He was transfigured. Homily for the 2nd Sunday of Lent, Year A.

Matthew places the story of the Transfiguration immediately after the first prediction of the Passion. This lets the reader know, as the story darkens, that nothing which happens in Jerusalem has the power to cancel what God has already declared about Jesus. The cross does not overturn Jesus’ identity as God’s Son. Matthew gives the reader the Transfiguration so that the Passion is not misread. The suffering and death of Jesus are not a contradiction of who he is, but the way in which his identity will truly and finally be disclosed.