SECOND SUNDAY OF LENT
1 MARCH 2026
Last
Sunday, Saint Matthew told us that Jesus had entered the desert for forty days
and forty nights immediately after he had been baptized. At his baptism, a voice
from heaven said that he is God’s beloved Son.
In the desert, the devil tested him.
As God’s beloved Son, hungry after 40 days of fasting, he refused use
his divinity to serve his own needs by turning stones into bread. As God’s beloved Son, he would not throw
himself off the parapet of the temple to test the love of his Father. As God’s beloved Son, he refused to worship
Satan to receive power and glory.
Instead, he would submit himself to his Father’s will and become his
Suffering Servant.
Immediately
prior to today’s Scripture passage, Jesus had asked his disciples about the
local gossip. “Who do people say that I
am?” They gave several answers. When
Jesus asked, “who do you say that I am?”
Peter responded, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” As the beloved Son of the living God, he is
the promised Messiah. But, his mission
is not what most people had expected. As
Messiah, he would surrender his life on the cross to defeat the power of sin
and death. Peter reacted, “God forbid,
Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to
you.” Jesus gave the same response to
Peter that he had given to the devil: “Get behind me, Satan.” Then Jesus told his disciples that they must
carry the cross, if they intend to be his disciples. They must have been shaken.
Today,
Jesus takes his inner circle – Peter, James, and John – up a mountain, just as
Moses had climbed Mount Sinai many centuries before to encounter God. On the mountain, Jesus is transfigured. To quote Madeleine L’Engle: “Suddenly they
saw him the way he was, the way he really was all the time, although they had
never seen it before, the glory which blinds the everyday eye and so becomes
invisible. This is how he was, radiant,
brilliant, carrying joy like a flaming sun in his hands. This is the way he was – is – from the
beginning, and we cannot bear it. So, he
manned himself, came manifest to us; and there on the mountain they saw him,
really saw his light.” They also see
Moses, the giver of the law, and Elijah, the greatest of the prophets. Overwhelmed, Peter wants to build three
tents, presumably to extend this incredible experience. But Jesus is not just one more holy person in
the line of Moses and Elijah. He has
come in his humanity and divinity to fulfill their missions. The same voice at his baptism says from the
bright cloud, “This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased; listen to
him.”
The
disciples will need to listen to Jesus as they follow him down the mountain on
the way to Jerusalem. In Jerusalem, they
will not be able to stay awake as Jesus agonizes over what will happen to
him. The next day, Jesus will be
stripped of his garments and crucified between two common criminals. There will no bright cloud; only terrible
darkness. They will not see the truth of
the transfiguration until Jesus will be raised from the dead three days later.
We too need
to listen to the Father’s beloved Son as we continue our journey with him
through Lent. We go forward together in
faith into the unknown, even into suffering, trusting in the promise of the
Father. We fast, give alms, and pray to
enter into a time of radical change where we allow the Trinity to transform us
through our dying to self. Like Peter,
James, and John, all of us have had those transfiguring moments when we have
experienced the Father’s overwhelming presence; when the path forward looks
clear and secure. But we must listen to
the Father’s beloved Son, especially in the darkness and doubt and divisions of
our present world and our complicated lives.
The Father will not abandon us.
The Father will lead us through the desert of Lent to the bright joy and
wonder of the resurrection at Easter.
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