NewCreation

Homily for Second Sunday in Lent, Year A

The Homily for the Second Sunday in Lent Welcome, my sisters and brothers, to this the homily for the Second Sunday in Lent, and we continue our journey with Jesus in the way that Matthew describes it. You remember that last time we saw that after Jesus's baptism, in which the voice had said "This is my Son, on whom my favor rests," Jesus was then taken into the wilderness where he saw off the devil, was established as Son of God, and then the angels ministered to him. In other words, the high priestly ordination which he received meant that he now was in the holy place. The Second Sunday of Lent we see a very similar incident, but much later in Jesus's ministry. This is just before Jesus starts the journey up to Jerusalem. So here the appearance, the voice, and later the journey which is going to give content to the voice. So six days later Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain by themselves. Always numbers are important in Matthew and Mark. In six days — in Luke it's eight days — and each case has its reference here. The importance of the six days is because the Sabbath is about to begin, which is why later Saint Peter will think building tabernacles is appropriate, because this looks as though this is the people who've been called out before the Lord for the Feast of Tabernacles — a very joyous feast, the Feast of the Harvests, a very joyous feast. We'll see why Peter, as always, is almost right and in fact wrong. But at least in terms of the dates, the Feast of Tabernacles, Sukkot, begins and ends on the Sabbath. So the seventh day would have been the day when it was beginning. So they led to a high mountain by themselves. Of course, high mountains are always places of theophanies. And he was transfigured before them. He changed form before them. And his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white. Okay, we're going to see why this is important. Please remember that for the great Feast of the Atonement, the high priest — before coming out to perform the sacrifice of the lamb that stood in for the Lord, and the sending off of the lamb that stood in for Azazel, the scapegoat — before that, the high priest would spend time in the holy place, in the sanctus sanctorum, where he would be interpenetrated with the Most High, because he was going to become, as it were, a quasi-sacrament of the Holy One. For the day he was going to become a semi-incarnation, if you like, of the Most High. So he would be interpenetrated, spending time with the angels in the Holy Place, and then vested in entirely pure white robes, brilliant white robes, he would appear through the veil of the Temple — the veil being made of multi-colors, indicating materiality, all the richness of created the notion of this pure white breaking through the multi-colors was that this was the Most High breaking into creation, coming into creation. And the other priests would immediately dash up to this white figure and put on him a robe made of exactly the same material — the tunic made of exactly the same material as the Temple veil. This was so that that which was in principle invisible and too glorious to behold might be beheld, robed in flesh, robed in flesh, the Godhead, see. This was the notion of the high priest who was then, if you like, God come into creation, who was about to perform the sacrifice. That was the notion of the great feast of the Atonement. So here we have this day: his face is shining like the sun. So curiously it's the first day. It suggests that this week, this particular sabbath is not the day of rest, but actually invokes the whole of creation. It's the whole of the creator coming into being, and his clothes became dazzling white. So here he is, and they are witnessing this extraordinary appearance of the Lord, who is about to come into creation to perform the sacrifice. And suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. Well, his face shining like the sun is hugely important, because he is the principle of lighting them up. Remember that when Moses came down from the mountain, his face was so bright that he had to cover it with a veil, because when he spoke the people couldn't dare to look at him. But his face was chrómatos — it was reflective light; it was because his face had been shone upon that it was too bright. Whereas here it's actually the active shining agent. Here there's no question at all: here we have the Lord. And suddenly there appeared to him Moses and Elijah, talking with him. So in this dialogue, Moses and Elijah are talking to the Lord — the whole of creation, all of the seven days — and now the figures of the law on the one hand and the prophet on the other. And what is key is that one of them, Moses, when he died, no one knows where he went, no one knows where he was buried. So Moses is in some sense the symbol of death. And Elijah — he didn't die. He ascended into heaven on the chariot of Israel. If you remember the whirling chariot of Israel, he was carried off. So you have these two figures: one representing the law and death, the other prophecy and life, who are coming together. But they are with the Lord, who is talking with them. Then Peter says to Jesus, "Lord, it's good for us to be here. If you wish, I will make three tabernacles here, three dwellings here: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah." In other words, Peter thinks that this is a feast within the selection of feasts that he knows about, which is not stupid. Any one of us is likely to do the same. But the problem is that this isn't A feast within the feasts. This is the beginning of all feasts. This is the Lord finally coming in to fulfill all feasts in the atonement which is going to happen, and how this is going to fulfill all the law and the prophets, and it's going to be inconceivably greater than either of those feasts. But, and here's the problem, it still requires Jesus to go through with something. The shining with the white is the, as it were, the coming into the courts of the Temple, indicating the place of creation. Now he has to go up to the altar of sacrifice, which of course is what he's going to do. So while Peter was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them. So this is the Father — from the Father, and from the cloud a voice said: "This is my Son, the beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him." So once again, the whole of the Father's voice is to be heard only through the words of the Son. There's no further, there's no extra paternal voice. The whole concentration of everything that Moses and Elijah said is to be heard — is to be heard from the Son. The Son is my equal in human form among you: this extraordinary notion of God having become horizontally present to us rather than being a vertical figure above us. "This is my Son, the beloved. With him I am well pleased. Listen to him." And it's the same point as was made at the baptism. The beloved is the one upon whom my love rests. It's also the beloved Son who has come to fulfill the promise of the prophecy concerning Abraham and Isaac: "the Lord will provide." And so the indication is this is he, this is the fulfillment of all those prophecies. When the disciples heard this, they fell to the ground and were overcome by fear. Scarcely surprising — the bat kol, the daughter of the voice, the voice from heaven: a very awe-inspiring phenomenon. But, and this is something very special, and this is a particular touch in Matthew's Gospel which we don't get, I think, in either Mark or Luke, but Jesus came and touched them, saying, "Get up and do not be afraid." Now, the only reference I can find to this, and it's the one that makes most sense to me, is actually this refers to what happened with the prophet Elijah when he was on his way to receiving his definitive instruction. On the way, he got fed up and it was all too much for him, and he despaired of the Lord and he fell asleep, and once the angel of the Lord came and touched him and said, "Get up," and the second time the Lord touched him and said, "Get up," and told him to go on in that case to Mount Horeb. But here he's saying, "Get up and do not be afraid." The indication is that Jesus is making them Elijah, that they are going to now be the prophets in the same way that Elijah was, but they have a way to go and they're going to have to follow him to see what that way is. And when they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus himself alone. So Jesus has touched them, and now they're going to have to learn what it means, the full content of what they have seen, and they are going to become its prophets, its representatives. It's no wonder that hereafter they're going to discuss what the role of Elijah is. And as they were coming down the mountain, Jesus ordered them, "Tell no one about the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead." In other words, you are not going to understand what this has been about and be able to talk about it properly until I have been killed. And it's when I've been raised from the dead that you will know that this is what I have been doing all along. I have been performing the great act of atonement. I am the Son, I am the great high priest. And that involves not merely a cultic function but a human function. I've revealed to you what it's about here on this mountain, and now we're going to go up to Jerusalem, which will be effectively the altar of sacrifice, and this will be carried out. I will give myself into the hands of violent men, and then you will understand what all this has been about, and indeed you will then be able to become Elijahs, the prophets before the end, who are going to be able to tell this story. At this stage we leave Matthew. Our next several Sundays in Lent are going to be with John's Gospel. And we only get back to Matthew in Holy Week, Palm Sunday, when we will have his Passion of course, and hear the full story of the living out of the great sacrifice. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.