Second Sunday of Lent, March 4, 2012
(Matthew 17: 1-9)
The lesson the Church teaches us today is very important for this holy season, and it is the lesson Christ gave to His three apostles. In Matthew 16, Verse 28, our Lord tells a crowd, “Amen, I say to you there are some of them that stand here, that shall not taste death, till they see the Son of man coming in His kingdom.” This happened six days later, as the very next verse begins Matthew’s relating of the Transfiguration, which is today’s Gospel reading.
Jesus wanted His disciples to really know Him. After nearly three years following Him, listening to His words and witnessing His miracles, they believed in Him. One of them, Peter, even told Him, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” But the test to which they were about to be put in His Passion was so great that Christ armed them with an extraordinary grace.
By the Transfiguration Jesus desired first to remove from His Disciples the scandal of the Cross; secondly, that the lowliness of His voluntary Passion might not trouble their faith, so He lets them see His hidden glory. By the Transfiguration, Jesus also confirms the hope of the Church, so that we today may know that He was given in exchange for the promise to us of eternal glory with Him. The story of this event came down to us through the Apostles who witnessed it. And Christ Himself tells us directly of the promise in Matthew 13: 43: “Then shall the just shine as the sun, in the kingdom of their Father.”
Jesus adds a second lesson for the Apostles as Moses and Elias appear with Him, talking to Him. Moses represents the Law, the Church of the Old Testament, and Elias represents the Prophets. In the presence of these two, and three Apostles, has been fulfilled what was declared in Deuteronomy 19: 15: “In the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall stand.” The Messiah, Who had been promised in mysteries and in types, now stands with His early followers who waited so long for him. The Old and the New Covenants agree one with the other and both proclaim His glory. What could be more stable or more steadfast? It was because of this that St. John wrote: The Law was given by Moses; grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” (John 1: 17) Jesus is the meaning of what the Law commanded the Chosen People to do while they waited for Him. By His later birth He shows us that the prophecies were true, and by His grace He makes it possible for us to do all that He commands us to do.
St. Peter, always the enthusiastic one, is seized with ecstasy and says: “Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt let us make here three tabernacles . . .” Jesus is silent at this, not to imply it was an unworthy suggestion, but that it was not in keeping with His divine purpose. The world could only be saved by the death of the Christ, and the Lord’s attitude in this is a challenge to we who believe, reminding us that even though we may not doubt the promises of Christ, yet we must understand that throughout the trials of our lives we must pray for patience rather than glory because the joys of heaven cannot come before the times of our trials. “And you shall be betrayed by your own parents and brethren, and kinsmen and friends; and some of you they will put to death. And you shall be hated by all men for my name’s sake. . . [but] In your patience you shall possess your souls.” (Luke 21: 16, 17, 19)
So, what happened? The Apostles ran when Jesus was arrested. Was this extraordinary grace of God then without power and effectiveness? No, they ran because they were afraid, but all of them returned to Him when He came to them in the closed room. Many of us have run from Jesus and some of us kept running for many years. But here we are today, we have returned to Him, just like the Apostles, and because we came back we are stronger in our faith than we were before, just like the Apostles.
A cloud then overshadowed them and the voice of God the Father spoke: “This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased: hear ye him.” These profound words can be better understood if we remember that God does not exist in time. Time and distance do not rule His existence, as they do ours. So in these words then, do we not hear: This is my beloved son Who is from Me, and with Me, before time was? Whose divinity does not separate from Me, nor divide Us. This is My beloved Son, not adopted, but Mine, begotten of Me, not made elsewhere or made like Me from another nature, but born of My Being and Equal with Me.
This is My beloved Son through Whom were all thing made, and without Whom nothing was made, for all that I make He likewise makes, and whatever I do, He immediately and without separation also does. (John 5: 19) For the Son is also in the Father, and the Father is in the Son: nor is Our Oneness ever divided. (John 14: 10) This is My beloved Son, Who did not seek by robbery the Equality which is His (Philippians 2: 6); but while keeping the nature of My Divinity He bowed down even to the taking on Himself of the nature of a servant, so that He might bring g to fulfillment Our common plan for the redemption of mankind. “Hear ye Him.” Without delay let us hear Him, let us follow Him, and let us patiently await His return, as the Jews of old awaited His coming, and let us no longer run from Him, because His yoke is sweet and His burden light.
I mentioned above that “Jesus is the meaning of what the Law commanded the Chosen People to do while they waited for Him.” With that in mind, let’s look at an event in the life of Jacob, the son of Isaac. Jacob lied to get the inheritance of Esau. But is that all there is to the story? Ours is a revealed religion, revealed to us by God. So what is God revealing in this event? Look at it not simply as a lie, but as an allegory. A story that has a meaning different that what is apparent on the surface. Like George Orwell’s Animal Farm is not a story about the life of animals on farms, it is about the evils of communism. C. S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia is not a fanciful children’s story with talking animals, it’s a story about Christianity’s fight against evil.
Jacob covered himself in the skins of a goat, a deliberate deception, a lie. But since all the Old Testament points to the Messiah, we see that the goat skins are a symbol of sin, and we can see in Jacob one who bears the sins of others. Later, when Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau, thy first born,” we see beyond the lie because we see Christ again signified in the mystical body of His Church. Concerning the Church of the New Testament Christ himself spoke to those of the Old Testament, saying : “Ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the Prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out. And there shall come from the east, and from the west, and from the north, and from the south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God : and, behold, there are last which shall be first, and there are first which shall be last.” (Luke 13: 28-30)
When Jacob, the younger brother, took away the inheritance and title of the older brother, we understand it is an allegory of Christ and see the Church of the New Testament taking away the inheritance and title from the older brother, the Church of the Old Testament, and succeeding as the heir. +++
We Celebrate the Traditional Tridentine Latin Mass
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