SECOND SUNDAY OF LENT

Have you ever been so surprised that you have fallen to the ground or almost dropped dead?

I imagine that Peter, James and John almost dropped dead when Jesus was transfigured right before them.  In today’s gospel, Matthew simply says, “…They fell prostrate and were very much afraid.”   

Afraid is an understatement. I suspect they were frightened, terrified and petrified all at the same time.  To say they were simply afraid is like calling a hurricane a “light breeze” or saying it is “a little cool today” when it’s fifteen degrees below zero.  After all, the face of Jesus became as bright as the sun, and his clothes as white as the light.  They were seeing Jesus in His glorified body. 

But maybe Peter, James and John were more than just confused. Remember, they had seen Jesus perform many divine miracles: from restoring sight to the blind, to walking on water, to raising the dead back to life.

While it was Jesus who was physically transfigured, it was Peter, James and John who were internally transfigured.  They wanted to stay on the mountain and make three tents: one for Jesus, one for Moses and one for Elijah.  

They did not want to return to the valley of reality, where there was disease, starvation, anger, jealousy, corruption and violence. 

What the disciples experienced was what psychologists call a peak experience, a moment of reality that is too deep to be expressed in words.  It was their moment of conversion.  Yes, Peter, James and John had experienced Jesus as a miracle worker and a moral teacher, but now they experienced Him as someone totally unique, someone more than merely human.

They experienced:

• A personal connection with Jesus, perhaps for the first time realizing that Jesus is truly divine, the Messiah, the Son of God.
• An element of mystery, like the moment you fall in love. You can’t explain it; you simply experience it.

Transfigurations happen often, even if they are not as drastic as the one in today’s gospel.  They are much more common than we realize, watching night turn into day with a beautiful Tahoe sunrise, seeing a caterpillar transfigured into a butterfly, seeds transforming into stalks of wheat or blooming into flowers.

Rabbi Kushner, the author of “When Bad Things Happen to Good People,” tells us the story of his own transfiguration.  His son was born with a rare disease in which he never grew physically or mentally beyond the age of three, yet he lived to be fourteen.  Kushner describes feeling hurt, cheated and abandoned by God.  But the more he cared for his son, the more his love for him grew. Eventually, Kushner came to understand that God was with him and his son through all the suffering.  He was transfigured.

When “bad things” happen to good people, like you and me, they can lead to transfiguration and conversion. The true test of faith is our ability to continue trusting in God and loving others, even if we do not understand why suffering enters our lives.   

Our first reading is another powerful account of transfiguration.

More than 1,700 years before the time of Christ, Abram, not yet called Abraham, was called to a radical transfiguration.  He was asked to leave his land, his birthplace and the land his father had called home.  Abram was living in what is now Iraq and was a wealthy landowner.  Yet he was asked to leave the security and comfort of his life to build a future for himself and his people. 

He had reached an age we might today call “senior,” but he didn’t spend his time in a rocking chair.  At age seventy-five, he was called to lead his family into a new adventure.  He was going to take his wife, Sarah.  I’m not sure I would have wanted to be part of that conversation about leaving everything behind without even knowing where the journey would lead. 

And talk about an understatement!  The author of Genesis simply states, “Abram went as the Lord directed him.”

No wonder Abram is honored as a model of faith by the three great monotheistic religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam.  He is the Father of Believers.

Each of us has our own story of transfiguration or conversion.  To be transfigured, to experience a conversion of heart, requires openness to the unexpected.  Our God is a God of surprises.  We must quiet our hearts each day so that we can listen to Jesus speaking to us.

Rabbi Kushner, Abram, Peter, James and John all listened and heard God speaking to their hearts.

In this second week of our Lenten journey, I invite all of us to make a greater effort to listen to Christ.  This is not easy; it takes faith. 

Lent is the perfect time to examine how well we listen to the Son of God.  

Be still.

Listen.

And be transfigured.