HOMILY FOR THE 2ND SUNDAY OF LENT — YEAR C

HOMILY FOR THE 2ND SUNDAY OF LENT — YEAR C

HOMILY THEME: THE TRANSFIGURATION 

BY: Fr. Mike Olumba

Genesis 15:5-12, 17-18; Psalm 27; Philippians 3:17-4:1; Luke 9:28-36

In the time of Abraham, it was “customary” to pass between animals cut in halves when making a covenant. By this gesture, one swears that: “If I break my word of the covenant or promise, let it be done to me as it has been done to these animals! Let me be cut into halves!”

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In his vision, God makes Abraham understand that he, God, passing alone between the quarters of animals, commits himself in any case to his promises. God desires and dreams of a positive response from his people, to walk hand in hand with him. But that whatever be their response often of infidelity/unfaithfulness, he, God, commits himself to the covenant without fail. God uses the gestures, the elanguage, the culture of each people and each era when he speaks to them. He also uses our current languages and experiences to address us. Through our baptism, we are heirs to this ancient covenant renewed and elevated in Christ and the promise that flows from it. Christ now provides the blood for the covenant.

In the passage from the Letter to the Philippians, Paul writes of Christ’s promise to transform our bodies into the glorified body like his. It is the same body which he will show his disciples on the mountain.

the Gospel (Luke 9: 28b-36), after the Desert of Temptations of last Sunday (where Jesus shows us the spiritual personal battle through which he went in his struggle against the powers of evil and the person of the Devil ever present and seeking the obedience of our heart); here we see Jesus today on the Mountain of Transfiguration. In the Lenten liturgy, the story of the Transfiguration takes on its full meaning, following that of Jesus’ temptations in the desert.

Before courageously setting out on the road to Calvary and to Jerusalem, Jesus experiences a moment of fullness in his Transfiguration, where the reality of his election by God becomes completely evident to him. This certainty made him embrace the mystery to come, the suffering of his cross and the death thereof, and the glory of his resurrection, from which comes the transformation of his face and the glory that surrounded him.

There are moments in life when we would like to stop the hand of time and of the clock, as if to experience eternity here below. There are moments in life when infinity seems to touch human finitude to give us a taste of what is promised to us. There are encounters in life that have the flavour of God’s happiness, gestures that we would like to perpetuate until the end of time; moments of happiness that we hope will never end; evenings that we don’t want to end; music that we would like to listen to non-stop. (In a song by Dalida: “The Last Dance”: Sometimes there are choruses stronger than wine, that make your head to spin…). There are tastes we want to keep in our mouths forever. (Think of your childhood experiences when with a tasty piece of meat in the mouth, you didn’t want to swallow it or spit it out because it was so nice. You wanted to have the taste in your mouth forever…)

The Transfiguration of Jesus was one of those moments where/when we would have liked to make time stand still just as Peter and his companions wished. Who would not like to stay up there with such a company! The presence of Moses and Elijah, extraordinary Jewish figures, at the Transfiguration testifies and confirms that the law (represented by Moses) and the prophets (represented by their chief, Elijah), announced the resurrection of the Messiah. He Himself was the completion of the law and the proclamations of the prophets; He Himself, the giver of the New Commandment, the Word of God, spoken by the Prophets. They were there to cede power to Him now as the giver of the New Law and as the definitive Word of God among men. In addition, (unlike Mathew and Mark who only mentioned the discussion), Luke added the content of their discussion: They discussed with Jesus “the program and the events of His departure that would take place in Jerusalem”, (a program prepared in the Father’s mind before time began).

Beyond the Jesus that these friends thought they knew very well, having followed Him for three years, on the mountain where He took them to pray, Peter, James, and John discovered something beyond what they knew of Him: the glorious Christ! God gave them this experience after Jesus announced to them that He was to be arrested, suffer, be put to death, and then resurrect on the third day and that “where the Master goes, the disciple must also go”. The Father showed the glory of the resurrection and the glorious body of Jesus Christ to his disciples to prepare them to courageously face suffering and overcome the Scandal of the Cross/Ogbagharii nke Obe (after the protest in Matthew 16: 22-23, & Mark 8: 32-33, which was not recorded by Luke).

Against the Scandal of the Cross, Jesus thus presents to his disciples and to us the glory that follows his suffering (and our suffering). And we will never be able to share in this glory without passing with him through the Stations of the Cross.

It is like a class of children whom the teacher wanted to teach the virtue or zeal of tireless work, but they were easily tired. So, the class teacher shows them images of children who have worked hard and the beautiful rewards that they got at last. And he adds that you will never be able to share in this rewards without applying yourselves to your duty and studies diligently.

We must be careful, in any case, not to glorify suffering, invent it, or invite it unnecessarily. There is enough of it here below for everyone. We have a duty to reduce it and even eliminate it completely when and if possible. We also have a duty not to afflict others with unnecessary suffering.

But in doing all this, we must not delude ourselves. We must recognise the mysterious link between human life here below and suffering. This human life starts here in the dark pleasure of the bedroom and passes through the pain of the labour room for the mother, child and the father, before we all go into the pains and joys of the Valley of Tears. Thus, the necessity of suffering remains a mystery…

Since our Master knows something about it, and must go through it, the Father asks us, “Listen to him!”

-Listen to Him so as to know how to live and even how to die…
-Listen to Him, so that your suffering, your pain, your efforts will not be in vain. They will no longer be wasted efforts. No!

Let us pray that He will speak to us and make us feel and realise our need of Him.
Let us pray that He will support those who are tested today by suffering, pain, illness, recent bereavement and persecution. Amen!

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