On the second Sunday of Lent, we hear the story of a hiking trip of Jesus and three of his disciples. They went up Mount Tabor, but not to admire the mountain or the view from this place. Jesus led the Apostles there to see something more beautiful than even the most amazing scenery in the world: the glory of God. As we read: Jesus “was transfigured before them; his face shone like the sun and his clothes became white as light.” In addition to this extraordinary and difficult-to-describe situation — St. Matthew uses the comparison “like,” which testifies to the inadequacy of the human language — the disciples heard the voice saying: “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” It left no doubt about the nature of Jesus, who he really is. He is not just a holy man, he is not just a prophet, he is not a good teacher, just a rabbi – He is the real Son of God, fully human but also fully divine. His incarnation, his teaching and later, his redemptive suffering is the final and ultimate revelation of God to His children. This is the utmost act of love, love that is incomparable to anything else in the visible world and invisible world.
This is the basis for the powerful authority of Jesus in everything he taught mankind. It explains why many people “were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes” (Mark 1:22) and even the guards of the temple admitted that “never before has anyone spoken like this one” (John 7:46).
Who do we see in Jesus? Maybe we recognize Him as merely a good man with very interesting teachings that could be helpful in bringing up our children and grandchildren and nobody else. Or maybe we keep Him far away from our life and our heart. We instead recognize the authority of the police, the civil administration and celebrities, but we neglect the message of life and love of God.
Lent invites us first to answer these questions — to fully seek out our relationship with Jesus as Divine Savior and Divine Teacher. Once we turn our hearts and minds to Him, we will be transformed and prepared to correctly determine how to live, how to shape our daily activities and relations with other people. In this way, we will not be left to our subjective and sometimes chaotic judgment of ourselves and others, but our life can rely on the foundation laid by God Himself for He alone will be our sure guide.
Fr. Mark Jurzyk