Every year the Second Sunday of Lent commemorates the stage in salvation history marked by the call of Abraham, the father of the Jewish, Moslem, and Christian believers. The Book of Genesis devotes thirteen chapters to Abrahams deeds, beginning with his departure from his homeland of Chaldea. We find though, what is of interest to believers today is not, strictly speaking, Abraham’s doings—his biography, his adventures—taken in themselves. What interests them are the roots of their own stories, the way in which God acts towards them and leads them, the answer they must give to God’s calls in order to see themselves also actively integrated in this sacred history. Now from all these points of view, Abraham’s journey remains and will remain exemplary. What is more, it is a revelation.
Above all things, what is revealed is God’s faithfulness and initiative. He set Noah apart and gave him a rainbow as a sign of his covenant. (Gen 2:7-9; 3:1-7) he granted him posterity of which Abraham is an offspring.
This sovereign initiative on God’s part is expressed by a command that admits of no objection “Go from the land of your kinsfolk,” matched by a promise: “I will make you a great nation and I will bless you…. All the communities of the earth shall find blessing in you,” this, after having been scattered following the confusion of tongues at the tower of Babel (Gen 11:1-9)
The response God expects from Abraham—and from all believers—is an act of faith, hope, and obedience. The case of Abraham is exemplary. “He believed, hoping against hope…..He did not doubt God’s promise in unbelief; rather, he was empowered by faith and gave. Glory to God and was fully convinced that what he had promised he was also able to do. That is why ‘it was credited to him as righteous.’ But it was not for him alone that it was written that ‘it was credited to him’; it was also for us.” (Rom 4:18-23)
Sacred history begins with the story of disobedience (Gen 2-3) and its consequences punctuated by four curses. The call of Abraham signals a reversal of sacred history. After Noah, Abraham is the father of a new human race: that of believers whom God blesses.
This blessing will be shared by “all the communities on earth” which will stand behind Abraham, the prototype of the believer and of the blessed one, whose name will become synonymous with benediction. Abraham is, so to speak, the believer from whom blessings will spread. In Christ Jesus, and in him alone, all blessings will be recapitulated, as Paul will write: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens…..[He had] as a plan for the fullness of time, to sum up all things in Christ, in heaven and on earth.”
It is this faith and hope that Christians celebrate when they remember Abraham. They entreat God to bless them according to the promise made to our fathers, “to Abraham and to his descendants forever.)
“Lord let your mercy be upon us as we place all our hope in you.”
Saint Paul tells us “God’s blessing, the object of the promise, was poured out in the whole universe” through the appearance of our Saviour Christ Jesus, who destroyed death and brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel. He also tells us “Bear your share of hardship for the Gospel with the strength that comes from God.” Because he tells us in another place: “God saved us and called us to a holy life, not according to our works but according to his own design and the grace bestowed upon us.”
To the Christian community assembled to celebrate the Second Sunday of Lent Matthews Gospel presents a vision of Christ in glory, anticipating his appearance on the last day. Jesus’ transfiguration, which three of his disciple’s witness, happens suddenly, on God’s initiative. The event takes place on “a high mountain” a place to which God descends and humans go up to meet him and which in the prophetic tradition, is an evocation of God’s manifestation on the last day. Jesus’ “face shone like the sun and his clothes became as white as light.” According to the Book of Daniel, the just will know such a transfiguration on the last day. (Dan 12:1-3). Jesus has just announced the return of the Son of Man “in his Father’s glory” And suddenly, Peter, James, and John see Jesus resplendent with divine light and whiteness—this same Jesus with whom, only a few moments before, they were climbing the slope; this same Jesus who, soon afterward, will resume in their eyes his usual appearance; this same Jesus whom, later on, they will see disfigured by human outrages and hung on the shameful cross.
The three disciples will bear witness to this vision when the risen Jesus will have been “taken up to glory” the glory the Father “gave him.” The Gospel of the Transfiguration illuminates the Lenten pilgrimage of the Church. The tragedy of the cross is not thereby lessened, but it is placed in the perspective of the Easter radiance. The experience of the Transfiguration teaches today’s Christians, as it taught Peter, James, and John yesterday, that through his death, Jesus has become “the Lord of Glory” and that his ultimate manifestation is approaching.
The presence of Moses and Elijah, who appear at Jesus’ side and converse with him, has never ceased to intrigue those who read about the Transfiguration. It is often said that they personify the Law and the Prophets. But this is not everyone’s view. Some see in Moses and Elijah the two witnesses Revelation speaks of (Rev 11:3-7). Others cite Jesus’ word, “Elijah will indeed come and restore all things; but I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognise him but did what ever they pleased” The evangelist adds, “Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them of John the Baptist,” Finally, we can quote from the Book Of Malachi: “Lo I will send you Elijah, the prophet, before the day of the Lord comes, that great and terrible day.” Had not Elijah been taken up into heaven. In a fiery chariot (2 Kings 2:11-13) As for Moses, who died in Moab “was buried in the ravine opposite Beth-peor….to this day no-one knows the place of his burial.”
If we take into account this ensemble of traditions, the presence of Moses and Elijah appearing at Jesus’ side suggests that the Transfiguration is a vision of the Lord’s glory that will be revealed when he returns. This is a marvellous vision, which Peter, in ecstasy, wants to last forever, as if the last times have arrived, as if the moment to set up eternal dwellings has already come. In response to Peter’s proposal, “a bright cloud cast a shadow over them.” Light and shadow, the cloud is, in the Bible, “a very special symbol signifying the mystery of the divine presence: it manifests God by veiling him.” The Hebrew word designating this luminous shadow—Shekhinah—first meant “Dwelling (tent).” It came to designate the “Personal presence of God” and finally became the very name of God. “Then the cloud covered the meeting tent and the glory of the Lord filled the dwelling. Moses could not enter the meeting tent, because the cloud settled down upon it and the glory of the Lord filled the dwelling.” And the angel said to Mary, “The power of the most high will overshadow you. Therefore, the child to be born will be called holy, Son of God.”
But the three disciples are not only spectators of the incandescent transformation of Jesus, they find themselves immersed in the light of the cloud from which a voice is coming, “This is my beloved Son…..listen to him.” He is the new Moses of the new covenant, the one to whom we must listen when he says, “You have heard that it was said…..But I say to you….” Saint John of the cross tells us: “For, in giving us as He did, His Son, which is His Word—and He has no other—He spoke to us all together, once and for all, in this single Word, and He has no occasion to speak further…..’
Jesus speaks with the authority of the beloved Son, which he delegated to his apostles on the mountain in Galilee: “All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.” The mystery of the transfiguration concerns the entire Church—all Christians! The voice is addressed to us with particular force during Lent when the insistent call to conversion resounds.
On hearing the voice from the cloud, the disciples fell prostrate before him whom Peter calls “Lord.” In a gesture of adoration, which is always an attitude befitting a believer. Likewise, anyone who calls Jesus “Lord”. This title and this prostration underline the meaning of the vision on the “high mountain”: the transfigured Jesus is the risen Lord who will return at the end of time. For the disciples living today, between these two manifestations, the attitude and manner of addressing Jesus must be the same as they were for the first disciples.
On the road to Easter, the Church does not grope its way in darkness. The faith that animates the Church is not a blind trust in God saying to it, “Go forth…..to a land that I will show you.” The luminous cloud that leads it is not only before it, the mountaintop is aglow with it. It illuminates the entire road up to its end where the Lord of glory awaits the whole Church. Life and immortality shine brightly through the preaching of the Gospel. The glory of Christ already enfolds the believers. With the reflection of his light in their eyes, the echo of the Father’s voice in their hearts, they walk toward the city that has no need for the light of the sun or of the moon;
“For the glory of God [is its] light, and its lamp [is] the Lamb.” (Rev 21:23)
