In last Sunday’s Gospel we heard the story of Jesus’ Temptation in the Wilderness, something we know happened before Jesus began his ministry. But today we’ve suddenly jumped way ahead in time to the story of Jesus’ Transfiguration and this is something that happened when Jesus’ ministry was well underway, and he was already looking even further ahead.
We know Jesus was looking ahead at this time because the Transfiguration happened after Jesus had begun to speak about his death and Resurrection, so we know that by this time he was looking ahead towards the climax of his own ministry. But shortly before Jesus had begun to speak about these things, he’d sent the twelve Apostles out ahead of him to proclaim the good news. And on their return, he’d asked them not only who other people thought he was, but who they thought he was, and he’d elicited from Peter the belief that he, Jesus, was the Christ. And Jesus had begun to teach the Apostles that they too would have to take up their own cross if they wanted to follow him. So it seems that, by the time of his Transfiguration, Jesus was not only looking ahead to the climax of his own ministry, but also to the time after his return to the Father, to the time when his disciples would continue his ministry, to the time and ministry of the Church. So why have we jumped so far ahead today and skipped over so much of what Jesus said and did between his Temptation in the Wilderness and his Transfiguration?
I think we’ve done that because, as different as these two gospel stories appear to be, there are some striking similarities and connections between the second of Jesus’ three temptations and the story of his Transfiguration, and these similarities and connections are of great importance to us as disciples of Christ.
The second temptation of Jesus was the temptation to turn his back on God and worship the devil in return for all the glory and authority of the kingdoms of the world. In order to show Jesus that glory, the devil took Jesus up to a high place, or a high mountain as St Matthew’s gospel puts it. And in the story of the Transfiguration, again we have someone being taken up a high mountain to see a vision of glory. In this case, Jesus taking Peter, James and John up a mountain to see a vision of him in glory, a vision of God’s glory rather than earthly glory.
Of course, Jesus wasn’t alone in this vision of glory, he was accompanied by Moses and Elijah. Moses represented the law, and this suggests another connection between this story and the second of Jesus’ temptations. In that temptation Jesus was asked to worship the devil but when we think about the law what probably springs to mind first are the Ten Commandments and as we know the first commandment is;
“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods besides me.”
The second temptation was an attempt to entice Jesus into breaking this first commandment, with the lure of earthly power and glory. But Jesus resisted the temptation and in obedience to the first commandment said,
“‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.’”
So in the story of Jesus’ Transfiguration we’re reminded of his second temptation and his obedience to the law.
Obedience to the law was something the people of Israel hadn’t always been very good at though and so God had sent prophets to the people to call them back to obedience. And in the Transfiguration, the prophets were represented by Elijah.
But the prophets really had a two-fold ministry. They were charged to call the people back to God and to obedience to the law, but they also prophesied, they told people what God would do in the future. Jesus had said earlier in his ministry that he’d come to fulfil the law and the prophets and that’s what he did. He fulfilled the law, that is, he lived according to the law and did everything that was required under the law, and he fulfilled the prophets. He did that by fulfilling prophecy and by bringing people back to God through his own suffering and death.
Through doing these things, Jesus has been raised to glory. As St Paul says,
‘And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.’
And this brings us to another connection between Jesus’ second temptation and his Transfiguration.
In that second temptation, Jesus was shown and offered the glory and authority of the world. In the Transfiguration, Peter, James and John were shown the glory and authority of Jesus and of God. And that’s a glory we’re offered, and a glory we can have and share in if we can look beyond the glory and authority of the world and remain faithful to God and obedient to his Word. And his Word is Jesus.
Just before his Transfiguration, Jesus had asked the Apostles who the people thought he was. The answer came back that they thought he was a prophet. But in answer to the question,
“But who do you say that I am?”
Peter confessed his belief that Jesus was,
“The Christ of God.”
And that was confirmed at Jesus’ Transfiguration by the voice from the cloud which said,
“This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him!”
In his second temptation, Jesus was taken up to a high place to see the glory and authority of the world. At the transfiguration, Peter, James and John were taken up a mountain to see the glory and authority of Jesus and of God. In that second temptation, Jesus was offered the glory and authority of the world in exchange for unfaithfulness to God. Peter, James and John, saw the glory and authority of Jesus and of God that is the reward for those who remain faithful to God. That’s a glory we can have too if we can be faithful to God, and we can be faithful to God if only we listen to Jesus.
Of course the vison of glory that Peter, James and John saw on the mountain is a vison of what we can be like and will be like if we remain faithful to God. But we can become more glorious every day by listening to Jesus and being obedient to his teaching and following his example more closely. As St Paul, again, says,
‘And we all, with unveiled face, reflecting the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.’
And this is really what our Lenten discipline is all about, to listen more closely to Jesus so that we can be more obedient to his teaching and so that our lives will be more like his life. So that we can be changed, slowly by one degree at a time, into his glorious likeness.
Like Jesus, we can tempted by the glory and authority of the world but, like Jesus, we’re called to resist that temptation and remain faithful to God. The allure of earthly glory and authority is great, but even if we achieve it, it isn’t permanent. The kind of glory and authority that God offers us may not be so alluring in the short term, but in the long term it’s far more attractive because, if we can achieve it, it is permanent; it’s everlasting. So which will it be, which mountain are we going to climb, the mountain of temptation or the mountain of the Transfiguration? And which vision of glory and authority are we going to plump for and go after?
Amen.
Propers for the 2nd Sunday of Lent, 16th March 2025
Entrance Antiphon
Of you my heart has spoken: Seek his face.
It is your face, O Lord, that I seek;
hide not your face from me.
The Collect
O God, who has commanded us to listen to your beloved Son,
be pleased, we pray,
to nourish us inwardly by your word,
that, with spiritual sight made pure,
we may rejoice to behold your glory.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
The Readings
Genesis 15:5-12, 17-18
Psalm 27:1, 7-9, 13-14
Philippians 3:17-4:1
Luke 9:28-36
Prayer after Communion
As we receive these glorious mysteries,
we make thanksgiving to you, O Lord,
for allowing us while still on earth
to be partakers even now of the things of heaven.
Through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Parish Church of St Mark Chadderton 