SECOND SUNDAY OF LENT

SUNDAY, MARCH 13, 2022

SECOND SUNDAY OF LENT

FIRST READING: GENESIS 15:5-12, 17-18

SECOND READING: PHILIPPIANS 3:17–4:1

GOSPEL: LUKE 9:28-36

During Lent, while the Gospels are designed to move us closer to the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus, the first readings give an overview of salvation history capturing major episodes in the history of salvation that is fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

The first reading today captures a very special moment in the history of salvation, namely, the covenant with Abraham. It is God’s initiative to enter into a personal relationship with humanity which had been destroyed, but it is also a reward of obeying and having faith in God. God promises to make Abraham, father of a multitude and to give him a land. Through Him all the nations will be blessed. It is only in the light of Christ that Abraham truly becomes the father of a multitude, the nations of the earth blessed, and in Him, we have an eternal dwelling, not an earthly homeland but a heavenly homeland. 

The Gospel today presents us the transfiguration of Jesus which prefigures the transformation in glory to which we are called by our sharing in the paschal mystery of Christ.

Throughout the scriptures, setting or rather geography is a crucial and integral part of any story and sometimes theological. On the first week of Lent, the Gospel took us to the desert where Jesus remained for 40 days and 40 nights praying and fasting and was tempted by the devil. Desert is a place of testing but especially, a place of encounter and intimacy with God. In Hosea 2: 14, we read, “Thus said the lord: I will allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak to her heart.  She shall respond there as in the days of her youth when she came up from Egypt.” 

On this Sunday, the setting is a mountain. Luke presents his Gospel story as the story of a new and greater exodus. He uses the same setting for the stories that are integral part of the exodus story.  Just as in the first Exodus, Moses went up to the mountain with three special companions to encounter God, Jesus takes three special disciples on another mountain to encounter with the divine.

This story appears in all three  synoptic gospels but none of the evangelists tells us the name of the mountain. We can only assume that for the evangelists, a mountain is primarily a theological and spiritual rather than a mere geographical setting. Early Christian tradition liked to fill in the gaps, and that is okay. So, by the third century there were two contenders for the setting of the transfiguration: Mount Tabor to the south west of the sea of Galilee and Mount Hermon to the north of the Caesarea Philippi. Mathew, Mark and Luke all place the story of the transfiguration some days after the story of Jesus asking His disciples, “who do you say I am.” Matthew and Mark set this episode in the district of Caesarea Philippi. Luke doesn’t mention where this episode is set.

If Mount Tabor were the site of the transfiguration, Jesus and his disciples would have travelled southwards from Caesarea Philippi and if Mount Hermon were the site of the transfiguration, Jesus and the disciples would have travelled a considerably shorter distance just to the north of Caesarea Philippi. But by the fourth century, Christian tradition settled for Mount Tabor and a basilica commemorating the transfiguration was built there and pilgrims will climb the difficult slope of the mountain which has 4,300 steps cut into the rock.  However, the evangelists were not concerned with the precise geographical location of the mountain because it is far less important than the theological motif that mountains are places of revelation and encounter with the Divine. To go up hill means to rise from the valley of sin and materialism and aspire for the divine, it is to ascend towards God.

We cannot all go climbing mountains, but we can create a mountain experience even within our crowded lives. St Luke tells us, Jesus took Peter James and John and they went up the mountain to pray. The transfiguration of Jesus is first of all a prayer experience, As He prayed, the aspect of his face was changed and his clothing became brilliant as lightning. Suddenly Moses and Elijah were seen discussing with Jesus about His exodus that He was to accomplish. Moses is the symbol of the law and Elijah the prophets. Their presence tells us that Jesus is the fulfilment of the law and the prophets. The prophets depicted the future age of salvation as a new exodus when God will intervene and save His people in a way similar to the way He saved them from Egypt. His exodus refers to His passion, death, resurrection and ascension into heaven. The first exodus began in Egypt and ended in the promised land, the land God promised to Abraham in the first reading, but the second exodus will begin in Jerusalem and end in the new and better promised land; heaven, that is why the Gospel of Luke concludes with the ascension of the Lord.

Lent is a time of intense prayer, penance and self-renunciation. This is not the kind of message many modern christians want to hear, much less a very materialistic society. As hard to accept and as unpleasant as it may be, it constitutes the test and proof of the authenticity of our will to follow and imitate Jesus. That is why in the second reading, St. Paul warns the Philippians against the examples of those who live as enemies of the cross of Christ. What does it mean to live as enemies of the cross? Paul gives specific examples; their god is their stomach – they are concerned only about what to eat and drink. They worry only about earthly things. Paul says, their end is destruction.

Lent invites us to rise from the things of world and journey to the mountain top to encounter God.

Happy Sunday

Rev. Fr.  Chidi Onwuka MSSCC