Homily by Fr R Christopher Heying
Today we celebrate the Transfiguration of Jesus. Over the course of the church year, we
actually celebrate the transfiguration at least twice, and sometimes, three
times.
We celebrate it on the Feast Day of August 6th. And then we celebrate it again on the Last Sunday after the Epiphany. A third time may occur if the church is named for the Transfiguration and then uses the propers (lessons) for the Patronal Festival.
Remember the context of the Transfiguration story in the three synoptic gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke. It occurs a week after Peter confesses Jesus as the “Messiah.” Jesus has made the first of the three predictions of his passion. And in Mark, Peter rebukes Jesus, and Jesus says, “Get thee behind me, Satan.”
As Luke tells the story,
Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.
Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep; but since they had stayed awake, they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. Just as they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, "Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah"--not knowing what he said.
While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were terrified as they entered the cloud. Then from the cloud came a voice that said, "This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!" When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and in those days told no one any of the things they had seen.
Jesus is speaking with Moses the Lawgiver and Elijah the prophet about his “departure” (the same word also translated as “exodus”) that is to take place in Jerusalem. Jesus is the fulfillment of the law and the prophets and leads us in an exodus from slavery to sin and death into everlasting life.
The disciples descend the mountain and tell no one, possibly because they have no framework for understanding what they have seen until after the death and resurrection of Jesus.
I once made a business card with a picture of me reading the gospel at Mass together with the caption of the name of the church “where the gospel changes lives.” When I handed the card out, I would jest that it was more of a hope than a fact.
Yet the gospel of Jesus Christ does change lives.
Jimmy was one such life that was changed. A waiter in a nearby restaurant, he never attended church but thought of himself as a “member.” At lunch the Sunday before the bishop was to come to the church, I asked Jimmy if he were interested in being confirmed. To my surprise, he said he would love it.
And over the next six years, Jimmy missed Mass no more than a dozen times - only when he had to work or was very sick. The gospel changed his life. The gospel did not make his life perfect, but it gave him a community of love with which to share the ups and downs of life. And he made a difference to that community as well.
As we enter Lent again, it is a perfect time to be transfigured, transformed, changed by a renewed connection with God through prayer, acts of self-denial, and works of charity.
Amen.