DOCTRINE AND FAITH
(Genesis 22,1-2.9.10-1. 3.15-18; Rom 8,31-34; Mark 9,2-10; 2nd Sunday of Lent: Year B: 25th February 2018)
The liturgy of today prepares us for the celebration of Christ’s paschal mystery by discussing two events of his life, sacrifice and resurrection. The first reading has, as its main theme, the sacrifice of Abraham while the gospel treats, as its theme the resurrection of Christ by narrating his Transfiguration Christ. The first reading refers to the episode in which God puts Abraham to test. He has to take his son, his only and beloved son and sacrifice him as victim of holocaust. It is a test that God willed and wanted in order that his intimacy with Abraham may be deepened. We have to bear in mind that for the Jew sacrifice was not seen as a negative reality because it united one with God. Nowadays, we do not appreciate this positive aspect of sacrifice. We are, however, expected to discover the deep and rich value of this aspect. With unbounded generosity Abraham disposed himself to offer his only beloved son to God in order to be united, mysteriously, to him. But at the point Abraham took up the matchet to immolate his son, the angel of the Lord stopped him saying: Abraham, Abraham … do not raise your hand against the boy… do not harm him. God’s intention was not to get Isaac immolated, not even immolated in the positive prospect that sacrifice would unite Abraham with him. The angel realised that Abraham did not hesitate to immolate his only son as he affirmed: … for now I know you fear God. You have not refused me your son, your only son. The immolation of Isaac which, in reality, was not perfected became the source of immense blessings. God said to him: I will multiply your descendants the stars in heaven and the grain of sands in the sea shore…All the nations of the earth shall bless themselves by your descendants, as a reward for your obedience. In this way the fecundity of sacrifice is revealed.
In the second reading, Paul shows that God himself made some sacrifice for not sparing his only begotten Son, just as Abraham did not spare his only son. Normally, we do not consider the death of Jesus as a sorrowful sacrifice on the part of God the Father; but it was really so. In the sacrifice of Christ, the infinite generosity of God the Father was revealed. What is more, Jesus sacrificed himself, thereby, adhering completely to this generosity of the Father. The first moment of God’s sacrifice was that he gave to us his only Son. John the Evangelist affirmed: God so loved the world as to give his only Son, so that whoever that believes … will have eternal life. This extraordinary generosity of God aroused much admiration in Paul and, at the same time, generated unlimited confidence as he affirmed: Since God did not spare his own Son, but gave him up to benefit us all, we may be certain, after such a gift, that he will not refuse anything he can give. The other things which God gave to us are certainly less important than the gift of his only Son. The sacrifice of Jesus generates immense confidence in us as Paul holds that nothing on earth, in the underworld as well as in the heavens will accuse or condemn us whom God has chosen and justified. The summit of the affirmation of Paul’s confidence is when he categorically affirms that Christ himself would not even condemn us for … he not only died for us - he rose from the dead, and there at God’s right hand he stands and pleads for us. One can see how today’s first two readings of show the positive aspects of Jesus’ sacrifice. One has to bear in mind that the sacrifice of Isaac is considered as the prefiguration of that of Christ.
The gospel reading narrates the episode of the transfiguration. This event has an evident connection with the glorification of Jesus. Here the glory of the resurrection is anticipated, even before the actual sacrifice of the cross. God declares him as his beloved Son and invites his disciples to listen to him. In this episode that took place on a mountain Jesus took with him three privileged disciples of his: Peter, James and John to prepare them against the scandal of the passion which he announced not long before then. At that moment of announcement, Peter did not understand the mystery of the passion in a positive manner and, therefore, opposed it. But the transfiguration illuminated the identity of Jesus before his passion. In this way they were able to enter into the mystery of his passion in a positive way without being devastated. The passion is a mystery of suffering but can be considered a blessed passion because it is a mystery of extraordinary love on the part of Christ. The Transfiguration helps to better interpret the resurrection of Jesus. If there was no Transfiguration with the attendant declaration of God, This is my beloved Son, the resurrection and the paschal mystery of Jesus would not have been well appreciated in all its depth. Indeed to understand the passion and resurrection, it was necessary to know beforehand that he who would be suffering and glorified was not just a simple normal person but the Son of God who incarnated to save us. In this way the light of the transfiguration illumined not only the passion of Jesus but also his resurrection. Through the light of the Transfiguration we also know that the Son of God again takes up again the glory which he was possessing before the foundation of the world. In the resurrection, the man Jesus was revealed as the true Son of God. He was not an adopted Son of God as some heretics were holding, but in reality the Son of eternal God.
It is not surprising that in his second Letter, Peter was insisting on the event of the Transfiguration. This is because through the transfiguration we come to the profound knowledge of the paschal mystery of Jesus, that is to say, that he who suffers is the Son of God, that he who is glorified is the Son of God. Jesus was the Son of God before he received in his humanity all his filial glory through the mystery of his love which was the passion. We thank God for the gift of this event of the Transfiguration of Jesus which helps us to contemplate his glory. For us, it is beneficial to reflect on this very event and on its importance for our life of faith.
The liturgy of this second Sunday of Lent challenges us to examine if our obedience to God’s will is spontaneous and total as that of Abraham. The Transfiguration reveals the identity of Jesus as the Son of God to whom we should listen to. Do I listen to the inspirations of Jesus through the insinuations of the Holy Spirit? May we, therefore, during this period of Lent work towards growing more and more intimate with Christ, through prayer, penance, alms giving and reception of Sacraments. Happy Sunday! +John I. Okoye
graphics by charles
graphics by charles
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