Second Sunday of Lent: What we do and what God does

 

Mark 9: 2 -10

The Word: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/022524.cfm

For after he had told the disciples of his coming Death,

on the holy mountain he manifested

to them his glory, to show, 

even by the testimony of the law and the prophets,

that the Passion leads to the glory of the Resurrection.

(From the Preface for 2nd Sunday of Lent)

This second Sunday of Lent opens with a risky test that God offered to Abraham. Neither God nor Abraham knew how this would turn out in the sense that God awaited Abraham’s response to his disturbing request: “Take your son, Isaac, your only one, whom you love, and . . . offer him up as a holocaust on a height that I will point out to you.” This was not metaphorical language but what God was requesting of Abraham he meant, at least as we hear in the opening, as a test of Abraham's faith and loyalty. Yet, what an upsetting test indeed.

God’s test of Abraham in requesting that this faithful older man slay his only son as a burnt offering, a human sacrifice, which is repulsive on first blush.  How can God be serious about such a request?  God had given Abraham the son he and Sarah longed for all their married life and now God seeks that Abraham return him. Abraham and Sarah a very old, near the end of their lives, and Isaac's presence has only brought them joy and gratitude. He was their promised heir. 

Abraham, seemingly without question, obeys God's command. Although we are not given any insight into his fatherly heart, surely he was deeply conflicted but carried on. At the very last second, the messenger of God stops him and reminds Abraham that this "test" was pleasing to God for Abraham's single minded devotion to God's outlandish command. 

He passed the disturbing test and God rewarded his heroic trust. In fact, God rewards Abraham abundantly, in a sense out of balance with Abraham’s obedience.  Not only does he reward him, but God also goes beyond and grants him an eternal memorial, makes his descendants countless as “the stars in the sky and sands of the seashore.!” What Abraham did and what God does in response should give us all pause to examine our own life considering what this extraordinary man did. God’s overwhelming generosity and abundance we know did not end with Abraham but carried on in the ministry of Jesus. What Jesus does, God does.

Abraham and Isaac foreshadow the even greater sacrifice of Jesus on the cross who went willingly to that sacrifice and carried out his own Father’s will for the salvation of humanity. Our second reading from Romans reminds us: "He who did not spare his own Son but handed him over for us all” compels us to believe that, as Paul states, God is truly “for us.” In response to our sin, what we did, God answers by providing his Son who takes upon himself our guilt, nails it to the cross, and grants us the promise of eternity in the resurrection.  What God does is far beyond what we can do.  

In the Gospel story of the transfiguration Jesus appears in divine glory with Moses and Elijah and prepares Peter, James and John for the scandal of the cross.  Both the story of Abraham and the vision of the transfiguration of Jesus are vivid biblical events of faith and trust and an example to us in this season of personal renewal and conversion that may test our faith, or lack thereof. God sent his Son in our nature who sacrificed himself out of overwhelming love for the salvation of humanity; a truth we cannot ignore. In Jesus appearance with Moses and Elijah, the sacred Law and the ancient prophetic voices, remind us that our salvation was a plan of God since the beginning.  

At the sin of our first parents, God already plotted that he will save humanity. The whole ancient Covenant with Abraham in the desert and Moses on Mt. Sinai, along with the voices of the prophets before the coming of Christ, all were calling us to prepare for the only Son of the Father, God himself, who would come to rescue us. In this Lenten season, as we journey towards Holy Week, we are reminded today of this profound truth, as these three privileged Apostles were before the dramatic days of Jesus capture, suffering, death and resurrection. 

So, what may be testing our own faith; our trust in God so starkly shown us in Abraham? Was God clear with Abraham in the original promise he made? Abram had no idea how far God would test him but nonetheless trusted in his promises. Such unabashed pure faith is our call as well. 

Was Mary given a clear plan of direction when the Angel Gabriel requested she be the human mother of the Son of God? Was Joseph given satisfaction that Mary was truly pregnant through divine intervention?  No to all three questions yet they trusted in what God asked of them, regardless of clarity. The same is true for us when our own faith is tested.  To walk by faith and not by sight is St. Paul’s advice and to allow God to do what he does for what he does is far more than what we may expect.

So, in Lent, prayer, fasting and offering acts of charity towards others are the classic ways for us to prepare for the Lord’s sacrifice but also remind us of our ultimate destiny.  That we too must sacrifice ourselves ultimately at the end of this life and will need to let go of everything and surrender ourselves to God’s extravagant love and mercy. God's covenant with us is his promise of mercy and forgiveness for those who sincerely seek it. 

Our gathering at the Eucharist is the fruit of Jesus’ obedience to his Father’s will.  He gave his life for us and now offers his body and blood as our food in this journey of life and tests our loyalty to him.  May the grace of this season overwhelm us with confidence in the word of God made flesh as we too surrender our very selves with an Abrahamic obedience.