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| In this icon of the Transfiguration Jesus, transfigured and shining like the sun, is seen speaking with Elijah on his right and Moses on his left. In the foreground are Peter, James and John. To the left of the icon, Jesus leads his disciples up the mountain before the event and right, He warns them as they descend, to tell no-one that He is the Messiah. |
In last Sunday’s
gospel reading the devil, having tempted Jesus and failed, “left Him, to return
at the appointed time”. In today’s gospel,
the disciples are warned to say nothing of the Lord’s Transfiguration “until
the Son of Man has risen from the dead.” These are two of the many places in
the story of Jesus in which time
plays an important role. Not time in the sense of the days, hours, months and
years by which we measure the passing of our lives. Time here means the right or wrong moment, what we might
today refer to as the “timing” of an event. This kind of time only makes sense
if there is a plan behind it, for
how, otherwise can timing be right or wrong? In Jesus’ case, the plan is God’s
one for his whole creation.
In his letter to
the Galatians, Paul says, “When the fullness
of time had come, God sent His Son, born of a woman.” This means not only that
Jesus’ birth occurs at the right time, but also that it is so important that all other events are meaningless next to it, or
that they acquire their meaning from this event. And in John’s Gospel, the Hour of Jesus is equally important; for
it refers to the even more important event of His saving death. At the Last Supper Jesus says, as Judas leaves to
betray him “Now the Hour has come for
the Son of Man to be glorified.” Jesus’ “Hour” happens in the swift and violent
action of His last few days on earth.
One of the most
striking of these is revealed by comparing Jesus’ Temptation with the Way of
the Cross. At the beginning of his public ministry, Jesus is tempted three
times by the devil, and three times the devil is rebuffed by Him. The devil
goes away, to return at the appointed
time. The appointed time, his “Hour” is, of course, that of Jesus’
suffering and death, the time of the reign of darkness, and also of its
destruction. Jesus did not fall before the tempter in the desert, but He falls three times on the road to Calvary. But Jesus
is not giving in to sin; He is staggering
under its unbearable load as He fulfils his destiny to be “the Lamb of God
who takes away the sins of the world.”
Jesus himself is the ultimate fulfillment of God’s Plan
for us, when the fullness of time had come. In Jesus, God’s meets us at the
crossroads and calls us to follow Him down the path He has taken. But we need
to remember that His path crosses
ours, for the paths we map out for ourselves are rarely the paths he follows. When
we meet Him at the crossroads, His invitation is always the same: “Follow me.”
These are the “times” in our life; these are the “hours” when we, too, are
called on to make crucial decisions, decisions which cannot be delayed: to
follow Him, or go our own way.
Crossings converge
and then diverge; the longer we wait, the further away from us he moves. “Yes,
Lord, I’ll follow you, but not just yet” is not an adequate answer, for by the
time we are ready for Him, we may no
longer be able to find Him. When His path crosses ours, it is a “now” moment.
At such moments, Jesus requires an immediate answer, and we need to find the faith
and courage to follow Him wherever he leads us.
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