Second Sunday of Lent
Reading I
Gn 22:1-2, 9a, 10-13, 15-18
God put Abraham to the test.
He called to him, "Abraham!"
"Here I am!" he replied.
Then God said:
"Take your son Isaac, your only one, whom you love,
and go to the land of Moriah.
There you shall offer him up as a holocaust
on a height that I will point out to you."
When they came to the place of which God had told him,
Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it.
Then he reached out and took the knife to slaughter his son.
But the LORD's messenger called to him from heaven,
"Abraham, Abraham!"
"Here I am!" he answered.
"Do not lay your hand on the boy," said the messenger.
"Do not do the least thing to him.
I know now how devoted you are to God,
since you did not withhold from me your own beloved son."
As Abraham looked about,
he spied a ram caught by its horns in the thicket.
So he went and took the ram
and offered it up as a holocaust in place of his son.
Again the LORD's messenger called to Abraham from heaven and said:
"I swear by myself, declares the LORD,
that because you acted as you did
in not withholding from me your beloved son,
I will bless you abundantly
and make your descendants as countless
as the stars of the sky and the sands of the seashore;
your descendants shall take possession
of the gates of their enemies,
and in your descendants all the nations of the earth shall find blessing--
all this because you obeyed my command."
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 116:10, 15, 16-17, 18-19
R. (116:9) I will walk before the Lord, in the land of the living.
I believed, even when I said,
"I am greatly afflicted."
Precious in the eyes of the LORD
is the death of his faithful ones.
R. I will walk before the Lord, in the land of the living.
O LORD, I am your servant;
I am your servant, the son of your handmaid;
you have loosed my bonds.
To you will I offer sacrifice of thanksgiving,
and I will call upon the name of the LORD.
R. I will walk before the Lord, in the land of the living.
My vows to the LORD I will pay
in the presence of all his people,
In the courts of the house of the LORD,
in your midst, O Jerusalem.
R. I will walk before the Lord, in the land of the living.
Reading II
Rm 8:31b-34
Brothers and sisters:
If God is for us, who can be against us?
He who did not spare his own Son
but handed him over for us all,
how will he not also give us everything else along with him?
Who will bring a charge against God's chosen ones?
It is God who acquits us, who will condemn?
Christ Jesus it is who died--or, rather, was raised--
who also is at the right hand of God,
who indeed intercedes for us.
Gospel
Mk 9:2-10
Jesus took Peter, James, and John
and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves.
And he was transfigured before them,
and his clothes became dazzling white,
such as no fuller on earth could bleach them.
Then Elijah appeared to them along with Moses,
and they were conversing with Jesus.
Then Peter said to Jesus in reply,
"Rabbi, it is good that we are here!
Let us make three tents:
one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah."
He hardly knew what to say, they were so terrified.
Then a cloud came, casting a shadow over them;
from the cloud came a voice,
"This is my beloved Son. Listen to him."
Suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone
but Jesus alone with them.
As they were coming down from the mountain,
he charged them not to relate what they had seen to anyone,
except when the Son of Man had risen from the dead.
So they kept the matter to themselves,
questioning what rising from the dead meant.
COMMENTARY
The story of God testing Abraham is the tenth and greatest trial for Abraham. It is a masterpiece, presenting God as the Lord whose demands are absolute, whose will is inscrutable, and whose final word is grace. Abraham shows the moral grandeur of the founder of Israel, facing God, willing to obey God’s word in all its mysterious harshness. Throughout the story, Abraham is silent, obedient, and entrusts his life and his future unconditionally to the God who calls him.
After having discussed various aspects of the new life in union with Christ and his Spirit and the reasons that provide a basis for Christian hope, Paul makes it clear in his letter to the Christians of Rome that God is on their side. From here, Paul shifts his attention to the resurrection of Christ, to which he adds a rare reference to the exaltation of Christ. Paul ascribes to the glorified Christ an activity that continues the objective aspect of human redemption: he still presents his supplication to the Father on behalf of Christians.
The Transfiguration establishes Jesus’ glorious identity as the beloved Son of God, and places his divine sonship in the context of Jewish expectations about the kingdom and resurrection. Mark presents the transfiguration as a preview or anticipation of the final coming of God’s kingdom. Among the traditional identifications of the mountain are Tabor and Hermon. Mountains are the usual settings for supernatural revelations and theophanies. “was transformed before them”: The term used by the author is metamorphōthē which indicates that the form of Jesus was changed. The disciples are thus granted a glimpse of him in his glorious state, which is to be his eternal state after the death and resurrection.
The two OT figures (Moses and Elijah) represent the Law and the Prophets. Jesus is the fulfillment of both. The reason Peter states that it was good to be there was the unique and glorious nature of the experience. Peter’s suggestion to construct three booths aims at prolonging the experience; there is probably a reference to the feast of Tabernacles (see Lev 23:39-43). Given the allusion to the Exodus in this account, the cloud should be taken to represent God’s presence just as in Exodus 16:10; 19:9; 24:15-16 and 33:9. The voice from the cloud is a heavenly voice and alludes to the identification of Jesus at the baptism. The command to hear Jesus may point to his prediction of the passion.
REFLECTION
When I ask people what image they have of Jesus I’m bombarded with a series of images of Jesus the Good Shepherd, Jesus the friend, Jesus the healer, Jesus the miracle worker, the forgiving Jesus, the glorious Jesus, the Jesus that walked with the disciples on the road to Emmaus, and the like. However, very few times do people actually speak of the suffering Jesus, the Jesus that experienced our humanity to the point of sweating blood while contemplating his passion, and felt such pain from the weight of our sins that even felt abandonment while in agony on the cross (cf. Mark 15:34 “And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, ‘Elo-i, Elo-i, lama sabach-thani?’ which means, ‘My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?’”). Why, then, do people leave out this image of Christ?
Our society equates suffering with failure in much the same way that the people of Israel did at the time of Jesus. That is why when Jesus foretells of his passion and death the apostles are confused. In fact, just prior to the moment of the Transfiguration, Jesus has admonished Peter and the rest of the apostles for standing in the way of his mission. Jesus has just spoken of the importance of denying oneself, taking up the cross and following him, yet that is perhaps one of the most difficult things for us to understand. Jesus makes it clear that only in giving oneself totally – in losing ourselves for the sake of others- do we find our true identity as his disciple. The prize that awaits those who follow in the true footsteps of Christ will one day experience the glory of the resurrection that Peter, James, and John were fortunate enough to experience briefly at the moment of the Transfiguration.
May today’s Gospel reading be for us a true inspiration that we will share in the glory of Christ’s resurrection, but never forgetting that we cannot share in his glory without sharing in his whole life – his suffering and death. Let us offer then our Lenten sacrifices to our Lord, that through these practices of Lent we may become closer to him in his suffering, that somehow through the acceptance of our daily crosses we may mystically share in the carrying of Jesus’ cross to Calvary. No matter how hard, painful, or oppressive our lives become, we must count ourselves as blessed for we can share through our suffering, in the life of our God who is love and who suffered for us, and only this type of love, grounded on suffering can carry the Cross of Christ
Biblical Sources:
New American Bible; United States Conference of Catholic Bishops; Cassuto, U., “A Commentary on the Book of Genesis”; Van Seters, J., “Abraham in History and Tradition”; Barrett, C. K., “A Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans”; Cranfield, C. E. B., “A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans”; The Collegeville Bible Commentary; Kingsbury, J.D., “The Christology of Mark’s Gospel”; Schweizer, E, “The Good News According to Mark”; Tucket, C. (ed.), “The Messianic Secret”; Brown, Raymond E., S.S., “Introduction to the New Testament”; Brown, Fitzmyer, and Murphy (ed.) “The New Jerome Biblical Commentary”.
Reflection:
Deacon Lazaro J. Ulloa