Second Sunday of Lent

Jan 14 2025

Scripture Study for

The reading from Genesis expressly states that Abram is directed by God to travel from the land of his kinsfolk to one that is foreign to him. God then promises a fivefold blessing: Abram will be a great nation; he will be blessed; his name will be great; those who bless him will be blessed; those who curse him will be cursed. The directives from God require profound faith on Abram’s part. They determine his identity (his past), his place in society (his present), and his legacy (his future). God is asking him to start anew. No questions are asked, no long period of preparation is suggested. God directs and Abram responds.

Paul exhorts his disciple Timothy to suffer with him the misfortunes that come from fidelity to the gospel and accompany righteous living. The Christian hymn that follows outlines what God has done for us and what Christ has done on our behalf. There is no question in Paul’s mind that the wondrous blessings are all God’s doing. Neither salvation nor the call to holiness is the fruit of any deed that we might have performed. They are not rewards for good behavior; they come to us freely out of the goodness of God.

Jesus is transformed before Peter, James, and John, the apparent inner circle of the apostles. Most scholars maintain that this account is not a vision of the future glorification of Jesus but an insight into the identity that was his during his public life. Jesus converses with Moses and Elijah, the representatives of the law and the prophets. Jesus’ teaching is authenticated by the words that are spoken from the cloud: “listen to him” (Matthew 17:5). The apostles want to prolong Jesus’ transfiguration. Jesus will not hear of it. Then, identifying himself as the mysterious Son of Man, he directs the three to remain silent about this experience until after his resurrection.

Jan 08 2025

The Divine Brilliance

I have been to the Holy Land once. I recall sitting on the bus with the sunshine of the morning sky flickering through the windows. As we bounced along, I realized how my early sandbox experiences of the warmth of the sun have deeply impacted my image of God.

As we drove north from Nazareth, I wondered how the radiance of the sunshine also impacted Jesus’ youngest images of his God as Father. Jesus rested by the Sea of Galilee that shimmers in the midday sun. Jesus climbed Mount Tabor that radiates with light. Jesus prayed on the Mount of Olives, where the clouds and the sky gleam with vibrant color. What stands out in my memory is the Holy Land’s brilliance. The Word became flesh in a place of luminous beauty.

In today’s readings, Abram and Paul and the apostles have glimpsed that radiance. Later in Genesis, Abram senses glory in the splendor of the stars in a deeply black sky, and believes. Paul himself has obviously experienced that magnificence, for he calls Timothy to grab hold of it. The apostles see it in the person of Jesus, transfigured in front of them. He is dazzling! He is radiant! He is bright! This is the deeper reality of the glory of the Son of God. Peter and James and John get a preview of that glory and they don’t really know what to do with it.

We may have also seen flickers of God’s glory. Yet more radiance surrounds us than meets the eye. What we may have glimpsed is as faint as the light of a candle compared to the brilliance of the sun. The dazzling One surrounds us and enfolds us at all times. The holy Light will transform us if we let it.

Consider/Discuss

In prayer, have you seen it? Have you ever felt your rib cage so swell up with holy warmth that you almost could burst? Have you seen that Radiance? Have you felt just on the edge of that “more?” Share your story with another believer whom you trust.
We see the grandeur of a sunset, dazzling sparkles in the snow, or the shimmer of light on the water. In our sacramental understanding of the created world, flashes of earthly beauty lead us to the grandeur of God. This week, take a few extra moments to absorb and delight in the radiant beauty that surrounds you.

Living and Praying with the Word

Shower your steadfast light upon us, O Lord. You have flashed, you have revealed, and you have bathed us with your glory. Yet we cannot begin to contain your luminous beauty. Cleanse us this Lent so that we are more fitting vessels for your grandeur. Stir the spark of our faith until it has been stirred into a living flame of love. Then help us to overflow with your joy so that others may behold you as well.

Jan 08 2025

Scripture Study for

The early chapters of Genesis display the repercussions of the disobedience of Adam and Eve, passed on as an inclination to sin. In the call of Abram we see the beginning of a long-term divine plan to deal with the problem of the human heart. In the promise that initiates the relationship that will eventually lead to the creation of God’s covenant partner, Israel, God assures Abram not only of descendants and land, but also that “all the communities of the earth shall find blessing in you.” It is through Israel that God will bring all humanity back into that harmonious relationship with God they originally enjoyed in the Garden.

In his letter to Timothy, Paul reminds the young man that he has received a gift from God that must be “stirred into flame” (2 Timothy 1:6). Timothy has received a commission to teach the Christian message in its integrity. This task will bring hardship, yet Timothy is to take heart and be strong; like all Christians, he has been saved and called by Christ to a holy life. This is not the result of anything Timothy has done, but is purely through the design and call of God. The “life and immortality” that Christ brings is a pure gift, but it calls for a response: a holy life that manifests the “light” of the gospel that Timothy is called to proclaim.

On a mountain called Sinai (or Horeb), God appeared to Moses, the people of Israel met their Deliverer, and Elijah encountered God in silence. It is fitting, then, that the divine sonship of Christ, just confessed by Peter (16:16), should now be confirmed on a mountain. The Transfiguration of Jesus reveals not only his identity and authority as God’s beloved Son, and as the fulfillment of the law (Moses) and the prophets (Elijah), but also a hint of his post-resurrection glory. Since the truth revealed on the mountain can only be understood and accepted in light of that future event, the disciples are ordered not to speak of it for the time being.

Dec 13 2024

The Glory Yet to Come

God’s promises are not empty words carried off by the wind soon after they are uttered. From the beginning, God has backed up divine promises with action. We see this today in the story of God sealing the promise to Abraham of many descendants and the gift of the land with the mystifying occurrence of a floating fire pot and flaming torch passing through Abraham’s sacrifice. God’s words lead to a ratifying action.

In the Gospel, God comes to Jesus. At first, this is made evident in the change of Jesus’ face and clothing. Then the great prophets Moses and Elijah appear, mediators of God’s word to the people through both the Torah and prophetic deeds, who speak with Jesus about his coming death in Jerusalem. Finally, as with Israel in the desert, God manifests the divine presence, coming in a cloud and proclaiming Jesus as “chosen Son.” “Listen to him,” the voice says. Divine word is backed up by divine deed.

This yearly glimpse of glory in the story of the Transfiguration tells us yet again that God recognizes our need for signs and support in our journey of faith. Walking in faith is not all shadows and darkness. Light comes into our lives, sometimes in such unexpected ways that we only become aware of it in retrospect. These moments whisper of God’s ongoing presence with us, of promises yet to be fulfilled. Paul speaks of our citizenship even now being in heaven, calling us to “stand firm in the Lord.”

Consider/Discuss

Can you remember a moment when the promise of our faith was affirmed by a gracious event, enabling you to recognize God’s presence?
Do you believe that our citizenship is in heaven and that our bodies are destined to being conformed to Christ’s glorified body?

Responding to the Word

Lord, enlighten the eyes of our hearts, providing a glimpse of the glory promised us because of your saving death and resurrection. As we move toward renewing the promises made at baptism, make our hearts ever more confident in the Father’s fidelity and the ongoing strength that comes from the Spirit.

Dec 13 2024

Scripture Study for

Two promises are made to Abram: a multitude of descendants, and a vast expanse of land to be given to those descendants. Abram’s response of faith is credited to him as righteousness. The passage also contains a divine self-identification similar to the one that introduces the Decalogue. The ritual known as “cutting the covenant” is performed. It is a dramatized curse in which the covenant partners promise that if either partner transgresses the prescriptions of the covenant, the other can inflict the fate of the animals on the violator. The harshness of the penalty signals the seriousness of this covenant-making.

In his exhortation to the Philippians, Paul compares the fate of the true believers with that of opponents of the gospel. It is not clear who these opponents were. Perhaps they were Gnostics (who believed they’d been given a “special knowledge”)—Christians who believed that they had already passed into a spiritualized form of existence and could live in this world unscathed by its temptations. True believers, on the other hand, were really aliens in this earthly place. Their citizenship was in heaven. Unlike the enemies of the cross, they knew that they would have to embrace that cross, and then, with Christ’s coming, they would be transformed into his glory.

At the time of his transfiguration Jesus is joined by Moses and Elijah, who represent Israel’s law and the prophets. The exodus of which they speak is Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascension, all of the important events in God’s plan of salvation. This discussion indicated that Jesus’ death was not a tragic mistake, something that he was unable to avoid. Rather, those who represented the entire religious tradition of Israel knew it beforehand. The voice from heaven not only authenticates who Jesus is, but also instructs the disciples to listen to his words, regardless of how challenging or perplexing they might be. It will take the actual unfolding of the events of Jesus’ exodus for them to understand its meaning.