Second Sunday of Lent - Year A
Commentary of the day
Saint John Chrysostom (c.345-407), priest at Antioch then Bishop of Constantinople, Doctor of the Church
Homilies on Saint Matthew's Gospel, no. 56 ; PG 58, 549
"Do not tell the vision to anyone until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead."
Jesus Christ talked to his disciples a great deal about his sufferings, Passion and death, and he foretold the afflictions they themselves would have to endure and the violent deaths they would one day have to undergo (Mt 16,21-26). That is why, after telling them such hard and difficult things, he tries to comfort them by drawing attention to the reward he will give them when he comes in his Father's glory (v.27)... He wants to show them beforehand, so far as they are capable of it in this life, the great majesty in which he was to come and thus forestall the trouble and sadness his apostles, particularly Saint Peter, might feel before his death...
“Jesus took with him Peter, James and John.” Why only take these three apostles? No doubt because they outstripped the others. Saint Peter because of his ardor, his love; Saint John because he was the disciple Jesus loved (Jn 13,23); and Saint James because he had said along with his brother: “We can drink your cup” (Mt 20,22) and subsequently kept his word (Acts 12,2)...
Why did Jesus cause Moses and Elijah to appear?... He was constantly accused of breaking the Law and blaspheming, appropriating for himself a glory that did not belong to him, the glory of the Father... Therefore, wanting to show that he did not violate the Law and did not attribute to himself a glory that did not belong to him, Jesus calls on the authority of two of the most unimpeachable witnesses: Moses, who had given the Law..., and Elijah, who had burned with zeal for the glory and service of God (1Kgs 19,10)... He also wanted to teach them he was lord over life and death by causing one man who was dead, and another who had been carried off alive in a fiery chariot (2Kgs 2,11), to appear. He wanted, too, to reveal the glory of his cross to his disciples and comfort Peter and his companions who were frightened by his Passion, reviving their courage. For Moses and Elijah spoke with him about the glory he was to receive in Jerusalem (Lk 9,31). That is to say, they spoke of his Passion, his Cross, which the prophets had always called his glory.
1) Lent: Exodus of penance and light.
Lent is not just a journey of penance of people grieving for their sin. It is the path of light or better, the conversion to light. The victory over temptation is already a source of transfiguration.
This Sunday's Gospel presents us with the fact of the Transfiguration of Christ. It is an event that marked the lives not only of Jesus, but also of Peter, James and John and must mark our existence.
The context is of prayer on Mount Tabor. It is a very special and privileged time. It is the revelation of the divinity of Jesus. It is a moment of light that Jesus had wanted to prepare his disciples for the passion and us too so that we come prepared to Good Friday. We too must enter into the mystery of the Transfiguration and make it our own. Not only must we contemplate the radiant Christ, but become what we behold.
The first way to participate in the supernatural gift of the Transfiguration is make time to pray and listen to the Word of God; it is to focus our attention over the consecrated Host. Furthermore, especially in this time of Lent, it is to respond to the divine invitation of penance by some voluntary act of mortification outside the renunciation imposed by the burdens of everyday life.
Another way to live the mystery of the Transfiguration is to imagine the scene described in the Gospel and identify with one of the three apostles who accompanied Jesus on Mount Tabor : " And he was transfigured before them (the three apostles, Peter , James and John ) : his face shone like the sun, and his garments became white as light" (Mt 17:1-2 ). Jesus is transfigured: the white robes (St. Maximus the Confessor says that, “his clothes became white, bore the symbol of the words of Sacred Scripture that became clear and transparent and bright” Ambiguum 10: page 91, 1128 B) and the shining face take us in the direction of the Son of Man of Daniel, glorious and victorious. In this way, it is revealed that Jesus, who is on his way to the Cross, is the Lord and that He is actually on the way to the light of the Resurrection. The last and painful pilgrimage that Jesus is pursuing hides a Pascal meaning. But it is a fleeting and provisional anticipation: the road ahead is that of the Cross. And in fact, the three beloved disciples, called to see in advance the glory of Jesus, are the same ones that in Gethsemane will be called to see his weakness. Peter, James and John (and we with them), contemplating the divinity of the Lord, are prepared to deal with the scandal of the cross, as it is sung in an old hymn, "On the mount you have transfigured and your followers, as far as they were able, have beheld your glory so that, seeing you crucified, they understand that your passion was voluntary and announce to the world that you truly are the splendor of the Father."
2) The tents and the Tent.
The Gospel continues narrating that, beside the transfigured Jesus, “Moses and Elijah[1] appeared, conversing with him” (Mt 17:3); Moses and Elijah, the figure of the Law and the Prophets. It was then that Peter, delighted, exclaimed: “Lord, it is good for us to be here! If you want , I will make three tents[2] here , one for you , one for Moses and one for Elijah "(Matthew 17:4) . But I believe that in this Gospel’s passage the tent can be interpreted in reference to the exodus.
The forty years in the desert were a time of transition and testing, but were also a special time. In the desert, the tents must be erected every evening and put away every morning. The desert is the place of horror and death, the place of scorpions, snakes, the place of thirst and hunger, the place of hidden raiders who fall suddenly on the caravan. But at the same time it is the place of strength and life. Never before as in the desert are the people strong because they are bare, lightweight, carry little baggage but plenty of life, a lot of hope, a lot of energy to cherish it later on when they arrive in the Country[3].
The desert and the tents were and are a privileged place, the place where you are face to face with God. They are also the place and the time of the total dependence. Already in the desert of the exodus, the facts that the New Testament will take over as the last, messianic and eschatological, namely the water, the manna and the Word, are understood precisely in this sense of total dependence on God.
The people who live under the tent cannot do without vital elements such as water and food, manna and the quails of the desert (Exodus 16, 1-36 and 17, 1-7). The Lord sends the goods, but the Lord wants the people to have full availability and dependence and to prove it, because the Lord does not miss anything to anyone.
But we must also speak of the tent with a capital T. In fact, St. Augustine already commented on the phrase of St. Peter on the Mount of Transfiguration, saying that we have a single dwelling: Christ. He “is the Word of God, the Word of God in the Law, the Word of God in the Prophets “(Sermo de Verbis Ev. 78.3: PL 38, 491). The Lord has established his tent among the tents, these tents become the place where to live a true life due to the fact that the Lord is present; He is the Emmanuel, God- with-us, God among us, always.
This Tent among the tents implies that God becomes like men. It is a God who lowered himself and is almost destroyed, to dwell among the tents of men.
An example of tents next to The tent are the consecrated Virgins. These women are called to live their lives with availability and full dependence. In the Church, these women are called to give themselves totally to the Lord with the choice of Virginity and continuing to live in the world. Their consecration expresses the importance of a joyful "totality" in the gift of self and of the constant search for the primacy of contemplation in the total availability to service in the Church, with and for brothers.
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Roman Rite - Second Sunday of Lent - Year A - March 16, 2014
Gn 12:1-4; Ps 33; 2 Tim 1:8-10; Matthew 17:1-9