Second Sunday of Lent

Cycle B

Homily on Sunday, Feubrary 25, 2024.

"He was transfigured before them."

Some years ago, I experienced a mission in the mountains, in the southern part of Mexico. Once, when I was staying there, I had an interesting story. My brother and I were visiting an indigenous village on the slopes of the hill when it began to rain strongly, and we had to return to our tent. This was about three-hour walk from the village, and we needed to go up to one mountain. Hence, we decided to go back earlier than usual because the rain got calmer, and we wanted to avoid the storm. While going up we could see how the storm was approaching. Since there were two paths for going back to the house, we decided to take the shorter one. However, when we were at the fork in the road, an indigenous people approached us and advised us to take the other path because there was an overflowing river.

He also advised us on how we needed to walk and take the road because usually there were falling and collapsing rocks. It was challenging to get back to our tent. Nonetheless, we arrived safe and sound. Thanks to this experience we learned about nature’s power and wisdom from the indigenous people. In that place, we could appreciate an amazing connection between people and nature. An incredible faith among the indigenous people as well. They have great communication with God. They may lack services and material possessions, but in their relationship with God, they have it all. They have a meaningful relationship with God and the mountains.

The mountains are a special place for humans. Our ancestors went up to the mountain to find God. The first reading brings us to Moriah, Abraham went up to the mountain to sacrifice his child, because that was a command from God. But, how does God ask Abraham for his son’s life? The situation is confusing, why does God ask to sacrifice a child? We need to understand that the reading wants to give a teaching on faith. It means the text highlights Abraham’s trust in God. It is a pedagogic relationship, though God asks for the most precious from humans. He will never go against us. Abraham's unwavering faith is an example of being ready to accept God’s will. God gains nothing with our sacrifices, but we gain when we put our trust in the Lord because in him we have a reliable friend, someone to relay to, to share our desires and sadness. God said to Abraham “I will bless you abundantly […] in your descendants all the nations of the earth shall find blessing, because you obeyed my command.” God rewards us when we keep our confidence in Him.

Now we move from the Moriah mountain to the Transfiguration mountain. In some verses before this passage, Jesus revealed to his disciples that He is the messiah and teach about discipleship. In this context, Jesus took three of them and went up to the mountain. Being with them there, “He was transfigured before them.” It means He is taking on another appearance, the Gospel describes “his clothes became dazzling withe.” He is taking the Savior’s appearance, and Jesus is revealing that He is God.

This passage is of great importance for Jesus´s disciples because He wanted them to approach His mysteries. Moses and Elijah endorsed Jesus, and the disciples testified it. It seems like an intimate moment between divinity and humanity, between Jesus and his friends. God has continued his promise since Abraham (blessing his descendants) until Jesus’s time. But on the transfiguration mountain, the blessing from God is revealed definitively through Jesus.

This second Sunday of Lent, the invitation is to go up to the mountain together with Jesus. We are his disciples, and He wants to share the truth. Going to the mountain is to become intimate with God; it is to discover his project for us. Sometimes we feel fear and are terrified because our commitment to God is complicated and full of challenges. Perhaps, that’s why Peter was terrified: when we are discovered by the Lord, and we feel fear of commitment, we don´t want to go up the mountain with Jesus. However, we can listen to the voice from God: “This is my beloved son. Listen to him.” and we can recover the encouragement.

Jesus went up to reveal his messianism. Going to church, praying, and reading the bible are nutrients for our spiritual life but we should not just remain there. These nutrients have to bring us to the mission. In other words, going up to the mountain is to strengthen our relationship with the Lord. We can discover God’s will like Abraham, but now it’s different because the grace arrived from Jesus, as the Gospel of today says. Those things will lead us to the mission. Jesus went down to the mountain because He knew that He had to go to Jerusalem. Then Jesus is going to take on the final task, which means He is going to give up his life for us.  

We know that God wants our happiness; He does not want our suffering. On the mountain, we are going to learn where we need to go and how we should behave. Sometimes we will experience that life is not easy, but God helps us. There is no resurrection without the crucifixion. We must not stay in the mountains forever, as Peter suggests. When the tribulation arrives to us, we need to stay with the Lord, because when we are good sons of God, the tribulation is a sight of the crucifixion, and we know that we will be resurrected with the Lord. What do I need to ask in this Lent? Are there some things for me to change? Our mountain can be this Lenten season, and then after that, I can go along with Jesus to die on the cross, to die to sin and to resurrect with Him. Our lives are a constant journey towards Jerusalem.

Leonardo Boff relates, in a majestic book, one poem about the mountain. The poem can impact us because it is deep. At the end of the poem, he wrote: “The mountain is a sacrament of God; it reveals, remembers, indicates, and looks forward to God.” All of us have seen a mountain that is striking because of its greatness and majesty. The mountain always supports the Sun, even when it is calcined from that. Sometimes, the Sun caresses it. The mountain supports the rain and snow, and sometimes the fog wraps around it. Nevertheless, it never complains; it is like God because it embraces, receives, and does not expect anything in return. Do not be afraid to go to the mountain to encounter God; our mountain is this space for entering into his presence, and he changes my life. Saint Paul reminds us, “If God is for us, who can be against us?”. 

Questions for reflection during our journey to Easter:  

1. Can I identify a mountain in my life? (the mountain is this place or moment where I can experience an encounter with the Lord)

2. How much time do I spend nurturing my relationship with God? (Intimates moments as praying and reflecting).

3. What are my priorities at the moment? Is God a priority?

4. What things do I need to bring to the cross? (Like sins, addictions, sicknesses).