SECOND SUNDAY OF LENT
25 FEBRUARY 2024
Abraham is our father in faith. God had called him to leave his native land
of Ur, which is in modern day Iraq. He
trusted God’s promise that he would be given he would be given a land and
children of his own. When he occupied
that land, he continued to trust God’s promise that he would be the father of a
great nation. As his wife, Sarah, and he
grew older and beyond child bearing age, they began to wonder whether God would
keep this second promise. But in their
old age, they conceived a son and named him Isaac.
But now God
tells him to sacrifice his only son. No
matter what ancient circumstances may have contributed to this request, God’s
command frightens us. A very talented
lector read this passage as the second reading at the Easter Vigil. She was
able to express the horror of a loving father taking his only son to Mount
Moriah to sacrifice him. But God
prevents Abraham from sacrificing his only son and sends a ram to take his
place. This is not an account of a
father willing to kill his son. It is
the account of a man who places his entire life in the hands of an all-knowing,
all loving, and ever-present God. On
Mount Moriah, Abraham realizes that God will keep his promise. That covenant in our center aisle depicts his
descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and the sands on the shore of
the sea.
In Mark’s Gospel, Jesus continues
to maintain his trust in his Father, who is all-knowing, all loving, and ever
present in his life. In his early
ministry in Galilee, the religious leaders disgraced Jesus and accused him of
being a fraud. When he reaches Mount
Tabor, he takes Peter, James, and John up the mountain by themselves. There, his Father reveals the truth about
him. He is the fulfillment of all the
promises made through Moses and Elijah.
Just as they had suffered for being authentic prophets speaking for the
Lord, he too would suffer. But he is
greater than they were, because he is the only beloved Son of the Father. It is on Mount Tabor that Jesus knows that he
can trust his Father’s love and promise, even in his death on the cross.
As much as Peter wants to build
three tents and remain in this transfigured state, Jesus leads them down the
mountain to continue their journey to another mountain. On Mount Calvary, the Father will allow him
to be sacrificed out of total and complete gift of himself to everyone, even
those who rejected him. The Father
commands the disciples to listen to his Son, who trusts his father’s promise
that he would raise him from the dead.
Jesus tells them that they should not tell anyone about what happens on
Mount Tabor. It will only make sense
after his own sacrifice and his transformation in the resurrection.
Saint Paul echoes this faith when
he writes to the Romans. He says that
God is for us and asks, “Who can be against?”
God has shown his incredible love by not sparing his own Son. There are plenty of people and life
situations that can be against us. Saint
Paul knows that and invites us to maintain the same faith of Abraham and Jesus
Christ himself.
We hear the account of the
Transfiguration on this Second Sunday of Lent each year. The Lord invites us to renew our trust that
we can walk with him on the road to Calvary, trusting that we can share in his
resurrection. Authentic faith always
involves some kind of sacrifice. We
sacrifice our wants, our desire to take care of ourselves, and our conception
of who God is out of trust that God can give us more than we can ever imagine. We fast in order to open ourselves to
increase our hunger for God alone. We
pray to express our gratitude for all God has given us, especially for being
called disciples. We give alms to
connect with those who are hungry. In
whatever crosses or sacrifices we may encounter, God keeps his promises.
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