SECOND SUNDAY OF LENT
8 MARCH 2020
Saint Matthew wrote his Gospel for Jewish
Christians. In writing to them, he knew
that they would automatically understand certain details in his message. One of those details involves the importance
of mountains to the children of Abraham.
This detail is lost to us who live in the open plains of Indiana. Mountains were places where human beings
encountered God. Matthew’s readers would
remember the details of the 28th chapter of the Prophet
Ezekiel. Ezekiel speaks about the
beginnings of humanity in the Garden of Eden, where people were in perfect
harmony with God before sin entered the world.
He located the Garden on a mountain.
God revealed his presence to Moses on Mount Sinai with dramatic images
of fire and clouds and earthquakes. God
had entered into a covenant of love with Israel, his beloved people whom he had
led out of slavery in Egypt. But God was
distant. No one could touch that holy
mountain. Many centuries later, Elijah
fled to that same mountain (which the northern kingdom called “Mount Horeb”)
and expected to find God in those same dramatic signs. Instead, he found God in the tiny, whispering
sound. Solomon built his temple on Mount
Zion, filling the temple with the smoke of the incense. God dwelled in his temple on that mountain,
to which people could enter. However,
only a priest could enter the Holy of Holies once a year.
What
happens on Mount Tabor is significant, and the original readers of Matthew’s
Gospel would have understood immediately.
In being transfigured on a mountain, we see those same elements of God’s
presence from the other significant mountains of Israel’s history. Peter, James, and John are given a glimpse of
his true divine nature, with the light and cloud coming from him. However, he is not distant from them, and
they can readily approach him in his divinity and humanity. He converses with Moses and Elijah, signaling
that he has fulfilled all the prophecies of the Hebrew Scriptures. He is God’s beloved Son, and he dwells in our
midst.
As God’s
beloved Son, Jesus will descend from that mountain and travel with his
disciples to another mountain – Mount Calvary.
Instead of being clothed in white garments, he will be stripped naked
and nailed to a cross. Instead of being
surrounded by two holy witnesses, he will be surrounded by two thieves. Instead of basking in a brilliant light, he
will be engulfed in darkness and the shadow of death.
Today’s
Gospel reminds us that Jesus Christ has pitched his tent in our midst and walks
with us. Our Lenten disciplines of
prayer, fasting, and almsgiving strengthen our conviction that he is truly
approachable. But they also prepare us
to walk the way to Calvary with him.
They strengthen us to die to ourselves and our own desires so that we
can be transformed with him by the power of the Resurrection. They remind us that we can carry our crosses
with Jesus, trusting that our crosses will not be the end, just as his cross
was not the end. The disciplines
encourage us to follow the steadfast faith of Abram, who courageously left all
that was familiar to him to trust God’s guidance to a land and descendants that
would be blessed by God.
The Gospel
of Saint Matthew ends on another mountain.
His disciples follow his instructions after he had been raised from the
dead. Gathered on that mountain, they
see him and worship him. They also
express their doubts. From that
mountain, he sends them to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the
name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. He promises to be with them always, until the
end of the age. We are the recipients of
that great commission. As baptized
disciples, the Lord sends us from this mountain to trust in his presence and
proclaim the good news of salvation to others.
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