SECOND SUNDAY OF LENT YEAR "B"

SECOND SUNDAY OF LENT     Cycle “B”

Mark 9, 2 -1 0: The Transfiguration

The sacrifice God demanded of Abraham surpassed human strength. At a time when there was yet no firm belief in an after-life, a man “survived” in his son.  So in a real sense Abraham is asked to surrender his “future”. There was the custom among the pagans of sacrificing their first-born son; they thought God demanded it. So Abraham thought he could match their generosity by sacrificing his Isaac. Yet, the same God had promised Abraham that, even in his old age, he would be the father of many nations. So how could the sacrifice of Isaac harmonise with this promise ? After all, Isaac was miraculously given to Sarah and Abraham by God. The whole idea didn’t seem to make sense, humanly speaking. But Abraham’s trust in Yahweh went beyond human reasoning: God would provide.  God is satisfied with Abraham’s steadfastness and makes a ram available for sacrifice. The rope that tied down Isaac is loosened. Isaac is to be spared. He is to be the instrument of Abraham’s destiny to be the ancestor of countless descendants.

The Psalm for the day has been carefully chosen. Psalm 116 reminds us both of Abraham – “I believed even when I said, ‘I am sorely afflicted’”. And you can almost hear Isaac singing the next verse, “You have loosened my bonds. To you I will offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving and will call on the name of the Lord.”

The English poet, Wilfred Owen, wrote a bitter comment on the slaughter of 1914-1918 war. The name of the piece is called, “The Parable of the Old Man and the Young.” This piece was used by the composer Benjamin Britten, in his War Requiem.” In this War Requiem, the Old Man does not hold back the knife  -  he kills his son and “half the seed of Europe one by one.” The 2^nd. Reading for today also speaks of a father “who did not spare his own Son but handed him over...” and, like the bitter old man in Wilfred Owens’ poem, the religious and political representatives of the world craved his blood.

But let us go back to Abraham and his trust in Yahweh, which went beyond human reasoning: God would provide. He was convinced that the offering of his son would bring about great blessings, even though he could scarcely comprehend it in the darkness of his pain and grief at the thought of losing him. But obedience to God always brings blessings. So listen to God. And on the Mount of the Transfiguration the Father tells Peter, “Listen to my Son.”

A tremendous lesson for us. God’s ways are inscrutable.  Why does God allow so much sacrifice of life and property in this world when he could prevent it? The only sure answer we can give comes from our faith in an all-wise and loving Father. This is the faith that teaches us that loss of loved ones and property is not the ultimate fate of man and things. Do you have pain in your body and mind?  I have it too. That pounding pain your body and mind is already the reverberation of the glory of God who is even now taking possession of your body.

That is what Peter had to understand, ecstatic as he felt at the sight of the transfigured Jesus.  “Listen to my Son, he has something important to tell you.”  Something about God.  Do you want to know what God is like?  The transfigured Christ is the God who reveals himself as a suffering man. What we have here is the very glory of God on its way to the Passion.  The form of the Servant is the very form of God.  Jesus’ whole life and death are one transfiguration.

Today’s Gospel began with the phrase, “six days after.”  After what?  After the Jewish feast of Tabernacles, that lasted six days during which the Jerusalem temple was magnificently illuminated in phosphorescent light. On the seventh day another and greater Temple would be illuminated on a high mountain: the body of Christ.  Poor Peter. He wanted to put up a tent to house that Temple, that splendid body of Christ!  And yet, that body would be crushed, as one day the Jerusalem temple would be shattered. So also our bodies by the pain of repentance and contrition; so also the Catholic Church by contrition and repentance for its past sins.  There is no other way for God to take possession of his creation.

So, focusing on Abraham once again.  We find it hard to understand why God asked such a great sacrifice of Abraham.  How much more difficult to gauge the “gift” of God’s own Son to us.  Abraham offered a ram as substitute for his son.  There was no substitute for Jesus. The highest possible love demanded nothing less than a total sacrifice.  The Father gave us of his best. As St. Paul has said, after such a gift, we are certain that God will not refuse us anything he can give. With such an assurance we shall be able to face all the trials of our life.

PRAYER:   (Sue Knepp)

Loving Father, sometimes You have to:

break, so You can rebuild

wound, so You can heal.

Let me walk in darkness,

so that I see your light

let me be confused,

so I seek your truth

let me feel emptiness

so you can fill me

let me feel lonely, so I

can see what a friend you are.

Let me learn the hard things,

so I can be a gentle teacher

let me be void of feelings

so I must walk by faith.

Take all my future plans

to teach me live one day at a time

show me the futility of life

so I will see that everything is loss

compared to the surpassing value

of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.

from my Diary
How infinitely splendid you look, my glorious Lord Jesus Christ!
I am ecstatic in my wonderment.
Powerful, glorious, transcendent, ineffable.
And it is your nature as God the Son;
God, as He beholds himself, 
knows Himself in one eternally present act of self-possession.
But God-as-He-knows Himself is going to pass, "go across" ("trans")
from one self-knowledge to another:
an emptying, shattering, utterly crushing self-knowledge.
Here I break down and weep, and I raise my heart to you,
my dearest Lord, for the way you emptied and lowered Yourself
so that you could meet me in my brokenness and misery.