzlingly white, whiter than any earthly bleacher could make them.” They also saw Moses and Elijah appearing besides our Lord. They also heard the voice of the Father. St Peter said, “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’. We heard this ourselves, spoken from heaven, when we were with him on the holy mountain.”
What did this vision do for their faith and ours? It is a confirmation of the identity and mission of Jesus. This is important, especially when we are in moments of darkness with regard to our faith in Jesus. Truly, the apostles went through such moments themselves, especially when Jesus was crucified and put to death on the cross. It was such a great scandal and disappointment. At that moment, they forgot all that Jesus had foretold about His passion. Obviously, they even forgot about the Transfiguration event. That was why they were totally shocked and broken by the event they witnessed. All their dreams and hopes were gone. So too for us as well. It is easy to say we believe in Jesus and say that God is good all the time when we are well and blessed. But when we go through trials, failed relationships, sickness and disappointments in life, it might be difficult to say that God is great and good all the time.
This is where St Peter’s advice is helpful. “So we have confirmation of what was said in prophecies; 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.” In the light of the passion, death and resurrection of the Lord, this vision of the Transfiguration serves to strengthen our faith in the identity of Jesus as the Son of the Father from eternity. Jesus is confirmed as the Son of the Father, His beloved. This explains why this Transfiguration experience is linked to the earlier incident when Peter confesses Jesus to be the Christ. Like him, we have the correct answer but we fail to understand and accept deeply what this confession means. When the Lord foretold His future imminent suffering as a necessary stage to glory, Peter was not able to accept a Suffering Christ. The Lord reprimanded him for being an obstacle to His mission. The transfiguration therefore serves to confirm that His suffering is not incompatible with the future glory of His resurrection. Jesus is the Crucified Christ. It means therefore as Christians we cannot expect a life of comfort and luxury without suffering because suffering is the way to glory.
The transfiguration was also important for our Lord to be confirmed of the direction He was taking to Jerusalem. When our Lord began His mission at His baptism, the heavens opened and from the clouds came the voice, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.’ (Mk 1:11) It was the confirmation from the heavenly Father that what Jesus was accomplishing is the expression of the Father’s will. As His Son, Jesus expressed the will and mind of God. Jesus was one with His Father. So it was important that Jesus, before going to His passion, find a definite conformation from His Father. The transfiguration confirmed Jesus’ decision to take up His cross and go to Jerusalem.
The appearance of Jesus with Moses and Elijah confirms that His identity and mission is in continuity with the salvific plan of God. He is the fulfilment of the Old Testament prophecies. Moses was known as the leader of Israel and also the Law giver. Moses taught the people the Laws of God and formed them as a People of God. Elijah on the other hand, was an icon of a true prophet of God. He worked many miracles and showed himself to be zealous for the house of the Lord, and preserved the pristine faith of the people of God. He was the prophet of Israel. The appearance of Moses and Elijah establishes Jesus as the New Law Giver and the Eschatological Prophet. In a nutshell, Jesus is the Word of God in person, greater than Moses and Elijah combined. Jesus is the final Word of God. (Heb 1:1-3) Jesus is the ultimate truth, the way and the life.
Finally, His mission will usher in the establishment of the Kingdom of God. The centrality of Jesus’ proclamation is the Kingdom of God. Jesus in His ministry had always designated Himself as the Son of Man. The choice of Jesus addressing Himself in the third person as the Son of Man is connected with the prophecy of Daniel about the end of time when the Son of Man would assume authority with God, passing judgment on the people. “And I saw, coming on the clouds of heaven, one like a son of man. He came to the one of great age and was led into his presence. On him was conferred sovereignty, glory and kingship. His sovereignty is an eternal sovereignty which shall never pass away, nor will his empire ever be destroyed.”
In other words, Jesus is seen to be that Son of Man prophesied by the Prophet Daniel because the Kingdom of God would eventually be established in Him. In His resurrection and ascension, Jesus would share in the glory and power of God. Indeed, the responsorial psalm proclaimed “the Lord is king, most high above all the earth.” This kingdom that Christ came to establish is universal and everlasting. Most of all, its authority is derived from God Himself. The kingdom is God’s gift and not the work of man. This is seen clearly through the death of Christ. God established His kingdom through the weaknesses of man. We too will also share in the glory of God’s kingdom as sons and daughters of Man in and through our union with Christ. Hence, we can be certain that God’s kingdom will reign and that the evils of society will not overcome the victory that Christ has won for us.
Faith in the personal testimony of the apostles is critical in our response to the call of God. How strong our faith is, depends on our confidence in the reliability of the testimony of the apostles in the scripture. So too for us as well. Whether our testimony to Christ is accepted by the world depends on the depth of conviction. Our testimonies can be credible only if we are like St Peter, having heard the Lord speaking to us. Unless we have heard for ourselves the voice of God, it would be difficult for us to testify convincingly for Him. This is why we need to own this experience by responding to the Father’s invitation to prayer and contemplation of His Son in His word, passion, death and resurrection. Immersion in contemplation requires us to discern His voice through the Word of God and in harmony with the scriptures. Only then we can be transfigured like Christ when we allow Him to shine in and through us In His beauty. The Holy Spirit transforms us in Christ. Contemplating on the beauty of Christ, we see the beauty in His passion and resurrection. Only then are we transfigured by love.
However, faith is not just a romantic journey but a way of life. It is not enough for us to cultivate a romantic faith with our Lord, as Peter sought to do by asking that three tents be built so that they could continue to dwell nostalgically over their experience of the presence of God’s majesty. On the contrary, a beautiful religious experience is immediately followed by the command to listen to Him and to go down to the valley of the mountain to deal with the challenges of daily life. We must therefore follow the way of the Lord, embracing the Cross in love and trust, for He said it in no uncertain terms, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” (Mk 8:34f) Through suffering for justice and serving the poor and doing His will, we can inspire faith in others to come to know the Lord and share in His passion and glory. This then will be our testimony to the suffering and the glory of Christ in our lives.
Written by His Eminence, Cardinal William SC Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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