Last week we heard that the homilies given during the Season of Lent this year would focus on the Sacrament of Reconciliation with the theme “Healing Our Wounded Hearts.” Our hearts, and indeed our souls, are wounded by sin, and it is only through the mercy of God through the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus into heaven that we can be truly healed. Father Tom spoke about being “Armed for Battle,” using the example of Jesus being tempted by the devil after 40 days of fasting and prayer in the desert. The Sacrament of Reconciliation helps us to arm ourselves and prepare for the battle against the temptation that we face each and every day; sometimes in minor ways and sometimes in major ways.
On the Second Sunday of Lent each year we hear the account of the Transfiguration of Jesus, an event we should be very familiar with. This year’s account comes from the Gospel of Luke. In each of the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke), Jesus takes the three apostles that seem to be part of His inner circle, Peter, John, and James, up a mountain to pray. His face changes in appearance, his clothes become dazzling white, and Moses and Elijah appear with him, conversing with him. But only in Luke’s account of the Transfiguration are we told what they were talking about. It says Moses and Elijah also “appeared in glory and spoke of his exodus that that he was going to accomplish in Jerusalem.”
When we hear the word “exodus” we normally think of the Exodus event from the Old Testament when God, through Moses, led the Israelites out of slavery and bondage in Egypt after 400 years to the promised land. So what is Jesus’ exodus that he will accomplish in Jerusalem and how is it connected with the Exodus from the Old Testament? If we compare the Exodus event from Egypt to Jesus’ exodus that he is speaking of with Moses and Elijah, we see several similarities, but also some differences. They both involve a journey, and both journeys are meant to set the people of God free and bring them home to the promised land. But they begin and end with different locations.
The first exodus begins in Egypt, and Moses leads them out of slavery to Pharaoh; they journeyed through the wilderness for 40 years, and entered the promised land where the kingdom would eventually be centered in Jerusalem. The new exodus of Jesus would begin in Jerusalem, but would end in the promised land of heaven. Jesus’ exodus would be his Passion, Death, Resurrection, and Ascension into heaven.
This should come as no surprise to us, because just before the Transfiguration, Jesus spoke to his disciples saying, “The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.” This tells us that the only way he can enter his glory is through his suffering and death. This is the paradox of the paschal mystery of Jesus, and why we talk about this during the season of Lent. Simply put, glory only comes through embracing the passion: suffering and death.
But there is something else significant about the Old Testament Exodus that many of us don’t think about. Usually we think that the main purpose of the Exodus was to free the Israelites from slavery and bondage while they were in Egypt for 400 years. And that’s not wrong. But there is another very important element that God wants to accomplish with the Israelites. When God sends Moses to Pharaoh the first time, Moses is instructed to say to Pharaoh, “Thus says the Lord, Israel is my first-born son, and I say to you, ‘Let my son go that he may serve me’” (Gn 4:22). In other words, God wants to release the Israelites so they would be free to worship, or offer sacrifice to him. Nine times during the plagues that afflicted Egypt, Moses would tell Pharaoh, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Let my people go, that they may worship me.’”
Why would this be so important? It’s because after 400 years of being in Egypt as slaves to the Egyptians, while they might not have completely forgotten God, they had adopted the customs of being in Egypt, which would have included worship of their gods. That’s why God commanded the sacrifice of bulls, goats, and sheep; these were all considered gods that the Egyptians worshipped; they were guilty of the sin of idolatry. So to sacrifice these animals to God as worship helps them to understand that the God of Israel is the one true God. In other words, God didn’t just want to get Israel out of Egypt, he wanted to get Egypt out of the Israelites.
This is so important for us to understand, because we also become immersed in a world that offers worship of gods that are very attractive: money, power, sex, fame, sports, TV, our phones—any number of things that can draw us away from the one true God and lead us into sin. And we need to reconcile ourselves with God just as the Israelites did. That’s why God gives us the beautiful Sacrament of Reconciliation, so that we might be able to come back into right relationship with Him. This is not for his sake, but for ours.
When we look further at the Exodus of the Israelites as they journeyed out of Egypt toward the Promised Land, we see that it didn’t take long for them to fall back into idol worship. While Moses was on the mountain receiving the 10 Commandments, the people of God constructed the golden calf and offered sacrifices to it. And even after that as they wandered for 40 years in the wilderness, over and over again the Israelites rose up and rebelled against God. They would sin, be punished, repent of their sin, and be redeemed. Sin, punishment, repentance, redemption. Sin, punishment, repentance, redemption. This cycle would take place over and over again throughout the history of God’s people.
If this sounds familiar, it should, because it’s also the history of ourselves. We find that we turn away from God through sin over and over again. You might say that our whole life is a type of exodus, a journey that leads to the promised land. But the one thing that God wants more than anything is to forgive us and bring us back to him. Jesus says later in Luke’s Gospel, “there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance” (Lk 15:7). So we need to repent and ask forgiveness. When we do this through the Sacrament of Reconciliation, we receive the grace that brings us back into right relationship with God. The Exodus in the Old Testament freed the Israelites from bondage and slavery in Egypt. Jesus’ exodus isn’t for his freedom; it frees us from bondage and slavery to sin. And we participate in His exodus every time we ask for forgiveness in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
And so the Transfiguration of Jesus is directly connected with his exodus, his Passion, Death, Resurrection, and Ascension, but at the same time puts it in perspective and gives meaning to it. Jesus shows Peter, John, and James what waits on the other side. He shows them His glory, and His glory that will be their glory, so that they don’t lose heart, and don’t lose hope. And also for us, that we don’t shrink back from the suffering that you and I will have to endure from the simple fact that we are human with a fallen human nature, and sometimes even more so because we are Christian. As Saint Paul says in his Letter to the Romans, “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed for us” (Rm 8:18).
The uniting of God to us takes place progressively, and each and every time you and I receive a sacrament—especially in Holy Communion and yes, even in Reconciliation—our whole participation in the sacramental life of the Church is preparing us to be fully transformed and filled with God in the Kingdom. Every time the Word is proclaimed and preached, every time we pray, every time we do something virtuous.
Just like the Son of Man, who had to suffer, die, and be raised to enter into His Glory, every one of us will have to suffer and die, so that the natural bodies that we have must die, as Saint Paul says, like a seed, so that they can rise as spiritual bodies, conformed to Christ, filled with God and be glorified.
For us, we can hope to participate in the glory that Jesus shows us in the Transfiguration. This is what Paul means when he says that “He will change our lowly body to conform with his glorified body.” But we must stand firm, to trust, and to wait, as St. Paul says, and sometimes with pain and suffering. Even in the glorious moment of the Transfiguration, which gives us encouragement and hope on our journey through Lent, we are reminded in these readings today that the only way to remain in that glory is to die to self; recognize our sinfulness, repent, and ask forgiveness through the sacrament.
At the transfiguration, the apostles were told by God that Jesus was his chosen Son: to listen to him. But our listening isn’t just a physical hearing. Through our participation in the sacramental life of the Church, and because of our relationship with Christ through the sacraments, we can live like people who are being transformed from one glory to another. Then we too, will be able to share in the grace and glory of God.