the second week of lent 2023
Lectio follows the usual pattern:
▪ biblical text
▪ short explanation
▪ five cues for meditation ▪ seven keywords-prayer with the text
▪ the gospel in the thought of the church fathers
▪ some questions for reflection A PERSONAL METHOD (keys) FOR PRAYING THE TEXT
– I lift myself up dreaming of the place where Jesus is working
– I ask the Holy Spirit to
help me understand the depth of the words
– I stop at some words that stir my attention and my life
– I feel that God wants to walk with me and reveal His love
– I hand myself over to Him and ask Him to renew me in my life journey
Pope Francis invites us: In Lent we are invited to climb a high mountain together with Jesus, to live with God’s holy people a special experience of asceticism.
WE MOUNT WITH HIM: At the end of the climb the three disciples are given to see him shining with supernatural light. “As in any challenging mountain hike: on the way up one must keep one’s eyes firmly fixed on the path; but the panorama that opens up at the end surprises and repays for its wonder.
A ‘high mountain’. The mountain is the place of a different perspective, of intimacy with God: from the mountain you can look at God, at yourself, at others, in a new, full, complete perspective. Let us descend to the plain, and may the grace experienced sustain us in being artisans of synodality in the ordinary life of our communities”.
WALKING TOGETHER – warns the Pope – “often seems arduous and at times we may become discouraged”, but something wonderful awaits us that “will help us to better understand God’s will and our mission in the service of his Kingdom”.
SECOND WEEK OF LENT THE TRANSFIGURATION
(LISTENING, PRAYING AND LIVING)
Mt 17:1-9
17,1 Six days later Jesus took with him Peter, James and John his brother and led them away to a high mountain. 2 And he was transfigured before them; his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as the light. 3 And Moses and Elijah appeared to them, conversing with him. 4 Peter then took the floor and said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to stay here; if you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. 5 He was still speaking when a bright cloud enveloped them with its shadow. And behold, a voice said, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Listen to him. 6 On hearing this, the disciples fell down with their faces to the ground and were seized with great fear. 7 But Jesus drew near and, touching them, said, “Arise and do not be afraid. 8 Lifting up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus alone. 9 And as they descended from the mountain, Jesus commanded them, “Speak to no one of this vision until the Son of Man has risen from the dead.
1. BRIEF EXPLANATION
The episode of the transfiguration takes place six days after the events set in Caesarea Philippi: here Peter recognises the messianic identity of Jesus and receives the so-called “power of the keys” (Mt 16:13-20); here Jesus announces for the first time his passion, death and resurrection and the conditions for following him (vv. 21-28). In that context, closing his teaching on following, Jesus reveals to the disciples that there are some among them who will not die before they see the Son of Man coming with his kingdom (v.28).
The transfiguration scene in Mt 17.1-13 should be read in connection with the revelation on the road to Caesarea Philippi (Mt 16.13-20) and Jesus’ teaching to the disciples (17.21-28). The scene is closely related to the event in Gethsemane (cf. Mt 26:38-46), where the disciples sleep and fail to keep vigil with the Lord. The evangelist emphasises all the inadequacy of the three disciples (as in Gethsemane), their bewilderment, their weakness in faith, the image of a community that is in difficulty.
Jesus keeps his promise and, by going up the mountain with three of his disciples, offers them a foretaste of what they will see at the end of their journey of discipleship, namely the glory of the resurrection. With this chronological notation (the six days), Matthew wants to evoke the manifestation of YHWH at Sinai and proposes a parallel reading of the revelation to Moses and the theophany on the mountain.
Moses and the theophany on the mount of transfiguration (Ex 24:12-18). There are numerous motifs common to the two accounts: the ascent to the mountain, the theophany that occurs after six days, the cloud covering the mountain, and the divine voice that is heard.

In the book of Exodus, Moses ascends the mountain accompanied by three people: Aaron and his two sons, Nadab and Abiu, while the people wait at the foot of the mountain (Ex 24:1). Matthew says that Jesus’ face “shone like the sun and his clothes became white as the light”; similarly, the Israelites on the slopes of Sinai perceived a luminous phenomenon, like a “consuming fire”. Among the synoptics, only Matthew focuses on the face of Jesus. It is another reference to Moses who, coming down from the mountain, does not realise that the skin of his face is radiant, because he has conversed with
God (Ex 34:29).
Jesus takes only three disciples; Peter, James and John (who will be with him in Gethsemane) and leads them to the “high mountain” (the symbol of the encounter with the transcendent mystery of God). v. 2: “he was transfigured” (metemorphōthē), the underlining of the “divine passive” to indicate the work of the Father with regard to Jesus. The motif of the “face” shining like the sun and the garments (evocation of the OT theophany). The evangelist emphasises the centrality of Christ, between Moses and Elijah (law and prophets). The narrative particularity: the clothes are very white, while the disciples’ experience becomes ‘dark’. The difficulty of ‘entering’ into the mystery of Christological faith (the disciples climb the mountain, but in their hearts they remain in the valley).
Peter, who had made his act of faith in the episode of Caesarea Philippi, now intervenes to ask to make three tents (the symbolism of the feast of tents; the idea of preserving the transcendent splendour). God’s intervention in the signs of the cloud (shadow) enveloping the protagonists and in the words: ‘this is my son, beloved, in whom I am well pleased’. The final invitation to “listen” evokes the Sinai theophany, after the delivery of the Law to Moses: the people are invited to listen and to confirm the covenant with Jhwh. The new law is the very person of Christ, the centre of the Bible (Moses and Elijah).
Jesus encourages the apostles, comforts them and invites them to continue their journey towards the valley: Tabor is only a stage of the great ministry they will have to exercise in their lives. v.9: the injunction of silence on the event is accompanied by the repeated and hammering question on the identity of Jesus, which is followed by that on the figure of Elijah: identified with John the Baptist. Christ, the truth of God, must be heard. In Hebrew there is no verb to obey; there is the verb to listen. To listen means to trust. We also use it with this meaning: “if you had listened to me… but you never listen to anyone…” It is necessary to obey this proclamation, to this light that Christ has shown. It is not enough for Him to be beautiful. It is necessary to listen to Him, so that we too can become beautiful.
FIVE POINTS FOR MEDITATION
1. The transfiguration is the prelude to glory and an anticipation of the glorious coming at the end of time as universal and eternal king of Jesus. The transfiguration is oriented towards the resurrection of Jesus, highlighted in the ‘exodus’ theme. The account of the transfiguration ends with the indication of the disciples’ silence: They kept silent and reported to no one in those days what they had seen. The main message that emerges from our passage is to confirm the famous confession of Caesarea by consecrating the revelation of Jesus as the suffering and glorious Son of Man, who in his own death and resurrection realises and brings to fulfilment all the Scriptures. The pericope also contains other meanings: it reveals the person of Jesus, the beloved and transcendent Son, and emphasises the motif of “prayer”. In the transfiguration, Jesus anticipates and prefigures the Easter event. Through the way of the cross, Christ will realise the full manifestation of his glory and filial dignity.

2. The continuous and repeated choice by Jesus to want the special presence of the apostles Peter, James and John beside him: (remember the institution of the twelve; the resurrection of the daughter of Jairus; the presence in Gethsemane). At the most important moments of his life, the Messiah’s attitude and will to make his disciples authentic witnesses and valid bearers of the good news is evident.
3. Elijah and Moses are figures that stand out in biblical memory. According to tradition, these two great witnesses represent Elijah the prophets and Moses the law. Both are also closely related to the mountain. Elijah experiences his God by recognising Him in a special way on Mount Horeb, when He manifests Himself to him in the murmur of a gentle wind; Moses, on the other hand, recognises Him on Mount Sinai, when the tablets of the law are handed over to him. Now they are present with Jesus on Mount Tabor. The figure of Moses is also very important within this scenario that the transfiguration passage offers us. In fact, Moses recalls the figure of Jesus, when coming down from Sinai “the skin of his face had become radiant, because he had conversed with him” (Ex 34:29). It is the same fate that happens to the Messiah and it is as if Christ with this manifestation wants to bring the entire Old Testament to fulfilment. Moreover, Matthew, writing to a community of Christians from Judaism, establishes a parallelism between Jesus and Moses in order to assimilate the former to the latter as a representative of the heavenly world. Indeed, Jewish tradition believes that he was raptured up to heaven (Josephus, Ant. 4:320-323), like Elijah (2 Kings 2).
4. The filial identity of Jesus
Matthew says that after hearing the heavenly voice “the disciples fell with their faces to the ground and were seized with great fear (ephobéthësan sphódra)”. It is the same motion that grips those at the foot of the cross when they recognise Jesus as the Son of God: they too “were seized with great fear” (27:54: ephobëthêsan sphódra). The filial identity of Jesus, proclaimed by the Father on the mount of transfiguration, will be paradoxically recognised on the cross: by entering death in obedience to the Father, Jesus reveals his sovereignty as beloved Son. It will be unequivocally perceptible from Easter morning, as some significant lexical references evocative of the resurrection show. It is no coincidence that on the mount of transfiguration Jesus approaches the disciples, full of fear, and exhorts them to get up (eghérthête – the verb of resurrection!) and not to be afraid. He approaches Peter, James and John as the Risen One will approach the disciples (28.18), after having risen from the dead (28.6-7: êghérthê) and exhort them not to be afraid any more (28.10).
5. The transfiguration occupied an important place in the life and teaching of the early Church. The detailed narrations in the Gospels and the reference in the second letter of Peter (2 Peter 1:16-18) bear witness to this. For the three apostles the veil had fallen: they themselves had seen and heard. It was precisely these three apostles who would later, at Gethsemane, witness the suffering of our Lord. The Incarnation is at the heart of Christian doctrine. There may be many ways of responding to Jesus, but for the Church only one is acceptable. Jesus is the Only Son of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God. The Christian life is a continuous contemplation of Jesus Christ. Only in prayer can we tend to Christ and begin to know him. Faith silences fear, especially the fear of opening our lives to Christ, unconditionally. Such fear, which often stems from excessive attachment to temporal goods and ambition, can prevent us from hearing the voice of Christ that is conveyed to us in the Church.
SEVEN KEY WORDS TO PRAY WITH THE TEXT
– he led them away
– a high mountain
– his face shone
– it is good for us to stay here
– a bright cloud
– This is my Son, the chosen one; listen to him!
– Arise and fear not

THE GOSPEL IN THE THOUGHT OF THE CHURCH FATHERS
The Transfiguration of Jesus took place before those who went up the mountain with him… Before these Jesus is transfigured, not before those who are at the foot of the mountain, below. After his transfigured face will have become like the sun to reveal himself to the children of light who will have divested themselves of the works of darkness and clothed themselves with the weapons of light (cf. Rom 13:12) and will no longer be children of darkness and of night, but of the day (cf. 1 Thess 5:5) and will walk in the splendour of the day, then he will be manifested in their eyes, not only as a sun, but as the Sun of righteousness (Ml 3:20). But it is not only his face that is transfigured before these disciples: his clothes become white as light in the eyes of those he led with him up the mountain. Jesus’ clothes are the words and letters of the gospels (Origen).
SOME QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION
– Climbing the mountain implies an ascent towards God. How do I live my journey of purification and conversion?
– Lent is an opportunity to get to know the Lord and remain with Him: do I welcome His Word into my heart? Do I make myself available to review my life?
– Peter’s confirmation of faith: You are the Christ, represents a point of arrival but also a point of departure. Can you also affirm that you have reached your point of arrival in faith?
– Are you able to collaborate in God’s plan? Is there a right relationship in your life between service and prayer, action and contemplation?
– The mountain is the place of a different perspective, of intimacy with God: from the mountain YOU too can look at God, at yourself, at others, in a new, full, complete perspective.
P JOBY KAVUNGAL RCJ