Walking with Jesus: Second Sunday of Lent

For Sunday, March 13, 2022

Genesis 15:5-12, 17-18; Philippians 3:1 -14:1; Luke 9:28-36

We are more than one week into Lent. I reflected this morning on how I am doing. This is a good question to ask throughout Lent. Do I find myself bogged down with “earthly” things? Have I found myself “listening” more to the Lord in that quiet, safe, holy place within me? Have my Lenten practices enabled me to see more into God’s plan for me? Have I reflected on how God is leading me closer to Himself? Am I shrinking away from the direction He is sharing about living my life with heaven as its goal? Have I included reflections on heaven in my Lenten journey? Or do I dismiss these since I don’t think I’ll ever get there because of the life I’ve led, or do my ways seem to be too much a part of that life? Why does heaven seem  impossible to accomplish?

Side note: Wikipedia states, “In contract law, impossibility is an excuse for the non — performance of duties under a contract based in a change in circumstances [or the discovery of preexisting circumstances], the nonoccurrence of which was an underlying assumption of the contract that makes performance of the contract literally impossible.”

Translated to God’s plan, impossibility from our side would look like God made a covenant with all of humanity: “I will be your God, you will be my people.” Yet humanity has consistently been misled by the devil, ”Do whatever you want to do … it’s OK.” This leads to the philosophy, “I do what I want to do because I want to do it” — this is our temptation after the fall. So I can never attain heaven because of my doing what I want to do … and heaven deprives me of what I think will really make me happy. God is love, and God has the ultimate and forever place of love which is heaven, which He promised to everyone who follow His Commandments and the three Commands of love. Lent is our time to reflect — to turn our thoughts and living patterns around and be retuned to God’s way of love, mercy, forgiveness and care for all. Today’s readings lead us in this direction.

The Genesis reading begins with God’s promise that Abraham will become the father of many people. To emphasize this truth, God invites Abraham to count the number of stars in the sky. This would be just as challenging to number Abraham’s descendants. Abraham wants to know, as we do, how can this be accomplished. God carries out an elaborate covenant ritual with a major twist: Normally a covenant is where each party takes on obligations toward the other. This covenant is God’s total gift to Abraham's descendants. All that is required of Abraham is to trust in God’s promises, which he does. Do I trust in God’s ways? Do I see that even amid my sufferings, pain, doubts and confusion, God is present and, through Jesus’ crucifixion, death and resurrection, has reunited each of us to His continued plan of heaven for all?

Paul tells his readers and us to take a lesson from the way he lives, demonstrating that heaven is our true and forever home. To accomplish this, one must overcome the desires and attitudes toward the “earthly things” and live the “heavenly way” of love. Earthly things will perish; heaven is forever for those who are willing to strive for it.

The apostles have been following Jesus along amid hesitation, doubt and confusion. They believe or want to believe that He is the Messiah: Who else could do the things He has done? Miracles, faith stories, explaining God’s love in a real life-giving and fulfilling way. Jesus knows and has already predicted His suffering, death and resurrection. The apostles can’t understand this because they believe they will defend Jesus to the end. Then, in the middle of his writing, Luke stops and shows us an amazing sight where Jesus is dramatically transformed. He invites us to see Jesus as He really is. This also gives us a glimpse of what His future glory, and our promised glory, is all about. It starts with prayer as do so many events in Jesus’ ministry. He takes Peter, James and John up the mountain to pray, and the Transfiguration is a prayer experience. Is it like our prayer experiences? It has a quiet, peaceful element. We are centered not on ourselves but on God as the center of it all. Something special, light-filled happens, and we are not afraid. It doesn’t happen each time we pray, but it happens. We know we are there and it is real. We don’t know exactly what that something is, but it is about love, caring, being special, being called in a sense as a witness and realizing that we are an important part of witnessing God. Luke concludes fittingly with the message, “This is My chosen Son; listen to Him.” [Luke 9:36]

So I reflect on:

• Abraham saw the stars and trembled and was afraid, yet trusted in God; Paul was thrown from his horse and saw the light of Jesus. They were awakened to God. What glimpses of God have awakened me ... have lighted the darkness in that quiet, safe place within me?
• Take some moments to enter that quiet, safe inner space and let God love you and fill you. He does this and wants to do it; trust in Him.
  

Sacred Space 2022 states:

“In our journey towards God we experience high moments, spots when we find ourselves on holy ground and God shows Himself.  That was the state of Saint Peter as he witnessed the Transfiguration of Jesus: ‘Lord let us build here three dwellings, for you, for Moses and for Elijah.’ Peter wanted the party to go on forever.  Jesus brought him down to earth, led him down the mountain, told him to stop talking about the vision and instead be ready for Calvary.”