2ND
SUNDAY OF LENT B
YEAR OF THE CLERGY
AND CONSECRATED PERSONS
FEBRUARY 25, 2018
Every 2nd Sunday of
Lent, we read the story of the Transfiguration of the Lord. Before the scandal
of the Cross takes place, the Lord Jesus took Peter, James, and John with him
to the mountain so that they may encounter the Blessed Trinity. On that
mountain, the divine glory of Jesus as God’s only Son was revealed to them. His
face shone like the sun and his clothing became dazzlingly white. The Holy
Spirit appeared as that shining cloud that covered Jesus and the Father made
his voice heard. He said: “This is my beloved Son, listen to him.” Both the
Father and the Holy Spirit made Jesus known to Peter, James, and John. Jesus
was revealed as God’s beloved Son.
But the very disciples to whom
Jesus’ divinity was revealed seemed to have forgotten the revelation so easily.
When Jesus was arrested in the garden, James was one of those who fled and
abandoned the Lord. Peter dared to follow Jesus until the house of the high
priest. There, he saw Jesus beaten up by the guards and so, when he was being
identified by the servants as one of Jesus’ disciples, Peter denied the Lord 3
times: I do not know him. John followed Jesus and accompanied Mary his mother
all the way to the foot of the Cross. It was there where he saw Jesus suffer
and die. It was there where he saw Jesus’ side pierced with a lance. It was
there where he saw the blood and water flowing from his Christ’s wounded side.
But it was not until he saw the empty tomb that John believed: He saw and he
believed. Thus, we understand now why Jesus admonished them not to relate the
incident of the Transfiguration to others until the Son of Man has risen from
the dead.
Apparently, Christ’s glory was
revealed to the disciples in order to prepare them for the scandal of the
Cross. And the Cross was truly a scandal. It was an incomprehensible act of
Divine love. Seeing how Jesus was being beaten up, Peter was saying the truth
when he said that he did not know Jesus. For no one will truly know Jesus
unless he sees him Crucified and Risen from the dead. When we see Jesus on the
Cross, we are confronted by the same scandal. The Cross reveals to us the
incomprehensible depth of Divine Love. Abraham was prevented by an angel from
consummating his sacrifice to God. An angel prevented him from killing Isaac:
“Abraham, do not lay your hand on the boy!” But no one prevented the Father
from consummating the offering of Jesus his Son. “He did not spare his Son but
handed him over for us all.” The consummation of Jesus’ sacrifice manifests to
us the incomprehensible depth of God’s love. To what extent was God willing to
do in order to save us? This baffles even the mind of St. Paul who asks: “Who
will bring a charge against God’s chosen ones? It is God who acquits us, who
will condemn? Christ Jesus it is who died for us.” Seeing how Christ suffered
for us, we will say: I thought I have already seen everything…but I did not
realize that it will be like this. (Hindi ko akalain na hahantong ang lahat sa
ganito.) God will not spare even his only Son so that he might acquit us of our
sins.
Indeed, the glory of Christ
Crucified is the glory of God. The depth of Christ’s humiliation is the depth
of God’s love. Thus, we have not known Christ until we know his suffering. The
Cross truly scandalizes us but it opens up for us the true revelation of who
Jesus is. Thus St. Paul would say, “I consider everything as rubbish except the
knowledge of Jesus and him Crucified.”
O Mary conceived without sin,
pray for us who have recourse to thee!
