| Readings: | Genesis 15:5-12, 17-18 |
| Date: | March 16, 2025 Second Sunday in Lent, Cycle C |
The Transfiguration has always been a fascinating Gospel story to me. And it is a central story in our salvation history; in fact it is so central it is the only Gospel story we hear twice each year on a Sunday or feast day. It is sometimes presented as something that Jesus does to bolster the faith and courage of Peter, James, and John so they would not panic during Jesus' coming passion and death. I was never comfortable with that as the main reason for the Transfiguration, primarily because it did not prevent those three from running away in panic from Jesus' arrest. The more I reflected on this story over the years, the more I am convinced that Jesus intended it to give the disciples, and us, hope after he had ascended back to the Father.
Both the second reading and the Gospel story address a topic very close to you: your body. The transfiguration event shows us that our bodies are destined for glory, just as Jesus' body demonstrated on that mountain top and after his resurrection. One commentator I read while preparing for today's homily said that there are three distinct attitudes we can have about our bodies: we can disdain it as just a machine made of meat, we can worship it as one of the most important things in life, as Paul says 'their God is their stomach', or we can respect it because it was designed in heaven, by heaven, for heaven as demonstrated by the glory displayed by Jesus' body in the Transfiguration. Christianity puts a very high value on the body as we can see from so may aspects of our faith. The Incarnation, God taking on a body, is a central tenet of our faith. Jesus saved us by giving up his body on the cross. As Catholics we believe that in Eucharist we receive the actual body and blood of Christ along with his soul and divinity. And Paul promises us that Jesus will change our lowly bodies to conform with the glory of his resurrected body. Many other religions consider the body as a prison to be escaped but as Christians we look forward to spending eternity as embodied spirits, as humans.
Did you ever have anyone tell you that they don't go to church because the are 'spiritual but not religious'? This statement actually says, "I am about as far away from being Christian as you can imagine!" As Christians we are religious, meaning that we are connected to God and to each other. And we are not just spiritual because we are humans, embodied spirits, now and in eternity. The commentator I referred to earlier said that in fact 'Spiritual but not religious' is a perfect description of Satan, who is a spirit and is the epitome of not being connected to God. The great Tertullian said that flesh is the hinge of our salvation. It is through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus in the flesh that we are saved. And we are called to live out our salvation in the flesh.
Think about the traditional Lenten practices of fasting, praying, and alms giving. We fast to demonstrate what Paul calls the Philippians to: to treat the body with respect to stay healthy but not to make our stomachs our God. The praying we are called to involves our whole self including out bodies. We are called to attend Mass more often, to drag our bodies to confession, and to pray more often with our whole self. And what better way of praying is there than receiving the body and blood of Christ in the Eucharist. And alms giving is not just putting money in the collection basket. We are to take care of the bodily needs of our neighbors, feeding those who are hungry, clothing the naked, sheltering the homeless, caring for the sick, and doing what we can to correct injustices that afflict people. We are called to say with Jesus, 'this is my body, given up for you; this is my blood poured out for you!'
By baptism, we are called to be the Body of Christ. Just as the incarnation of Jesus reveals how important embodiment is to God's plan to bring about the Kingdom of God here and now, this Transfiguration story is a glimpse of what is in store for us. But I would suggest that it is more immediate than that as well. One way of understanding what happened up on that mountain is that it was not Jesus who was transformed but that the eyes of the disciples were opened so that they might see what was already there. We are called, especially through our Lenten practices to open our eyes to see what is already there. Christ in the flesh in the Eucharist, Christ in what Saint Mother Teresa called the distressing disguise of the poor, Christ present even in our enemies and those who hate us or who harm us. Jesus spent his whole time on earth trying to get us to see the world as he sees it. How do we start to do this? Jesus is the Father's chosen Son. Let us listen to him!