DOCTRINE AND
FAITH
(Genesis
12,1-4; 1 Tim 1,8-10; Matt 17,1-9: 2nd Sun of Lent: Year A)
The
focal point of the story of Jesus’ Transfiguration is the revelation of His
sonship by God the Father: This
is my Son, the beloved; he enjoys my favour: Listen to Him. This
expression is the summary of the mystery of our faith and the salvation, which
Jesus wrought for us. The important question is: What I am to do in order to
benefit from this salvation? The answer is: I am to believe in
Jesus Christ as the Son of God the Father. It is only such a belief that will
save me from my sins, get me reconciled with God, the Father, help me
overcome death and give me eternal life. Paul exclaims in the 2nd reading: He
abolished death, and he has promised life and immortality through the Good
News. The believe in Christ, should not remain on the
abstract/intellectual level, but should be felt on the concrete level of close
relationship with Christ shown by following his teachings and examples. All
through his life, Christ sought and followed the will of God, even when that
meant death on the cross for him.
However,
such belief in Christ is easy to say but difficult to do for two reasons. The
first reason is that the words of Jesus, his teaching and his examples
continuously challenge us; in our selfishness, vices, sins, worldly mentality
and our materialistic vision of things. The words and examples of Jesus
generate crisis in us and for this reason we do not take them very seriously,
as they entail that we need to change our lives and actions
radically. The second reason is that paying heed to Jesus would mean taking the
steps which Abraham took. Indeed what God demanded from Abraham is also what
Jesus expects from us: that we move out not from our land, but from our
selfishness, our short-sightedness; that we abandon our human securities, not
reposing our security on worldly goods, honour, pleasures, power, which can
neither give happiness nor save us; that we follow the
way that Christ has indicated to us, and not the path, which we or
the world wants us to follow.
To
listen to Jesus, as the voice of God the Father exhorts us today in the gospel
reading, entails that we believe like Abraham, that is to say, to completely
trust in and rely upon Him. Listening to Jesus means getting convinced that he
is absolutely faithful to his promises, will never deceive and delude us. On
the other hand, He would transform all the sacrifices he demands from us to
benefits beyond our expectations. We know that there are some difficulties to
overcome. One of them is the sense of uncertainty we always feel, for Jesus
does not disclose to us the way he is guiding us and sometimes it looks like he
is leading us on ways that contradict common sense. It is in such situations
that faith has its merit. We should allow ourselves to be guided trustfully by
the Lord, just as a child trusts his mother because he is sure that the mother
thinks of his wellbeing. We wish, therefore, beginning from this Lent to
seriously believe, or rather entrust ourselves wholly to the Lord, doing all he
asks us to do, living according to his teaching even when these entail giving
up our legitimate rights in order to make sacrifices.
Times
of suffering are the moments we sometimes doubt the will of God and have little
trust in Him. Even the disciples were scandalized and taken aback when Jesus
predicted his passion on Mount Calvary and called upon them to share in his
suffering and humiliation: He
who wishes to follow me, let him deny himself (Matt 16,
24-28). At his transfiguration Jesus manifested his divinity, anticipated for a
moment the glory of his future resurrection, guaranteed his apostles that they
could always trust him, that the cross/suffering lasts only for a brief moment
and that the resurrection is the definitive goal. We have relevant questions to
ask ourselves: Do we now believe that it is through suffering that God saves
us? Do we trust God who allows our daily crosses in order to bring us into our
Transfiguration? Are we willing to begin to accept our own tribulations and
unite them to the sufferings of Christ for our salvation and the redemption of
the world? Even Saint Paul invites us as he exhorts in the Second
reading: With me, bear the
hardship for the sake of the Good News, relying on the power of God. May
we, therefore, pray at the Eucharistic celebration of this second Sunday of
Lent that the good Lord may give us all the graces we need to always listen to
Jesus by following his life and example and to have the courage to take up our
crosses and follow him, assured that by God’s graces they will lead us to our
salvation. +John I. Okoye
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