This is my beloved Son. Listen to him. Today’s Gospel Reading is an account of the transfiguration of Jesus according to the evangelist Mark. It is an account that marks an important phase in the on-going revelation of Jesus’ identity especially when read in light of the immediate preceding episodes (Peter’s confession of Jesus as the Christ of God, the first prophecy of the passion, and the teaching on the cost of discipleship [cf. Mark 8:17ff]). However, on this Second Sunday of Lent, it is the events that transpired on top of the mountain of transfiguration that should be of interest to us. As Peter and the other two disciples tried to make some sense of the phenomena that had unfolded before their very eyes, a voice from heaven - presumably God’s - declared Jesus as God’s beloved Son. In addition to declaring Jesus as God’s most favored, the voice [of God] also presented Jesus as worthy of imitation by commanding that he (Jesus) be listened to. The question that we have to ask ourselves as we continue with our Lenten reflection, therefore, is this: what is it in Jesus that we must imitate, and why is it important that we listen to him?
Jesus’ mission is the salvation of the universe. As God made human, Jesus’ single most important work is the repairing of the strained relationship between God and creation that has resulted from sin and rebellion. Fully divine and fully human, Jesus is the only one capable of effecting such a reconciliation. For having assumed a creaturely nature while remaining fully divine, Jesus understands his brothers and sisters in a manner than no one else can. Because he has shared in the lives of his brothers and sisters, Jesus, as it were, has learnt to “speak their language.” When God commands, therefore, that we listen to Jesus, God is simply reminding us not to let the opportunity we have been given remain unutilized. We have in our midst our only means of realizing the fullness of life that God apportioned us at creation. Moreover, the mission of Jesus can only be successful if we listen to, and carry out what he tells us.
God is commanding us to listen to Jesus because it is only him who can remove the ancient curse that has plagued creation ever since our first parents committed the first sin. Just as God is commanding us in today’s Gospel reading to listen to Jesus, God had commanded Adam and Eve to listen to what had been laid down for them. However, they chose to DISOBEY. Their disobedience was the beginning of the end for creation, for it led to God chasing the two from the Garden of Eden (God’s presence). Adam and Eve’s disobedience is the ancient curse that Jesus has come to undo. And he undoes it by remaining obedient to the Father (cf. Philippians 2:6-8) even as he teaches us to do likewise.
Obedience to the Father was the key to Jesus’ success. Jesus never understood himself as being apart from the Father. He always included the Father in everything that he did, often raising his eyes to the Father in prayer and in thanksgiving. Not only did Jesus ask for his Father’s help as he ministered to the people, but he also attributed the success of his ministry to the Father. Jesus succeeded in remaining united to the Father because he was obedient.
Jesus’ obedience to the Father is also seen in his understanding that he was not doing his own work but the Father’s. Even as his passion grew closer and the thought of it became overwhelming to the point of wanting to back out, Jesus still managed to ask the Father to let his (the Father’s) will be done (cf. Mark 14:36). Obedience to the Father calls for uniting one’s will to the Father’s. This is what Adam and Eve failed to do. By choosing to follow the desires of their hearts which conflicted with what God had asked of them, they divorced their wills from the Father’s. This is the “original sin” which we have inherited from them. Our only way out of this “ancient curse” is to unite our wills to the will of the Father. This can only happen when we pay attention to what Jesus says even as we strive to do as he has done.
May this Lenten season be for us a time for not only listening to Jesus but most importantly to take to heart his words. Like Jesus, may we strive to remain in communion with the Father by including him in our endeavors. May our Lenten journey help bring us closer to God so that he may acclaim us as his beloved sons and daughters.