By Rev. Canon David B. Tabo-oy
33Moses and Elijah were about to leave, when Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good for us to be here! Let us make three shelters, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” But Peter did not know what he was talking about.34While Peter was still speaking, a shadow from a cloud passed over them, and they were frightened as the cloud covered them. v35From the cloud a voice spoke, “This is my chosen Son. Listen to what he says!”
Luke 9:33-34
This Sunday marks the end of the church calendar Season of Epiphany. On Wednesday (March 6), by the traditional imposition of ashes as signs of penitence, the Season of Lent commences. To prepare our minds and spirits to that solemn and holy season, let me invite you to meditate on one very significant event in the life our Lord as accounted by Luke in the assigned gospel lesson this Sunday. This episode in the life of Christ is one of the more strange, and therefore more difficult to understand. It has been described as theophany (face to face encounter with God) or a similar word epiphany (manifestation of God to people). It has been given a name, the Transfiguration.
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Let us meditate on what the disciples experienced on that mountain top as related to us by the gospels particularly by Luke in this Sunday’s gospel lesson. We all have experienced that joyful-happy feeling wherein it exudes beyond the normal fulfilment. We feel so perfectly alright and we can do more because we have accomplished what was demanded in our work or expectations from our group or family. We have to admit that in one way or another we experienced that we feel so good really happy, confident that we knew all the answers, could solve any problem that came up. Or we felt that we were really close to God, really in tune with God’s plan for us. In those moments we were excited and alive, and everything seemed new, we call these moments, ‘mountain-top experience’, and oh how we cannot let them go!
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The term ‘mountain top experience’ has become a cliché and denotes a very pleasant or pleasurable experience that could not be easily forgotten. I believe that God did not design us human beings to live in the top of mountains. If we continue to read on the gospel account after the Transfiguration event we can appreciate the holistic purpose of that mountain top experience. The disciples and Jesus came off the mountain, and they came right down to the bottom of the valley. In the valley they found a boy who was having epileptic seizures. The mother and father were enormously upset and worried about the desperately sick boy. In this context, the disciples and Jesus came off the mountain and confronted the real problems and concerns of real life. The disciples discovered that God is also down in the valley and does not live only or even primarily on the mountaintop. A Scottish theologian so expressed this experience in these words, “God does not make mountains in order to be inhabited. God does not make the mountains for us to live on mountaintops. It is God’s desire that we live on the mountaintops. We only ascend to the heights to catch a broader vision of the earthly surroundings below. But we don’t live there. The streams begin in the uplands, but these streams descend quickly to gladden the valleys below.”
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The Transfiguration story is a prelude to a solemn and holy season in the Christian calendar that will start on Wednesday. To the East and Western Christian tradition as earlier mentioned this Wednesday is Ash Wednesday. This country’s history under the Spaniards’ Roman Catholic practice for half a century had already ingrained in the sub-consciousness of the Filipino Christian the importance of this season. As it is, Ash Wednesday is the start of a season of penitence, self-denial, abstinence, fasting… etcetera. But then all these are observed relative to the person’s understanding of the intention of the Lenten season. Let me from Wikipedia share the meaning of the Christian season of Lent that begins on Ash Wednesday for a better appreciation.
Lent (Latin: Quadragesima: Fortieth) is a solemn religious observance in the Christian liturgical calendar that begins on Ash Wednesday and ends approximately six weeks later, before Easter Sunday. The purpose of Lent is the preparation of the believer for Easter through prayer, doing penance, mortifying the flesh, repentance of sins, almsgiving, and self-denial.[1] This event is observed in the Anglican, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Lutheran, Methodist, and Catholic Churches.[2][3][4]Some Anabaptist and evangelical churches also observe the Lenten season.[5][6] Its institutional purpose is heightened in the annual commemoration of Holy Week, marking the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, which recalls the tradition and events of the New Testament beginning on Palm Sunday, further climaxing on Jesus’ crucifixion on Good Friday, which ultimately culminates in the joyful celebration on Easter Sunday of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
In Lent, many Christians commit to fasting, as well as giving up certain luxuries in order to replicate the sacrifice of Jesus Christ’s journey into the desert for 40 days.[7][8][9] Many Christians also add a Lenten spiritual discipline, such as reading a daily devotional or praying through a Lenten calendar, to draw themselves near to God.[10][11] The Stations of the Cross, a devotional commemoration of Christ’s carrying the Cross and of his execution, are often observed. Many Roman Catholicand some Protestant churches remove flowers from their altars, while crucifixes, religious statues, and other elaborate religious symbols are often veiled in violet fabrics in solemn observance of the event. Throughout Christendom, some adherents mark the season with the traditional abstention from the consumption of meat, most notably among Lutherans, Roman Catholics and Anglicans.
Lent is traditionally described as lasting for 40 days, in commemoration of the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert, according to the Gospels of Matthew, Markand Luke, before beginning his public ministry, during which he endured temptation by Satan.[15][16] Depending on the Christian denomination and local custom, Lent ends on the evening of Holy Thursday[17] with Easter Vigil at sundown on Holy Saturday, on the morning of Easter Sunday, or at the midnight between them.
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Lent therefore is a Christian season of prayer, penitence and almsgiving in preparation for the Passover of Christ in Easter. Lent is also traditionally a period of preparation for those who are to be baptized. But the most encompassing spirit of Lent could be understood on the Exhortation in the Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church,
Beloved in the Lord:
Our Savior Christ, on the night before he suffered, instituted the Sacrament of his Body and Blood as a sign and pledge of his love, for the continual remembrance of the sacrifice of his death, and for a spiritual sharing in his risen life. For in these holy Mysteries we are made one with Christ, and Christ with us; we are made one body in him, and members one of another.
Having in mind, therefore, his great love for us, and in obedience to his command, his Church renders to Almighty God our heavenly Father neverending thanks for the creation of the world, for his continual providence over us, for his love for all humankind, and for the redemption of the world by our Savior Christ, who took upon himself our flesh, and humbled himself even to death on the cross, that he might make us children of God by the power of the Holy Spirit, and exalt us to everlasting life.
But if we are to share rightly in the celebration of those holy Mysteries, and be nourished by that spiritual Food, we must remember the dignity of that holy Sacrament. I therefore call upon you to consider how Saint Paul exhorts all persons to prepare themselves carefully before eating of that Bread and drinking of that Cup.
For, as the benefit is great, if with penitent hearts and living faith we receive the holy Sacrament, so is the danger great, if we receive it improperly, not recognizing the Lord’s Body. Judge yourselves, therefore, lest you be judged by the Lord. Examine your lives and conduct by the rule of God’s commandments that you may perceive wherein you have offended in what you have done or left undone, whether in thought, word, or deed. And acknowledge your sins before Almighty God, with full purpose of amendment of life, being ready to make restitution for all injuries and wrongs done by you to others; and also being ready to forgive those who have offended you, in order that you yourselves may be forgiven. And then, being reconciled with one another, come to the banquet of that most heavenly Food.
And if, in your preparation, you need help and counsel, then go and open your grief to a discreet and understanding priest, and confess your sins, that you may receive the benefit of absolution, and spiritual counsel and advice; to the removal of scruple and doubt, the assurance of pardon, and the strengthening of your faith.
To Christ our Lord who loves us, and washed us in his own blood, and made us a kingdom of priests to serve his God and Father, to him be glory in the Church evermore. Through him let us offer continually the sacrifice of praise, which is our bounden duty and service, and, with faith in him, come boldly before the throne of grace [and humbly confess our sins to Almighty God.
Let us pray.
Almighty and everlasting God, you hate nothing you have made and forgive the sins of all who are penitent: Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of you, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.**
