Homily 02/19/2023

Grace Chicago Church

Transfiguration Sunday

Matthew 17:1-9

This Sunday during the worship service we will celebrate the Transfiguration of Jesus. Transfiguration Sunday comes right before Lent begins. Lent is the season of the year when, in a very focused way, we ask God to enable us to take an honest look at the darker side of what we are capable of as human beings. It is a time to name those deep-set patterns of feeling, thinking and acting that cause us to resist God’s grace - to name them and to repent. The Transfiguration is an image that we hold on to during Lent, for it gives us courage and hope. In the Transfiguration we see what human beings are meant to be, and who by the mercies and grace of God we will be: those who radiate God’s presence more and more fully in our own flesh and blood lives. It is Jesus’ human flesh that is transfigured and that tells us where we are headed.