2nd Sunday in Lent (Fr. Simham)

Tabor Experience in Lent

What do you think of advertisements on the TV? You like them. O.K what about the trailers of the movies? Some may like them. You know why all these ads and trailers are? What is their purpose? It is nothing but to give us a knowledge about the product and to persuade us to buy them. It is their ultimate purpose. Do we need them? Even the best product has to be advertised. Otherwise you cannot know that there is a product like that. Suppose you discovered a medicine for cancer. Instant cure. What is the use if you keep it at home. You need to let others know. How will you let the other people know and use it. You need to advertise it at sometime. Sometimes even God uses this technique. It is in this light we need to understand today’s gospel. Even first reading. It’s a kind of advertisement. Abraham in the first reading is shown a proof that God is capable of fulfilling what he promised.

Our Gospel today comes after the passage where Jesus had told his disciples that “The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised” (Luke 9:22). This was no good news to the disciples who expected Jesus, as the Messiah, to confront and topple the Roman army of occupation and restore the kingdom to Israel (Acts 1:6). Many of them would have begun to have second thoughts: Is Jesus really the expected Messiah? Is he really the Anointed of God who is to come? Should we go along with him to the showdown in Jerusalem or should we back off before it is too late? Was it worth leaving our families our boats and nets and following him? So Jesus decides to do pretty much what our advertisers do.

So one fine morning, a few days after, Jesus invites the three leaders of the group of apostles, Peter, James and John, to go with him for a prayer session on the mountains. The mountain is a place of encounter with God. Moses encountered God on the mountain, and so did Elijah. On the mountain Jesus goes into prayer. And the eyes of the apostles, their spiritual eyes, were opened and they caught a glimpse of the true reality of Jesus that their physical eyes never saw. Then they saw that the whole heavenly court was on the side of Jesus. And they heard the voice of the invisible God, “This is my Son, my Chosen, listen to him” (Luke 9:35). This was all the confirmation they needed. Jesus was indeed the expected one. Heaven itself has borne witness. Now they would listen to him and follow him all the way to the shameful suffering and death in Jerusalem. But no matter what happens they are now sure of one thing: God is on the side of Jesus; final victory will definitely be his.

How often do we experience the absurdities of life such that our minds are filled with doubt and we ask, “Where is God?” Think of people and times when they told you “why do you waste your time and why do you waste your life by doing all those sacrifices? See we don’t go to church and we don’t pray and still we live a better life than you? Many of these end up giving up the faith. Think of people who are traumatized by their experience of social injustice and discrimination. They apply for a job and people who are less qualified than they get the job because they have the right connections or the right accent. They see people advancing in society through unfair means and they ask, “Where is God?” Or you may know someone undergoing personal and family crisis such as terminal illness, breakdown of relationship between husband and wife, between parent and child, between friends. I pray every day and fast. Why for me? Is it worth being religious and pious even though it is hard? Sometimes we ask what is for us after leaving all this like apostles.

Don’t we sometimes feel like the whole world is collapsing on our heads? At times like these we need to go up the mountain of prayer and ask God to open our eyes that we may see. When God grants us a glimpse of eternity then we shall realize that all our troubles in this life are short-lived. Then shall we have the courage to accept the apparently meaningless suffering of this life, knowing that through it all God is on our side. All it takes is a little glimpse of heaven to empower us to take up our daily crosses and follow Jesus, knowing that the cross of Lent is followed by the crown of Easter. And every mass we celebrate is a wonderful opportunity for this.

Road to tabor is rough and difficult but the glory of tabor is worth spending your life for. One thing is sure the disciples attitude towards Jesus would have been very much different from what it was before this tabor experience. Let us pray for that tabor experience in our lives. Amen.

Fr. Showreelu Simham