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First Reading: Genesis 15:5-12, 17-18
Responsorial: Psalm 27:1, 7-9, 13-14
Second Reading: Philippians 3:17-4:1 OR Philippians 3:20-4:1
Gospel: Luke 9:28b-36
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/031322.cfm
In today’s reading, Jesus climbs a mountain with Peter, James, and John. And while they are on that mountaintop experience, Jesus is transfigured. Jesus’ real identity is revealed. In the awesomeness of that experience, Peter, James, and John want to hold on to it. So, Peter tells Jesus, “Let me build three tents, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” They wanted to stay connected to God in that place, in the relative safety of that mountain. They did not fully understand their call, to go out into the world to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ – not yet at least.
Just a few passages down in this same section of Luke, Luke says that Jesus set his face resolutely on Jerusalem. It is a journey that leads Jesus to the cross. There are some people who say and have told me that clearly, Jesus failed. Look at that corpse on that cross? How can that be any sign of success? People like that don’t understand how God can use the resurrection to transform an instrument of state terror into a radical act of love.
On the mountain, Moses and Elijah speak to Jesus about his exodus. What does the word “exodus” mean to you? When I hear the word exodus, I’m immediately taken back to Hebrew Scriptures, to that defining moment in the history of the Jewish people, when the chosen are led out of slavery, to freedom.
My brothers and sisters, we too are being called to an act of transformation. We’re being called to an exodus to go out into the desert for these 40 days of Lent. Is exodus easy? No, it wasn’t easy for the Jews, right? They wandered around the desert for 40 years. It took a lifetime to reach the promised land and that in itself is worth spending some time unpacking. Scripture tells us that the Jews complained, “let us go back into the arms of slavery! Better to die a slave with a full belly than to die in the desert, hungry.” Sometimes it takes a radical act on our part, to cause us to examine the things we’re attached to.
When I hear the word exodus, I can’t help but think of all those people coming across the Polish border from Ukraine. When I see those images, mainly images of women carrying small children and the elderly trying to get to safety, they’re not carrying very much with them. What will they do? Where will they go? Can you imagine what it would feel like to walk in their shoes? To pack a backpack and just walk to a foreign country, not knowing whether I’d ever see my family or friends again, let alone my house?
When we lived overseas, there was an anti-immigrant sentiment that swept across Europe. And in fact, in Poland, there is one political party that called for the construction of a wall on the border with Ukraine to keep out Ukrainian immigrants who are stealing, Polish jobs.
Almost all of that sentiment has disappeared today. In fact, one of those politicians Wojciech Bakun who’s the mayor of a village on the Polish side of the border, just this week was being interviewed and asked for more assistance so that his little town of 60,000 people can serve more refugees. <1> What a radical about-face brought about by sitting in close proximity to the real face of evil – not the evil that politicians like to talk about – but the real face of evil has caused some Christians in Poland to wake up and let go of strange teaching.
The Knights of Columbus in Poland and Ukraine are setting the example for all of us, just like the Knights of Columbus in our own parish, who would give you the shirt off their back or their last dollar if you were in trouble, the Knights in Poland and Ukraine have set up mercy huts on the Polish side of the border. A mercy hut is a place where people can get a hot meal or coffee and clean water free of charge. The Knights internationally first deployed mercy huts during World War One to serve refugees – European refugees fleeing the combat zone. Here we are 100 years later, deploying mercy huts again in Europe to serve European refugees leaving a combat zone. It’s almost overwhelming but it’s also inspiring.
Our readings today, particularly in light of current events, challenge us to change just like Abraham who answered the call in our first reading. We’re being asked to answer the call and go out onto our exodus journey for 40 days of Lent. Just like the people St. Paul talked to in the second reading, we’re asked to let go of earthly things. We are challenged to ask ourselves, “what things are we enslaved by?” – maybe possessions, maybe ideas, maybe their strange teaching. We are challenged to let go of all of that. Like Peter, James and John, we can’t hold on to our faith in the relative comfort and safety of our church. We’re challenged to go out into the world to bring the good news of Jesus Christ.
Homework nourished by the Word of God and the Eucharist. I asked you to think about one thing.
What is God calling you to do right here, right now? That will look different if you’re eight or nine or 80 or 90 or somewhere in between, and that’s okay! What is God asking you to do right here, right now?
I think doing our homework will help us be transformed into the intentional disciples that God is calling us to be you got it. Do you got it? Do you get it? Are you going to do it? Good. May each of us come to know the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Image Credit: Unknown. PNG file.
Footnotes:
<1> Bakun, Wojciech, “Hundreds of thousands of refugees are passing through this Polish city, mayor says,” interview by Ari Shapiro, NPR, March 10, 2022, https://www.npr.org/transcripts/1085838465.
References:
1. Gadenz, Pablo T. The Gospel of Luke. Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2018. Kindle.
2. Hamm, Dennis SJ. Philippians, Colossians, Philemon. Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2013. Kindle.
Catechism References http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc.htm:
1. Jesus reveals the Father: 516
2. Transfiguration: 554-56
3. Cloud manifests the Holy Spirit: 697
4. New Exodus: 1151
5. Church and state, civil authority and conscience: 2234-46
6. Moses and Elijah: 2583
7. Jesus at prayer: 2600
Second Sunday of Lent https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/031322.cfm
Lectionary: 27
Reading 1
Genesis 15:5-12, 17-18
The Lord God took Abram outside and said,
“Look up at the sky and count the stars, if you can.
Just so,” he added, “shall your descendants be.”
Abram put his faith in the LORD,
who credited it to him as an act of righteousness.
He then said to him,
“I am the LORD who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans
to give you this land as a possession.”
“O Lord GOD,” he asked,
“how am I to know that I shall possess it?”
He answered him,
“Bring me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old she-goat,
a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.”
Abram brought him all these, split them in two,
and placed each half opposite the other;
but the birds he did not cut up.
Birds of prey swooped down on the carcasses,
but Abram stayed with them.
As the sun was about to set, a trance fell upon Abram,
and a deep, terrifying darkness enveloped him.
When the sun had set and it was dark,
there appeared a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch,
which passed between those pieces.
It was on that occasion that the LORD made a covenant with Abram,
saying: “To your descendants I give this land,
from the Wadi of Egypt to the Great River, the Euphrates.”
Responsorial
Psalm 27:1, 7-8, 8-9, 13-14.
R. (1a) The Lord is my light and my salvation.
The LORD is my light and my salvation;
whom should I fear?
The LORD is my life’s refuge;
of whom should I be afraid?
R. The Lord is my light and my salvation.
Hear, O LORD, the sound of my call;
have pity on me, and answer me.
Of you my heart speaks; you my glance seeks.
R. The Lord is my light and my salvation.
Your presence, O LORD, I seek.
Hide not your face from me;
do not in anger repel your servant.
You are my helper: cast me not off.
R. The Lord is my light and my salvation.
I believe that I shall see the bounty of the LORD
in the land of the living.
Wait for the LORD with courage;
be stouthearted, and wait for the LORD.
R. The Lord is my light and my salvation.
Reading 2
Philippians 3:17—4:1
Join with others in being imitators of me, brothers and sisters,
and observe those who thus conduct themselves
according to the model you have in us.
For many, as I have often told you
and now tell you even in tears,
conduct themselves as enemies of the cross of Christ.
Their end is destruction.
Their God is their stomach;
their glory is in their “shame.”
Their minds are occupied with earthly things.
But our citizenship is in heaven,
and from it we also await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
He will change our lowly body
to conform with his glorified body
by the power that enables him also
to bring all things into subjection to himself.
Therefore, my brothers and sisters,
whom I love and long for, my joy and crown,
in this way stand firm in the Lord.
or:
Philippians 3:20—4:1
Brothers and sisters:
Our citizenship is in heaven,
and from it we also await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
He will change our lowly body
to conform with his glorified body
by the power that enables him also
to bring all things into subjection to himself.
Therefore, my brothers and sisters,
whom I love and long for, my joy and crown,
in this way stand firm in the Lord, beloved.
Verse Before the Gospel
Cf. Matthew 17:5
From the shining cloud the Father’s voice is heard:
This is my beloved Son, hear him.
Gospel
Luke 9:28b-36
Jesus took Peter, John, and James
and went up the mountain to pray.
While he was praying his face changed in appearance
and his clothing became dazzling white.
And behold, two men were conversing with him, Moses and Elijah,
who appeared in glory and spoke of his exodus
that he was going to accomplish in Jerusalem.
Peter and his companions had been overcome by sleep,
but becoming fully awake,
they saw his glory and the two men standing with him.
As they were about to part from him, Peter said to Jesus,
“Master, it is good that we are here;
let us make three tents,
one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”
But he did not know what he was saying.
While he was still speaking,
a cloud came and cast a shadow over them,
and they became frightened when they entered the cloud.
Then from the cloud came a voice that said,
“This is my chosen Son; listen to him.”
After the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone.
They fell silent and did not at that time
tell anyone what they had seen.