LET HEAVEN BE OUR ONLY DESIRE

The story of the Transfiguration of Jesus is a glorious episode. Although the scripture does not mention the exact place of this encounter, tradition connects it with Mount Tabor in Galilee. In those days, mountains were usually settings for supernatural revelations and ‘theophanies’. They were places of encounter with the Divine. Little wonder that Exodus 34 recounts how Moses encountered God on Mount Sinai and was given the Decalogue for the Israelites. In 1st Kings 19:10-18, Elijah would also encounter God on Mount Horeb. In 1st Kings 18, God would reveal Himself as the ‘Consuming Fire’ on Mount Carmel in the encounter between Elijah and the 450 prophets of Baal. Incidentally, the trio of Peter, James and John would experience a divine and spiritual experience on Mount Tabor in our gospel reading today. It was such a wonderful and euphoric experience that Peter begged to remain there in heavenly bliss.

Peter was so overwhelmed with joy that ‘he did not know what to say’. Yes, there is always an abundance of joy in the presence of God. Peter felt this joy on top of the mountain in the presence of Jesus with Moses and Elijah and he was delighted. Truly, heaven is full of joy and our greatest happiness will be experienced when we pass through to heaven. St. Paul gives us some hints about this in the second reading where he taught that our homeland is in heaven above and there in heaven our wretched bodies will be ‘transfigured’ into copies of the glorious body of our Saviour.

Like Peter, every Christian desires to see the glory of God one day. Every genuine believer wants to go up the ‘mountain of heaven’ and remain in the glory of the yonder forever. Each one of us has a vision of heaven and we hope that one day when our earthly sojourn is over we shall pass over to this glory of heaven. There, on ‘this mountain’, the Lord of Hosts will destroy death forever and remove the mourning veil enshrouding all peoples; He will prepare a banquet of rich food and sweet wine for all His faithful people (Is. 25:6ff).

This desire for heaven and the Beatific vision of God is a wonderful aspiration and we need to keep such a holy desire as we embark on our Christian journey on earth. However, we have a clue from Mount Tabor today on what we need to do if we want to realise this holy desire for the vision of God. The heavenly voice from the clouds tells us: ‘This is My Son, the Chosen One. Listen to Him’ (Lk. 9:35). It is only in listening to Jesus and obeying His commandments that we can be sure of experiencing the glory of heaven hereafter. Jesus Himself teaches: “The Sheep that belongs to me listens to me; I know them and they follow me” (Jn. 10:27). Christians need to know that before we can follow Jesus to the ‘heavenly Mountain’ we must first of all listen to Him; for He is the Chosen Son of the Father.

In our first reading today Abraham showed himself an obedient listener in the sacrifice he performed to the Lord. Through this sacrifice the Lord made a covenant with Abraham using an ancient rite of treaty where a covenant was ratified by the contracting parties cutting an animal in two after which they walked between the halves, invoking the fate of the animals on themselves should they fail to observe the terms of the contract. Since this covenant between God and Abraham was unilateral (God gifting the vast land of Canaan to Abraham without a corresponding payback from Abraham) only God would pass through the sacrifice of in the form of a ‘smoking furnace’.

We too need to render our obedient listening to the Chosen Son of God. We need to listen to Him especially in these penitential days of Lent when He tells us that the joyful hill of the heavenly ‘Tabor’ can only be accomplished after the sacrifice of ‘Calvary’. This is why the Lenten theology essentially links ‘Tabor’ and ‘Calvary’. This is also why we must use this Lent to observe the bodily restraint and discipline in a manner genuine enough to gain us access into that ‘Heavenly Mountain’ where we shall be transfigured in Christ. Yes, heaven is the greatest prize and heaven should remain our only desire.

This post is not composed 100% by me