And They Saw No One With Them But Jesus

Second Sunday Of Lent – 2015

Sermon By Fr. Dexter Brereton

A number of years ago, during my formation for the priesthood, as part of my training I was sent to live for 18 months in the island of St Lucia. The experience, was in many ways a powerful learning experience for me (it was there for example that I first began to learn “kweyol” or ‘patois’ as some of you know it ) but at the same time it was also quite tumultuous.  It was also for me an experience of hardship, heartbreak, loneliness, illness, resistance and rescue. At the end of it all I had a sense of having survived something important. An ordeal if you wish. At the end of my stay I visited a senior confrere at his parish in St Vincent and there was a sign hanging in his office which I found immensely consoling, though it is a little profane. It says simply: ‘S*t happens’. There it was, and there was a deep wisdom there that relativized all that I had just been through. It was not the worst tragedy in the world and I came through with all my ‘marbles’ and my principles intact. I realized then that Jesus had been there “with me all along. At the end of my 18 month ordeal I saw God’s presence in that experience. In many ways the experience I have just described was the experience of Peter and James and John on the high mountain where Jesus had taken them so that they could be alone by themselves.

This story has come down to us in the Christian tradition known as the Transfiguration. A traditional interpretation of this story that in the days leading up to the events of Holy Week, before facing the trauma of his arrest, torture and crucifixion, Christ allowed his disciples to catch a glimpse of his heavenly glory as a way of strengthening them in the hour of trial. But the entire story of the ‘Transfiguration’ can itself be applied to the Pascal Mystery of Jesus, his suffering, death resurrection and ascension. What took place was the greatest spiritual event ever witnessed by human beings. It was a great spiritual event because in it, God’s ‘face’ God’s glory was made manifest. The cross teaches us and we all know from our own experiences that God shows His glory in many different ways and sometimes these spiritual events can be quite frightening – like when God shows his power over evil, or over sickness. At the end of it all we come to the realization that we are still standing and that God was there with us all along. So going back to my original story, during that 18 months Jesus had also taken me “up a high mountain where I could be alone by myself.” There, in the experiences I had of being disappointed and of being rescued I saw Jesus being transfigured and the power and glory of his face shining “whiter than any earthly bleacher could make them”. For me the experience of God sometimes came in the midst of a lot of confusion and turmoil in my life; at those points it was as if “a cloud covered me in shadow” but in the shadow, in the confusion, I continued to hear the Father’s voice: “You are my son the beloved.” And after many months, once the frightening visions had disappeared, like Peter, James and John “I saw no one with me anymore but only Jesus.”

This way of understanding the beautiful Transfiguration story may seem strange to some of us. It was a beautiful experience, but beautiful experiences can also be quite frightening. The great spiritual events of our lives, the experiences marked by risk and rescue can be quite frightening and mysterious, yet at the end of it all we always come to a sense that God is alive and that God is with us. Let us think here of those of us going through ‘chemo’ we are being treated for Cancer and the prospect of death is quite frightening, yet the Lord is in that dark cloud that is now covering us in shadow. With them we pray that at the end of it all they will see no one with them any more only Jesus. We may also wish to pray with families going through serious financial difficulties, their financial crisis is like that cloud “covering them in shadow”. With them we pray that soon they may see no one with them anymore but only Jesus.

We can pray as well not just for individuals but for entire nations in turmoil. We remember the people of Iraq and Syria as they struggle with terrorist activity within their borders, we pray with the people of Northern Nigeria as they suffer the scourge of Boko Haram. We also remember the families in Greece which continue to struggle with (and even against) the conditions of their ‘bailout.’ Last of all I pray with my own country Trinidad and Tobago as she struggles with the terrible upsurge of violent crime. May we all discover that Jesus has been with us all along.

Gospel Mk 9:2-10

Jesus took Peter, James, and John
and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves.
And he was transfigured before them,
and his clothes became dazzling white,
such as no fuller on earth could bleach them.
Then Elijah appeared to them along with Moses,
and they were conversing with Jesus.
Then Peter said to Jesus in reply,
“Rabbi, it is good that we are here!
Let us make three tents:
one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”
He hardly knew what to say, they were so terrified.
Then a cloud came, casting a shadow over them;
from the cloud came a voice,
“This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.”
Suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone
but Jesus alone with them.

As they were coming down from the mountain,
he charged them not to relate what they had seen to anyone,
except when the Son of Man had risen from the dead.
So they kept the matter to themselves,
questioning what rising from the dead meant.

Prayer

Lord, today we dare to thank you even for those difficult, even heart-rending experiences in our lives. We dare to thank you for the hour of trial for it is there that you make your greatness and your glory known. Let us see the light of your face O Lord, let us hear the Father’s voice in the midst of that cloud that covers us with shadow. And at the end of it all, bring us to that place where we realize that you were there all along and that we see no one else only you. Amen.