SECOND SUNDAY OF LENT
21 FEBRUARY 2016
Saint
Luke structured his Gospel in terms of a journey. After being baptized in the Jordan River and tested
in the desert, Jesus returns to his hometown of Nazareth. Throughout Galilee, he reveals his identity
as the Son of God through his miracles and teachings. Then he begins his journey south to
Jerusalem. He knows that the true
prophets were killed in Jerusalem. He
knows that the religious authorities will not accept him there either. On the way, he accepts Peter’s confession of
faith that he is the Messiah. On the way,
he tries to help Peter and the others understand that following him will
involve denying themselves and carrying their crosses.
Today, he
arrives at a mountain, a traditional place of encountering God. Taking Peter, James, and John with him, Jesus
goes up the mountain to pray for guidance from his Father. Suddenly, his face is changed. As he prays, he “gets it!” The glory of God is “written all over his
face,” and Peter, James, and John get a glimpse of the glory he shares with the
Father and the Holy Spirit. Moses and Elijah
appear with him and talk about his exodus to Jerusalem, the journey that will
lead from a humiliating death to the glory of the resurrection. Peter wants to pitch three tents to keep the
experience going. Instead, the three
disciples hear the same voice that was heard from the heavens at the baptism of
Jesus: “This is my chosen Son; listen to
him.” In this transforming moment, they
understand that Jesus is the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets. They are to listen to him now. Trusting in the Father’s love, Jesus takes
the three down the mountain and resolutely sets his face toward Jerusalem. There he will become the Lamb of God sacrificed
in the new exodus to free humanity from the grip of sin and death.
We too are
on a journey through the Season of Lent to renew our faith in the Lord’s Exodus
in the Sacred Paschal Triduum. On this
journey, our disciplines of fasting, prayer, and almsgiving have the power to transform
us more completely into God’s people. Lent
reaffirms our trust that God will not go back on his word, as Abraham trusted. In the ancient world, kings did not sign
treaties. Instead, they conducted what
we would regard as a bizarre ritual. The
ritual involved cutting animals in two and placing them on either side of the
road. At the end of the day, they walked
through the cut animals to state that they would rather be cut in two rather
than go back on their word. In the flaming
torch, God passed through the animals which Abraham had cut up to signify that
he would never go back on his word.
Our journey
through Lent also puts our journey through this life into proper
perspective. Like Saint Paul, who was a
citizen of Rome in the first century, we are citizens of a particular country
in the twenty-first century. We American
Catholics respect this world in which we live.
We do our best to care for it, and we are grateful for all its blessings
which. But our world is not the end of
our journey. That is something I have
learned from my cycling pilgrimages. On
our pilgrimage from Canterbury to Rome, we enjoyed the journey. We marveled at the good things we encountered
on the way. We endured the difficult
aspects as part of the journey. But
riding into Saint Peter’s Square after traveling 1,200 miles produced such an
exhilarating emotion that sustained us through the theft of all our
belongings. The end of the journey put
the entire journey into perspective. That
is why Saint Paul says us that our true citizenship is in heaven. The glory that changed the face of Jesus on
Mount Tabor can transform us, as we endure the crosses now and catch glimpses
of our ultimate destination in those moments when God’s love shines brightly in
our faces. Saint Paul reminds us to
stand firm in the Lord. That is what transformed
him from a persecutor of the early church to its greatest preacher. We too can be transformed, as long as we
stand firm in the Lord.
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