SECOND SUNDAY OF LENT
12 MARCH 2017
Last
Sunday, we heard from the third chapter of Genesis. We heard that Adam and Eve were not content
to be creatures. They listened to the
serpent’s lie that God was withholding something from them. In eating the forbidden fruit, they took for
themselves what belongs to God alone – the prerogative to determine what is
right or wrong, what is good or bad. In
listening to the serpent, they realized how vulnerable they were and how badly
they could mess things up when they tried to be gods themselves. In the next chapters, things get worse. Cain listened to his inner voice of jealousy
and murdered Abel. As people continued
to listen to the serpent’s lies, the alienating effects of their sins
disintegrated life so much that God regretted his creation. He flooded the earth and started over again
with Noah and his family. But people continued
to ignore the voice of God. Instead of
listening to God’s voice, they listened to their inner voices telling them to
do whatever they wanted to do. Chapter
11 ends with the Tower of Babel, symbolizing a complete breakdown of communication
among tribes and nations.
Today, we
hear from the twelfth chapter of Genesis.
We meet Abram, who lives in the land of the Chaldees (modern day
Iraq). When God speaks, Abram
listens. God tells him to leave his
homeland and all his ties with his family and to trust that God will settle him
into a new land and make him a father of a great nation. The old man knows that this move is very
difficult. He will be tested many times
over in trusting God’s promise. In
listening to God, Abram will be transformed into Abraham. Like all of us, our father in faith was not
perfect. He had his flaws and weaknesses. But over the next 1500 years, his listening
to God will establish a pattern of listening.
Moses will listen to God and lead his people to freedom. David will listen to God and establish a
house that will endure. The prophets
will listen to God and speak God’s word to people who continue to make the
mistake of assuming for themselves what belongs to God – the right to
distinguish between good or bad, right or wrong.
This
listening culminates when the Eternal Word of God takes flesh and dwells in our
midst. Jesus listens to his Father. In the desert, he resists the serpent’s
temptations and remains faithful to the Father’s will. He continues to teach his disciples that the
promised Messiah will bring life and salvation through suffering and
death. But his disciples have trouble listening. Today, this son of Abraham is transfigured in
the presence of three of his disciples: Peter,
James, and John. They receive a vision,
a gift from God confirming that Jesus is the true Messiah, that he has
fulfilled everything in the Law and the Prophets. The vision opens their eyes to see and their
ears to hear what is impossible for humans to see or hear on our own. Pain and sorrow, suffering and death are not
the end. The journey will end with the
resurrection. The voice that had spoken
from the heavens when Jesus was baptized repeats the same message: “This is my Beloved Son, with whom I am well
pleased; listen to him.”
That same
voice speaks to us today. Like our first
parents, we listen to the lies of the serpent telling us that we are the
ultimate determiners of what is right or wrong.
Too often, we have believed that lie and made sinful choices that have
caused alienation for ourselves and for others.
But we are also disciples of Jesus Christ. As we continue our forty day journey, our
Lenten disciplines can open our ears to listen more carefully to him. We can get discouraged when life is unfair
and beats us up. Carrying the cross and trusting
that God will take care of us often tests our faith. Our journey will not end on Good Friday. It will end on Easter Sunday. We may not have seen the same vision on the
Mountain of the Transfiguration. But, we
have been given the vision of faith: God’s gift of being able to see what is
impossible for human sight.
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