March 16, 2025 – Second Sunday of Lent: Fr. John Edmunds, ST (@11:55 in the video)

SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME – C
Genesis 15:5-12,17-18
Philippians 3:17-4:1
Luke 9:28-36

My sister JoAnn was going to the prom. This is the sister who woke in the morning with curlers in her hair, whose skin peeled when she had a sun burn, whose hands and mouth were covered with Old Bay seasoning while eating crabs. But she was going to the prom so a visit to the hairdresser fixed a new updo, the salon had done her make-up, her shoes were now high heels and the floor length golden gown sparkled. She was stunning, gorgeous, a goddess. She was transfigured. My thought: who is this beautiful woman and what has she done to my sister? Of course, the reality is that the beautiful woman was there all the time but we just don’t notice it under the veil of ordinariness that made up her daily life. Her true wonder was hiding in plain sight.

Jesus was transfigured. He was the same person that they had come to know in walking the dusty roads of Galilee but on the mountaintop, he was shining, he was dazzling, he was glittering. Peter, John and James had to see him in a new way. And, St. Luke suggests, it was too much for them. They fell asleep, they misunderstood what was happening, they were frightened. This Jesus seemed different from the one they know who liked dinner parties with sinners, who made sure there was enough wine at a wedding, who would write in the mud to make a point. However, whether he was transfigured on the mountain or trudging through the countryside he was still the same Jesus, the one who called them, who chose them, who loved them. They came to appreciate that his true nature was hiding in plain sight.

While the story of the transfiguration of Jesus was about him and his identity, it also says something about the nature of God and how God relates to us. We are called to be open to the divine presence which is all around us. Think of the universe, this world which we inhabit. Scientists can describe its characteristics, deduce its laws, delineate its structure. You don’t need faith in order to appreciate the wonder of the universe. But for a believer looking with the eyes of faith at the world as we know it, the universe is transfigured into revelation. When we are awed at a Hubble picture of the horsehead nebula, when you see the beauty of the whorl in the ear of a newborn child, when you experience the power of the blizzard storming across the prairie, when you are touched by the beauty of the moon rising over the lake you are encountering the presence of God. The eyes of faith reveal God’s presence in all things. This world that we take for granted is really God hiding in plain sight.

Or notice the people who don’t have enough eat, the homeless who need a place to stay, the immigrant who is just seeking to belong somewhere, the sick who feel alone and cut off. We might look on them as problems to be solved. However, with the eyes of faith they are transfigured into the very presence of Jesus in our midst. Isn’t that what he told us in the parable of the sheep and the goats? Whatsoever you do to the least of my brothers and sisters you do unto me. Since the poor and hurting are the other face of Jesus they aren’t problems but opportunities to encounter Christ. Those who are in need are really God hiding in plain sight.

Think about the Bible. You find there ancient stories that are common throughout the Middle East. There are lessons about history in the Bible which you can’t find anywhere else. The wisdom of the ages is captured in the Bible. For that reason, at many a college there will be a course entitled “the Bible as literature.” But with the eyes of faith the Bible is transfigured from a book remarkably like any other book into the very word of God which speaks directly to us. When a believer reads the Bible we are not being given information but provided with formation, formation to what life in God is all about. Some word, some phrase, some idea might hold the treasure that we need to make sense out of what is going on in our lives. We listen to the Bible, we read the Bible, share about the Bible because God has a message for us. When we get the Bible off our shelves and into our hearts we discover that God wants to tell us something and it’s been in plain sight the whole time.

Then there is the Eucharist. As Catholics we believe that Jesus is really present when we gather around this altar and consecrate the bread and wine into his Body and Blood. The transfiguration that happens at the Eucharist is not just what happens to the bread and wine but also what happens to us. In the Eucharist we experience the miracle of the ordinary. What could be more ordinary than eating and drinking? It is something we do every day. Jesus left us his presence as food and drink so we would bring God into the core of our being. The Body and Blood of Christ transfigures us into his Body present in the world. As we consume the sacred elements they become part of our bodies and our blood so we become part of Christ. What we find in receiving Holy Communion is that the food and drink which is in plain sight hides the mystery of God-with-us, Emmanuel.

Oh, and one more thing, look around the Church. See all these people – young and old, male and female, black and while, citizen and immigrant, married and single. Everyone here in all of our glorious diversity is a child of God. Jesus is here with us, hiding in plain sight. Do you see him?