March 13, 2022, Second Sunday of Lent (Year C)
Last week we read about the renowned theologian, Brant Pitre, and his thoughts on the themes of the readings for the Lenten season. He suggests that they are written to expose the catechumens and candidates preparing for Baptism and Confirmation during Lent to certain aspects of salvation history and that sometimes there is no common theme between the readings. But if we look closely at today’s passages, we can see that each includes a common aspect, one which includes God’s revelation to some of the most notable characters in the Bible.
It first begins in the reading from Genesis (Gen. 15:5-12, 17-18) with Abraham, the Father of Israel. God has promised Abraham that he will be the progenitor of countless generations more numerous than the stars. God also promises Abraham that He will give him the land of Canaan as his own possession.
When Abraham asks God how he will know that this is going to happen, God makes an unusual covenant with Abraham, one which was common to the Ancient Near East at the time. Abraham is told to bring several types of animals and to split them in half and Abraham does what God asks of him. He remains with the carcasses of the animals while a trance falls upon him. Then in the midst of the terrifying darkness, Abraham witnesses “a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch, which passes between those pieces.” (Gen. 15:17).
Notice that the passage tells us that “Abram put his faith in the LORD, who credited it to him as an act of righteousness” (Gen. 15:6). Abraham puts his unwavering faith in God and believes all of the promises that God has made to him. He does this, after all, because he has had a personal revelation from God who has spoken directly to Abraham and made his presence known in the form of the fire pot and the flaming torch.
When we come to the Gospel (Lk. 9:28b-36), we encounter men who have had similar personal experiences with God. This is the passage known as the Transfiguration where Jesus takes Peter, James, and John with him up the mountain to pray and there they have a vision of his face changing in appearance and his clothes becoming dazzling white. Then they see Jesus conversing with Moses and Elijah who, in their day, had also experienced special revelations from God.
For Moses it was when he was tending sheep for his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian (Exod. 3:1-9). Leading the flock beyond the wilderness, he came to the mountain of God, Horeb. Here he encountered a burning bush which was not consumed by the flames, and he heard the voice of God calling to him, “Moses! Moses!” (Exod. 3:4). It was then that Moses received his commission to return to Egypt to help God release the Israelites from their burden of slavery.
Elijah, one of the main prophets of the Old Testament had his own unique encounter with God. After a violent confrontation with the pagan prophets of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel, Elijah fled to the same mountain as Moses, Mount Horeb, and hid in a cave for fear of his life. (1Kngs. 19:1-21). But the word of the Lord came to him and asked him why he was hiding. God instructed Elijah to go out and stand on the mountain and wait for the Lord to pass by. There Elijah experienced a strong and violent wind, crushing rocks, an earthquake, and a fire. But God was not present in any of these phenomena. Finally, Elijah detected God in the small, still silence. This was when he received instructions to return home, to anoint a new king, and to engage Elisha to be his successor.
In the story of the Transfiguration, Peter, James, and John are also privy to a personal revelation from God. At first, as mentioned earlier, it is their vision of a transformed Jesus conversing with the glorified Moses and Elijah. Although they had been overcome with sleep, they witness the glory of Jesus. Peter is so excited that he wants to honor them by building a tent for each of them, a ritualistic representation of the joy of the Jewish Feast of Booths.
While Peter is still speaking a cloud casts a shadow over them. This cloud is symbolic of the presence of the Lord often found in the Old Testament, as for example, the pillar of a cloud that led the Israelites through the desert in the wilderness. They also hear the voice of God speak to them saying, “This is my chosen Son; listen to him” (Lk. 9:35). This is their commission to be faithful disciples and carry on the work of the Gospel in the name of Jesus.
All of these men – Abraham, Moses, Elijah, and Peter, James, and John – had a unique experience where they personally encountered the presence of God, hearing God’s voice commission them for a special vocation. During this season of Lent, we might consider our own experiences of the presence of God. They may not be as obvious as they are in these passages from the Bible so we may have to look closely for them.
We might find these encounters with God in a concrete way in ordinary circumstances. We might feel God’s presence or detect God speaking in the advice of a friend or relative. We might discern God calling in the glory of nature, the beauty of a sunrise or the vastness of the ocean. And, lastly, we might hear God’s voice in the words of the priest at Mass as we experience and partake of Christ’s true body and blood in the Eucharist. What is most important is that we keep our hearts, and we keep our minds keenly open to an awareness of the divine in our everyday, ordinary lives. We must listen carefully and closely as God speaks.
