The Revelation of Glory

Gospel Reflection for February 25, 2024, the Second Sunday of Lent - Mark 9:2-10

Six days later, Jesus took Peter, James, and John and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves. And in their presence he was transfigured; his clothes became dazzling white—whiter than anyone on earth could bleach them. And Elijah with Moses appeared, conversing with Jesus.

Then Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us make three tents—one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” He did not know what to say, for they were so frightened. Then a cloud cast a shadow over them, and a voice came out of the cloud: “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.” Suddenly, when they looked around, they saw no one with them anymore, but only Jesus.

As they were coming down from the mountain, Jesus ordered them to tell no one what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. Therefore, they kept the matter to themselves, although they did argue about what rising from the dead could possibly mean. (Mark 9:2-10 New Catholic Bible)

The Gospel reading for this Sunday, which despite its subject is not for the August Feast of the Transfiguration but for the second Sunday of Lent, upon reflection naturally raises a question which also tends to be posed for the first reading, on God's request for Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac: what is the point? This is not meant in a pedantic or pragmatic sense but out of genuine interest, as I imagine it is for many devout Christians. Why did God choose to directly request Abraham, His faithful servant, to do something which is contrary to His own law, only to stop him midway and reveal a new covenant with him? Likewise, why did Christ choose to lead His three principal apostles, including St. Peter their spokesman, up a different mountain, and reveal His divine glory through the sign of His body and clothing, alongside Elijah and Moses, only to then tell the apostles to keep it to themselves until after His resurrection? All of God's works are great mysteries which have received centuries of pious contemplation, but these two scenes seem particularly perplexing. 

I think both scenes, that of Abraham's sacrifice and Christ's Transfiguration, have many similarities and important meanings, especially how they point to Christ's own propitiatory sacrifice on the Cross for our sins, as St. Paul noted in the Epistle, and His resurrection from the dead. Many would ask, understandably: why is vicarious sacrifice so important to God? The best answer would seem to be because it is important to man, or rather that man, in his heart, knows that it is important precisely because God has designed him to know it. Sacrifice in itself, as Joseph Ratzinger explained in his great Spirit of the Liturgy, is not inherently destructive - its true purpose is to sanctify or set something apart something for God, to orient Creation toward His worship and loving service. However, in a world enslaved to sin, this sacrifice often involves destruction, as it did with the animals of the Temple and as it does today in our own endurance of struggles and temptations and in our fasting even from good things. This is the only way to purify ourselves and the world of sin and to reconcile all things to God. Christ achieved this ultimately on the Cross, but as St. Paul commands, we must also offer ourselves, including our bodies, in unity with Christ's Passion. (Rom 12; Col 1:24) Only by the Cross can we ascend to the Resurrection.

Another point I would like to add, in answer to the question about the deeper meaning or purpose of these two scenes, pertains especially to the Transfiguration. While the promise of Abraham's covenant is infinite descendants, which St. Paul later revealed to apply not only to the flesh of the Israelites but especially to the faith of believers, including Christians, (Rom 4:13-25) the promise of the Transfiguration is resurrection and glorification. Christ is the prototype, "the firstborn from the dead" (Rev 1:5) of those whom He elsewhere calls the "children of the resurrection", (Lk 20:36) those who belong not to this fallen world but to God, who have died to sin and been reborn in the Body of Christ through Baptism. 

In the Transfiguration, at this beginning phase of Lent, we are shown the end goal of our fasting and praying: divine glory. The destiny of those who hope in Christ and remain united to Him in faith and love even unto death is a participation in the divine life of God, to "see him as he really is" (1 Jn 3:2) and thus to be conformed to Him. In the resurrection, we will not be merely resuscitated to earthly life, like Lazarus, nor even returned to the unfallen state of Eden. Instead, as Pope St. John Paul II explained in his theology of the body, we will be perfected in our subjectivity as persons, in our communion with one another and in the inner harmony of our spirit and body, reflecting at last an immaculate likeness of the Blessed Trinity: “He will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be conformed to his glorified body by the power that also enables him to make all things subject to himself.” (Phil 3:21) This spiritualization and divinization of our personhood and bodies will transcend all that we know in this world, in a way that "[e]ye has not seen, ear has not head, nor has the human heart imagined what God has prepared for those who love him." (1 Cor 2:9) The sacramental signs by which God previews this fullness of life to us now, including marriage and the Eucharist, will be fulfilled and infinitely elevated in the reality of glory. 

This is the true revelation and significance of the Transfiguration - this is why it made such an impression on St. Peter, who mentions it again in his letters (2 Pt 1:16-18), and why it has always been a favorite subject of sacred art. As we endure not only the fasting of Lent, which tends to be tolerably mild in modern times, but also all the deprivations of sin and loss in life, the struggles of temptation, the confusion within the Church and society and even the distraction of earthly goods, may we keep in mind our true destiny: our own Transfiguration in the glory of the New Heaven and New Earth which Christ previews for us today. Only by the sacrificial and obedient love exemplified by Abraham and Our Lord can we hope to participate in this resurrection to life and to one day share in the eternal joy of salvation.