Wednesday, March 1, 2023

March 05, 2023; 2nd Sunday of Lent; (Year A)

Readings: Gen. 12:1-4; 2 Timothy 1:8-10; Matthew 17:1-9

 

We Have Moved!

 

1.    Today, God calls us, as Abram was, to move from where we are to the land God would show us. “Go forth from the land of your kinsfolk and from your father’s house to a land that I will show you.”(Gen. 12:1). This call implies God’s choice, mission, and promise.  

 

2.    God calls us not because we are good, what we have done, or what we own, but because God loves us. “It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain.” (Jn. 15:16). To Timothy, Paul said: “He saved us and called us to a holy life, not according to our works but according to his own design and the grace bestowed on us in Christ Jesus before time began.” (2 Tim.1:9). Isaiah tells us, “O Israel: Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name: you are mine.” (Is. 43:1). God calls and designates us for his mission: “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, before you were born, I dedicated you, a prophet to the nations I appointed you.” (Jer. 1:5).  

 

3.    God’s mission may entail sacrifices. God calls us to take action that may mean leaving our safe environment, the familiar, the known, the tested, and the tried to the unknown, unfamiliar, and the untried. Sometimes it demands speaking different languages and living with people of different cultures, races, and creeds. We may have to change our lifestyles, like missionaries who must leave their countries to preach the gospel in foreign lands. Abram went through these and more. He moved from the land of his birth, leaving behind a prosperous commercial area to settle in a land that was relatively primitive and underdeveloped. Paul reminds us to “Bear your share of hardship for the Gospel.” (2 Tim. 1:8). God’s mission for Abram was to establish a new covenant with him. “Walk in my presence and be blameless. Between you and me I will establish my covenant, and I will multiply you exceedingly.” (Gen 17:1-2). God would change his name to Abraham and make him a father of many nations. 

 

4.    As Christians, our mission is to love our family, community, job, church, and friends. Our relationship with God determines how we do this. The closer and more intimate our relationship is with God, the stronger our commitment will be to those we serve. God calls us to move from our emotional stagnation, social ineptitude, moral decadence, spiritual stupor, psychological blindness, spiritual laziness, mental slavery, and physiological sloppiness and experience a transformation brought about by our obedience to God’s will. Our mission here and now is to wake from our sleep, change our hearts, and redirect our steps toward God and our neighbor so that we may receive our reward - salvation. St. Paul exhorts us: “And do this because you know the time; it is the hour now for you to awake from sleep. For our salvation is nearer now than we first believed; the night is advanced, and the day is at hand. Let us then throw off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; let us conduct ourselves properly as in the day, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in promiscuity and licentiousness, not in rivalry and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the desires of the flesh.” (Rom. 13:11-14).

 

5.    The promise of a better life is rooted in God’s plan for us. “For I know well the plans I have in mind for you, plans for your welfare, not for woe! Plans to give you a future full of hope. When you call me, when you go to pray to me, I will listen to you. When you look for me, you will find me. Yes, when you seek me with all your heart, you will find me with you, and I will change your lot.” (Jer. 29: 11-14). God promised to be with his chosen people. He is faithful to his promises. In Abram’s case, God promised him, posterity. Before the promise was made, Abraham was 75, and his wife, Sarah, was 65; both were childless. Yet, God visited them and gave them a child who became the father of nations, as promised.

 

6.    The Gospel of today reflects the Transfiguration of Christ on Mount Tabor. Christ had to move up to be transfigured. He left the known to the unknown and found a blessing, a confirmation, and affirmation of his identity and mission. In this scene were Peter, James, and John. They will be present again at the garden of Gethsemane. They, who witnessed the glory of Christ on the mountaintop, would also see his agony in the garden. Now they are prepared to face the scandal of the cross. Jesus called them to be in communion with him, to see his glory and splendor on that beautiful mountain. He will call them again for support during the lowest point of his life, as he struggles to do his father’s will. He will need them to pray with him and be prepared for their mission.

 

7.    Before the transfiguration, there was a lot of argument about the person of Christ. Who was he? Was Christ in doubt of his identity and mission as well? In Matthew 16, he asked his disciples at Caesarea Philippi, “Who do people say the Son of Man is.” This may have been a hot topic at the time. At the Transfiguration, God answered that question definitively in the presence of Moses (the law) and Elijah (the prophets), “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” (Mt. 17:5). 

 

8.    God called his Son and gave him a mission and a promise. His mission was confirmed, and his blessing assured. He was to save the world and be raised from the dead for his blessing. “Because of this, God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bend, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.” (Phil. 2:9-11).

 

9.    On this 2nd Sunday of Lent, God calls us to move from the known to the unknown. He has put a sign on our doors, warning those who do business with us that we have moved. We have moved from darkness, selfishness, sin, division, backwardness, unforgiveness, and mercilessness to a place of light, peace, and joy. God calls us to be transformed and transfigured into a new existence, to be members of Christ's kingdom—a kingdom of peace, love, and joy. “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own, so that you may announce the praises” of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” (1 Peter 2:9). We must listen to Christ and walk with him daily, thinking, speaking, and relating as he does. We must leave our selfish ways behind and embrace Christ’s selfless ways. We must die to ourselves and live for others. So, my friends, look around you; perhaps there are some habits you may want to leave behind as you move: habits like drunkenness, being engrossed in pleasure-seeking, quarreling, and tearing people apart. Or laziness that creates problems in your family. Tell Jesus in prayer that you are ready to move and leave those vices behind. Move then to the land that God will show you and receive the promise that awaits you so that, like Peter, you will say: “Lord, it is good for us to be here.”

 

                            Rev. Augustine Etemma Inwang, MSP.

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