Today, on this second Sunday of Lent, we ascend the mountain and witness the transfiguration of Jesus (Mark 9:2-10). On the mountain, amidst the dazzling light, Jesus’ divinity is made clear before our eyes.
It was just last Sunday that we witnessed something very different. We journeyed with Jesus into the desert where, as he fought off temptation, Jesus’ humanity was made clear before our eyes. In the desert we came to realize that Jesus, in his humanity, underwent temptations similar to those that we do, and that Jesus empathizes with us in our struggles and challenges. Today, as we encounter the transfigured Christ on the mountaintop, we realize that it is not only empathy that we receive from Jesus, but the divine grace needed to remain faithful to God amidst our struggles and temptations.
Last Sunday, in the desert, we witnessed Jesus in his humanity glorify God through his obedience, trust, and fortitude. Today, on the mountain, we witness Jesus’ divinity and a most profound revelation of God’s glory. In a few weeks at Calvary we will bear witness to another supreme manifestation of the glory of God, a glory with no less splendor than what we witness today on the mountain. At Calvary, as Jesus hangs on the cross, we see a glory revealed amidst despair and anguish, a glory once again revealed through obedience, trust, and fortitude, a glory revealed through a sacrificial and selfless love – a love as dazzling as the light we see today on the mountain.
And of course these two events – the transfiguration on the mountaintop and the crucifixion on Calvary – are intertwined, just as are Jesus’ humanity and divinity. Jesus helps us understand that the path to ultimate glory passes through the cross. Jesus helps us see that it is our obedience, our trust, our fortitude, our sacrifice, and our selfless love that glorifies God in the here and now, and leads us to our ultimate glorification in the next world. Jesus helps us understand that even amidst life’s difficulties, life’s hurts, and life’s suffering – even amidst all of this – we can still hold firmly onto the hope of our future glory.
So, we continue on our Lenten journey with trust and confidence in Jesus whose love has no bounds, whose mercy has no limits, and whose forgiveness is extended to all. We continue onward as God continues to reveal his glory through us as we live in imitation of Jesus.