Open Your Heart to God’s Word
On the first Sunday of Lent we entered the desert with Jesus, we became a desert people.
Now this Second Sunday of Lent calls us to climb with Jesus up the mountain to be a mountain top people. Luke tells us that Jesus went to pray up the mountain. Jesus liked to pray on mountains. He went up to pray on the mountain before choosing the twelve apostles.
Mountains in biblical usage can mean what we refer to simply as ‘hills’; so, we should be thinking of a hillside. Mountains were sacred places. It suggests a place of close proximity to God. There are many references in the Old Testament to encounters with God taking place on mountains. Both Moses and Elijah experienced the presence of God on Mount Sinai or Mount Horeb. Tradition has it that the place where Jesus was transfigured was Mount Tabor.
In 2019, I went with a group from the parish and celebrated Mass on the top of Mount Tabor beside the Franciscan Church there. Tabor raises from the Plain of Yizreel to a height of 600 meters. From the summit you have a view of Mont Hermon, the Horn of Hattie rising above the Sea of Galilee (concealed in the valley), Nazareth, the mountains of Samaria, Gilboa, the way of the sea. When we were there we did not have such a great view of all this because it was very hazy.
As Jesus prayed, the aspect of his face was changed and his clothing became brilliant as lightning. Suddenly there were two men there talking to him; they were Moses and Elijah appearing in glory, and they were speaking of his passing which he was to accomplish in Jerusalem. The three apostles saw Jesus in all his glory. It was such a wonderful experience for them. They saw him as he really was. This caused Peter to say,
“Master, it is wonderful for us to be here; so let us make three tents, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.”
He didn’t want this experience to end.
Then a cloud came and covered them with shadow. The cloud was a sign of God’s presence. And the voice came from the cloud saying,
“This is my Son, the Chosen One. Listen to him.”
These words are addressed to us and is an invitation to all of us during this Lenten season to pray. Prayer is a listening. Every Jew was required to listen in order for God to be part of his or her life.
In Deuteronomy 6 : 4-9, we have the beginning of the Shema, a prayer recited every morning afternoon and evening,
“Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your might.”
We to are invited to listen. Not just to be attentive but to open our heart to God’s word.
For the three disciples this revelation on Mount Tabor prepared them for the passion and death of Jesus. The same three would be with Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane and witness his agony. At this Lenten season where is the place you will be to be alone with Jesus so that he can reveal himself to you?