Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Last weekend we started our Lenten journey with Jesus being led by the Spirit into the Judean Desert to be tempted by the devil. Today we move ahead in Jesus’ ministry by a big leap and have the revelation to his disciples of his glory as the Son of God.

First, the place where this astonishing event takes place. Mountain tops are places of revelation. They give us, on the one hand, a different perspective. We are able to see things from a different vantage point and we get a glimpse of a bigger picture. High places are where God symbolically comes down to meet his people. Secondly, Jesus takes his closest disciples, Peter, James, and John with him in an act much like Moses had done at Sinai, (Ex. 24:9). As in Exodus the mountain is wreathed in God’s glory, and they sojourn there for 6 days. On the seventh day, a voice comes from the cloud and speaks to them. As with Moses, whose face shone brightly after communing with the Lord, Jesus too shows forth God’s glory for his disciples to see. The disciples, like the Israelites, are struck with awe at the sight. Here however, there is a significant difference, in that as Jesus is caught up in the cloud of God’s glory along with him appear Moses and the Prophet Elijah. This points to the fact that something greater than Moses and the prophets is happening in the person of Jesus. Whereas Moses receives divine revelation on Sinai, here Jesus is the embodiment divine revelation incarnate. The glory he radiates here is not a reflection of God’s glory as with Moses, but it is the glory he himself radiates as the eternal Son of the Father. It is his glory revealed to his disciples who fall down prostrate in awe. He is no human mediator of the law, but the embodiment of God’s law himself.

Why now at the very beginning of Lent does the Church focus on Jesus’ glory? Isn’t that reserved for Easter Sunday morning when he rose triumphant? The answer is simple. The disciples - and we the Church- need a glimpse of that glory before we face the terrific suffering that Jesus will endure in the weeks to come. Just as Jesus needed to strengthen his brothers with a glimpse of his divinity, so too you and I need that now as well.

Last week Jesus faced off with the devil in the desert and was victorious, showing us in turn that we too can be victorious in our struggles with sin. Now, as well he shows his glory to his disciples and to us so that as he prepares to suffer and die, we too who struggle now will have hope in our sufferings of the glory that is to come.

Where do you find yourself this Lent? What struggles or burdens do you carry? What suffering are you enduring? Jesus gives us a glimpse of glory – of what will be. He gives us a glimpse of who he is and what God holds out for each of us if we trust in him. We have this image at the beginning of our Lent so that as we wrestle with all that we strive to overcome we may have hope of the glory that awaits us if we are victorious with him.

Happy Lent,

Fr. Steve