Pain and Gain 痛苦是成功必須付出的代價

The Second Lent Sunday, Year C
Theme: Pain and Gain 痛苦是成功必須付出的代價

Before the invention of printing, bibles were manually copied. Some manuscripts are more widely accepted while some are more authoritative than the others. For example, there are two versions of Luke 9:35, viz. “This is my beloved Son, listen to him.” and “This is my chosen Son, listen to him.” No such difference is found in Luke 3:22, “You are my beloved Son, in you I’m well pleased.” To us laymen, the difference in Luke 9:35 seems to be superfluous. The “beloved Son” is the widely accepted version and using it in both cases provides a link between Jesus’ baptism and his Transfiguration. In both occasions, the Father declares the divinity of Jesus Christ and confirms that He is the Messiah. Of course, the baptism of the Lord signifies the beginning of His ministry while the Transfiguration points to His upcoming passion and resurrection. Therefore, there must somehow be differences between the two situations.
When Jesus was baptized, He did not have any followers yet. The Transfiguration took place near the end of His mission. There were many followers whom Jesus wanted to incorporate into His Mystical Body in the future. Thus, we are approaching the establishment of the Church during Transfiguration. We are more than bystanders who witness yet another miracle. We become involved because the Father tells us to listen to Jesus and obey His commands. What’s the merit of using “chosen” instead? The word “chosen” is more inclusive to show that all Christians are God’s children, not because of blood line or sharing any other God’s essence but because of faith! And what is that faith? It is the faith in the resurrection of the Son of God who dies to take away the sin of the world (John 1:29). Using the word “chosen” binds us more strongly with the Son of God, to partake in His sufferings and to share in His glory (2 Timothy 2:11-12).

According to the gospels of Matthew and Mark, “six days” after Jesus’ first prediction of His Passion, He took the three disciples up a high mountain and transfigured before them (Matthew 17:1, Mark 9:2). But Luke says “eight days” (Luke 9:28). In my reflection three years ago, I explored the significance of “eight days”. So, I won’t spend time here.

Lastly, Luke arranges the narratives such that the feeding of 5000 and the Transfiguration are put closely together, only 197 Greek words apart! In modern terms, they are 10 verses apart in the same chapter! What message does Luke want to convey?
Like the Great Deluge and the Crossing of the Red Sea are pre-figures of the sacrament of Baptism, the Manna miracle in the wilderness and the feeding of 5000 are also pre-figures of another sacrament. They were a rehearsal of the Last Supper in which the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist was instituted. The Church teaches that the celebration of the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist is Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross in a non-bloody manner. What then has the Transfiguration to do with the Holy Eucharist?

What went before the Transfiguration? To be meaningful, let’s take the starting point at Simon Peter’s declaration of the Messiahship of Jesus. After the confession of Simon, the Son of God renamed him Peter and made him the Rock upon which Jesus Christ would build His Church (Matthew 16:16-19). Furthermore, Jesus announced God’s salvation plan through Passion and Resurrection. However, the disciples were unable to accept such a plan (16:21-23).
Human beings naturally want to acquire gains and to avoid pains. They know the truth of the aphorism, “No pain no gain” but find it difficult to obey. Similarly, there is “No Resurrection without Passion”. The Passion is the springboard to glory because it is the only path to Jesus’ Resurrection. There is no shortcut. However, the disciples had difficulty accepting their master’s death because they had given up all they had to follow him. If their master died, their “investments” would evaporate instantly. Here is the paradox: in order to attain eternal life, one has to die first! But it would only be a paradox if there were no resurrection! Regrettably, we’re not Moses and Elijah who have attained the freedom to travel in time. We aren’t time-travellers and are unable to see the future or to see what is happening in another universe. Therefore, many people don’t have the faith to follow Jesus’ example and throw themselves into martyrdom.

In order to reassure his disciples the certainty of God’s plan, Jesus gave his disciples a preview of the glory of resurrection. He transfigured in front of the three chosen disciples so that they would be able to overcome the fear of subsequent suffering and death. With resurrection, Jesus conquers death and shall die no more. He is able to promise us that He would stay with us until the end of the age (Matthew 28:20)! Without resurrection, He could not honour His pledge to become the Bread of Life for all believers. In other words, without resurrection, there is no sacrament of Holy Eucharist. I think Luke tries to convey this link by putting the feeding of 5000 and the Transfiguration closely together, separated by only 197 words!

The Holy Communion is a mysterious sacrament. It’s both glorious and humble at the same time. It is glorious because it is the Body of the good Lord. There are reports of different kinds of Eucharistic miracles which have been scrutinized and confirmed by the Church. The faithful perform a lot of sacramental, such as Eucharistic adoration and Eucharistic procession to express their awe and praises. Composers have written many soothing and uplifting devotional hymns etc.
However, the Holy Communion is at the same time extremely humble. First of all, it is not made up of precious substance but simple ordinary unleavened bread. Moreover, unlike the Son of God who is able to move around easily at will, the Holy Communion is immobile. It’s unable to protect itself and relies on the Church to prevent it from being desecrated. It is locked up inside the tabernacle in an empty church. Lord Jesus Christ is extremely lonely and is waiting patiently for some accidental believers to come by and adore! Now that churches are locked down during this pandemic, the faithful could only receive Spiritual Communion. Both the good Lord and the faithful have to suffer the pains of separation. While Lord Jesus Christ wants this sacrament to join believers together in communion, His Sacred Heart aches to see believers arguing over theological and liturgical differences on the Eucharist.

Brethren! Even the Holy Eucharist, the body of the Son of God, is an embodiment of suffering in many different ways. How can we just want to gain without pains? During this Lent season, let’s pick up our momentum of prayer, fasting and almsgiving until they hurt.
God bless!
2019 Reflection
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