The Path to a Greater Life

Homily for Sunday, March 2, 2025
The Last Sunday After the Epiphany
Luke 9:28-36

Today’s Gospel story of the Transfiguration is perhaps best understood as the second of a pair of complementary stories; today’s Gospel is the downbeat, as it were, following on the upbeat of the story that immediately precedes it. In all three of the Synoptic Gospels, the story that precedes today’s lesson of the Transfiguration is the story of Peter’s Confession.  Here is the first part of Luke’s version of Peter’s Confession:

Once when Jesus was praying alone,with only the disciples near him, he asked them, “Who do the crowds say that I am?”  They answered, “John the Baptist; but others, Elijah; and still others, that one of the ancient prophets has arisen.” Then he said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered,“The Messiah of God.”

As at the Transfiguration, here in Peter’s Confession Jesus is with only the disciples.  As at the Transfiguration, here Elijah is mentioned.  And as at the Transfiguration, here Jesus’ identity is confirmed:  “You,” said Peter, “are the Messiah of God.”  

This pair of stories marks an inflection point in the Gospels. Together they function as a kind of hinge between the first part of the Synoptics and the second.  If before this “hinge” Jesus roamed about Galilee, now, after Peter’s Confession and the Transfiguration, Jesus sets his face toward Jerusalem (Lk 9:53).  If before, Jesus carried on a very public ministry with throngs of people following him, now the Gospels begin to focus more on Jesus and his interactions with the Twelve.  And if before, the disciples had questions about who Jesus was, now they are clear that Jesus is “the Messiah of God,” “my Son, my Chosen.”

Peter’s Confession is the first part of the story that in the Synoptics immediately precedes today’s story of the Transfiguration.  The second part of this story offers the clue that is at the heart of this “hinge” and that separates Galilee from Jerusalem and the crowds from the disciples.  Immediately after Peter declares Jesus to be“The Messiah of God,” Jesus…

…sternly ordered and commanded them not to tell anyone, saying, “The Son of Man must undergo great suffering and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and scribes and be killed and on the third day be raised.”  Then he said to them all, “If any wish to come after me, let them take up their cross daily and follow me.  For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.”

Here in this “hinge” of the Gospels, between declarations both human and divine of who Jesus is, Jesus for the first time makes clear to his disciples that 1) he must be killed, and 2)“if any wish to come after me, they must take up their cross daily and follow me.”  

Given Jesus’ words about the cross, it makes sense that after this “hinge,” the Gospels move from describing the throngs of people who follow Jesus to a focus on Jesus’ relationship with his disciples.  A winnowing has occurred,for (to quote John’s Gospel), “This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?”(John 6:60).  Not many want to follow a master who foretells his certain death.  Now,after the Transfiguration, only dedicated disciples remain.

And remaining is not easy even for those dedicated disciples.  In Matthew’s and Mark’s account, Peter, upon hearing Jesus’ prediction of his Passion, rebukes Jesus, saying, “God forbid it, Lord.  This must never happen to you” (Mt 16:22; see also Mk 8:32).  To which Jesus replies, “Get behind me,Satan.”

In Ignatius of Loyola’s Spiritual Exercises, it is often the case that early on in the Exercises – when participants meditate on scenes such as the birth of Christ, or Christ feeding the five thousand, or Christ healing the man born blind – [it is often the case that early on]  participants have rich and meaningful meditations that lead them to “see him more clearly, love him more dearly and follow him more nearly.”  But as the Exercises progress and invite them to meditate on Jesus’ Passion, many have trouble entering into the scriptures. Their initial enthusiasm wanes, and their prayer turns arid and dry.  For we all have an inner “Peter”who doesn’t want to hear Jesus tell us that he must be killed, who doesn’t want to hear, “if any wish to come after me, they must take up their cross daily and follow me.”  And, if we have reduced the scope of our vision to earthly things, there may come a time when Jesus must say to us, “Get behind me, Satan.”

Each year on the Last Sunday After the Epiphany, the Sunday that immediately precedes Ash Wednesday and Lent, the lectionary places before us this morning’s Gospel lesson of the Transfiguration, this “downbeat” of the “upbeat / downbeat” rhythm of Peter’s Confession and Jesus Transfiguration.  It is as though the lectionary is trying to prepare us for what lies ahead, as if to say that, “Yes, Jesus’ teachings and miracles are compelling, and there are throngs of people who might follow him as he heals the sick, casts out demons and proclaims ‘Good News.’   But can you still recognize him as “my Son, my Chosen,” even as his Messiah-ship takes him to the cross?  Can you yet walk with him on this journey?  Can you remain with him,for example, as he is arrested in the Garden? Can you stay with him as he spends the night in prison?  Can you be with him as he is mocked and beaten by the soldiers?  Can you stand with Mary and the Beloved Disciple at the foot of the cross?  The crowds that once followed have long disappeared.  Now, in his moment of need, can you yet be with him and be his disciple?”

My sense is that many people avoid Christianity because they perceive that Jesus will make demands on them,and they don’t want any more demands in their life.  But I wonder, might we see Christianity not as a set of demands but as an offering, an offering of a path to greater life?  This path will not always be easy– as Jesus himself said, “The road is narrow and the road hard that leads to life” (Matt 7:14).  But one doesn’t have to go too far down the path to realize that, all in all, his “yoke is easy and[his] burden is light” (Mt 11:30).  Jesus only ever invites us into things that, in the end, will bring us more of his joy and peace.

As we stand on the cusp of Lent and have come this “hinge” both in the scriptures and in the liturgical year, I wonder:  are we willing to move forward with Jesus even though moving forward means going with him toward the cross?   We have left the crowds behind, we have heard Peter declare Jesus to be the Messiah, we have heard the voice from heaven say,“This is my Son, my Chosen,” we have heard Jesus foretell that he must be killed and that “if any wish to come after me, they must take up their cross daily and follow me.”  We are at an inflection point, a decisive moment.  We could see this moment as a demanding moment; and in many ways it is demanding.  But I wonder if we might be able to see Lent and Holy Week as an offering, an offering that – though the way of his cross will not always be easy – [and offering that] leads us to greater life because it leads us to share more fully in the life of Christ.