Fr. Eugene Lobo SJ –
Second Sunday of Lent February 25, 2024
Genesis 22:1-2, 9-13, 15-18; Romans 8:31b-35, 37; Mark 9:2-10
God’s call is personal and, at the same time, very demanding. It is an invitation to enter into his holiness with an attitude of faith and total trust in God. We encounter a God who speaks to us and we are called upon to listen to him and respond to him. Now as we enter the Second Week of Lent, our task is to continue to examine our hearts and change ourselves in order to be worthy of his glorious paschal mystery. God tells us that our thoughts are not like his thoughts, and our ways are not akin to those of his choice. As human beings, we do not like change, and we resist any change as much as we can. However, change is a part of our lives, and we cannot just depend on our past glory and achievements. We know that we are pilgrims on a journey to a more permanent dwelling place, a place of total union with our God of Truth and Love.
The Gospel of today speaks of striking intervention by God in people’s lives indicated through the transfiguration of Jesus on the Mountain. Jesus is transfigured in the presence of his disciples, manifesting to them his divinity to strengthen them in their faith before he enters into his Passion and death on the cross. They are called upon to listen to him the one chosen by the Father.
The First Reading from the Book of Genesis tells us how God tested Abraham. God called Abraham and commanded him to take his son Isaac whom he loved, and to go to the land of Moriah to offer him there as a burnt offering on a mountain that will be shown to him. Abraham’s faith is so strong that he obeyed God without hesitation, and early in the morning he set out towards the mountain. He took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on his son Isaac, as they climbed the mountain. When Abraham came to the place that God had shown him, he built an altar there and laid the wood in order. Then he bound his son Isaac, and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Just when Abraham was about to sacrifice his son, the angel of the Lord called him from heaven and told him not to lay his hand on the boy or do any harm to him. The faith of Abraham had been tested and God knew by his actions that he had a sincere, obedient heart. Abraham obeyed God to the end.
In the Second Reading of today, Paul speaks of the perseverance and fidelity to our religion moves alongside our living faith. In the early days of the Church, there was much persecution and many of the converts feared losing their lives. Addressing this issue, Paul told the community that if God is for us, no one can remain against us. It is clear that God was on the side of the Christians and they had nothing to fear. He tells the Christians that God made the ultimate sacrifice of His only beloved Son but gave him for our benefit. That is why God is so pleased with his Son, because Jesus freely offered up his life in order to show us the enormous love of God for us. Now he will along with Jesus provide the Christians with all their needs. Since we have Jesus on our side, no one will separate us from the love of Christ. Jesus made the perfect sacrifice for our sins.
In the Gospel of today, we have the story of transfiguration of Jesus. The story of the transfiguration has one primary purpose, namely to reveal the divine identity of Jesus. This takes place immediately after Jesus tells the disciples that he will be rejected by their political and religious leaders and made to suffer and die before rising on the third day. It is clear that this came as a terrible shock to the disciples. Their vision of the Messiah was of a glorious, victorious king defeating all the enemies of Israel. The idea that the Messiah would be rejected and made to suffer and die at the hands of his own people was simply unthinkable. Transfiguration therefore seems that this special experience and is being given to balance out the picture. Only a small inner circle is chosen for the experience. It seems that these three disciples, Peter, James and John are given a glimpse of the real Jesus to help them through the dark days ahead. In fact these three disciples are present at every important juncture and event in his ministry.
The Gospel gives us a glimpse at what awaits those who persevere in their living faith. When Jesus took Peter, James and John up a high mountain, they witnessed the transfiguration of Jesus. He was transformed with the dazzling light of God’s glory. His clothes became dazzling white such as no one on earth could bleach them. The vision of Christ glorified was a special privilege granted to the disciples which they would never forget. John writes in his Gospel that they had seen his glory, of the only son of God. For them this was the proof of his divinity and his role as Messiah. Mark in his gospel places the event on a mountain where Jesus is proclaimed Son of the Father as he was proclaimed at Baptism and finally will be proclaimed when on the cross that he is the Son of God. The three disciples totally impressed by the glory of their maser want this to continue forever. For them it was an experience beyond all words.
Elijah and Moses are present in the transfiguration episode and are in conversation with Jesus. Commentators are unclear about the meaning of their presence. A common understanding is that somehow they represent the Prophets and the Law, which was a way of referring to the revelation. Together they represent the whole tradition of God’s people. In that case Jesus was here manifested as the fullness of divine revelation. Peter and no doubt the other two disciples are uncertain as to grasp the full meaning of it. Perhaps wanting to extend the sacred event itself Peter suggests that they make three Tents. The Old Testament imagery of Tent signified divine presence.
The highlight of the transfiguration is the voice that comes from the overcasting cloud, identifying Jesus as the Beloved Son, and the mandate that follows to listen to Him. Here again we have further endorsement of Jesus for the benefit of his disciples. Jesus is God’s own dear Son. And they are to listen to Jesus even when he says things they find it hard to accept: his rejection, suffering, death – and resurrection. The Old Testament cloud was always the symbol of the presence of the divine majesty. No doubt the voice they heard was the voice of God. Here again we have further endorsement of Jesus for the benefit of his disciples. Jesus is God’s own dear Son.
The voice they heard from the Father told the disciples that they must listen to Jesus. Jesus the Son of God has brought to the world the message of the Father. This needs whole hearted attention. True listening requires a response from the listener, attending to what was said, recognizing its meaning, and making it part of the person’s inner, conscious experience. God speaks to us in so many ways, through persons, situations and activities. One person may barely notice a patch of blue sky, whereas the person of prayer, who listens to God, sees in it the dome of heaven. St. John of the Cross once pointed out that many of the people who think they are listening to God are actually only listening to themselves. We must be attentive to listen to God speaking to us.
The liturgy of today is dominated by two fathers – son relationships, both characterized by an inexpressibly great heroism. Each father loves his son whole heartedly like no one has ever loved. Abraham lives for his only son Isaac and loves him intimately. It appears as an unsurpassable paternal love. In the gospel when God speaks of his Beloved Son, he is expressing a love that is beyond all the paternal and maternal love in the history of the universe. Each of the Fathers is prepared to offer their beloved one in sacrifice: Abraham in the obedience of faith to a God whose mystery and whose thoughts surpass him; God the Father in obedience to his own faithful love for human creatures. This being the same love generating from God, is infinitely greater than the deepest and purest human love ever known. Today as we listen to his Word the Father still speaks to us and tells us that Jesus is his beloved son and we ought to listen to him, for he has the words of eternal life.
A poor illiterate man wanted to be baptized. The parish priest asked him many questions to see whether he was fit for baptism. “Where was Jesus born? How many apostles did he have? How many years did he live? Where did he die? The poor man knew nothing of all these questions. Irritated, the priest then said, “At least you know prayers like the Our Father and the I Believe”? The man again shook his head. “What do you know then?” asked the priest flabbergasted. The man explained, “Before I met Jesus I was a drunkard who beat up my wife and children; I lost my job and was wasting my life.” Then he continued, “But after encountering Jesus, I’ve quit drinking. I work hard and have begun to love my family. For me Jesus is my personal Saviour!”
A curious phenomenon occurred in the life of Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite. One morning in 1888, he was shocked to read his own obituary in the Newspaper, instead of that of his brother who died, all due to the mistake made by the reporter. What the newspaper said of him, made Alfred Nobel realised the awful image he had projected to the world. He was proclaimed the dynamite king who comes into immense wealth with the manufacture and sale of deadly weapons of destruction. No one seemed to have noticed his humanitarian efforts at bridging people and ideas. No one remembered the good he had done in his life. He felt miserable. At that moment he decided to do something to remedy that image. In his will, he left his enormous fortune to the establishment of the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize. Today, several other prizes are given in his name. People hardly remember him for the invention of dynamite. They remember him for the Peace Prize.