Second Sunday of Lent - Cycle B - 2000
Cycle B
2000

First Reading
Genesis 22:1-2,9,10-13,15-18

God put Abraham to the test. He called to him, "Abraham!" "Ready!" 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!" "Yes, Lord," 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."

Second Reading
Romans 8:31-34

If God is for us, who can be against us? Is it possible that he who did not spare his own Son but handed him over for the sake of us all will not grant us all things besides? Who shall bring a charge against God's chosen ones? God, who justifies? Who shall condemn them? Christ Jesus, who died or rather was raised up, who is at the right hand of God and who intercedes for us?

Gospel
Mark 9:2-10

Jesus took Peter, James and John off by themselves with him and led them up a high mountain. He was transfigured before their eyes and his clothes became dazzlingly white -- whiter than the work of any bleacher could make them. Elijah appeared to them along with Moses; the two were in conversation with Jesus. Then Peter spoke to Jesus: "Rabbi, how good it is for us to be here. Let us erect three booths on this site, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah." He hardly knew what to say, for they were all overcome with awe. A cloud came, overshadowing them, and out of the cloud a voice: "This is my Son, my beloved. Listen to him." Suddenly looking around they no longer saw anyone with them -- only Jesus. As they were coming down the mountain, he strictly enjoined them not to tell anyone what they had seen before the Son of Man had risen from the dead. They kept this word of his to themselves, though they continued to discuss what "to rise from the dead" meant.

Text from Lectionary for Mass
© 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine
© 1969 International Committee on English in the Liturgy, Inc.
All rights reserved

My Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

The Gospel and the First Reading are wonderful spiritual teachings today. Those of us who do not read Hebrew and who may not know much of the traditions of the Fathers of the Church are at a distinct disadvantage. For instance, many of us will not know that Mount Moriah has a traditional identity with Jerusalem and could be the very place where the crucifixion of Jesus took place. It that is the case, we begin to see the many, many connections between the account of Abraham, asked to sacrifice his son, and the death and resurrection of Jesus.

There is the important number of three days. It takes Abraham three days to arrive at Mount Moriah. Ready to sacrifice his only Son to God. But his son is spared, by the power of God. Jesus dies and on the third day, by His power as God, he is raised from the dead.

All of these connections are part of the intent of the writers to show us that we live the mystery of God in our own lives. We also must make the sacrifice of all that is dear to us and we must take the time to do so. God will restore to us all that we give up in our efforts to do His will. It is an act of faith, however, and we must walk with that total trust in God that was possessed by Abraham.

The transfiguration of Jesus in the Gospel is one of the great realities of our Christian life, if we are willing to walk in faith. So often we would like to be transformed in an instant, in the twinkling of an eye. Instead, most of us are transformed only in the process of walking in faith. We choose to walk in faith because it seems right to us, and then at some point we begin to recognize that we have been changed. We may not have become saints, but our faith comes to be at the very center of our life and we live with our eyes set on God.

Let us ask in this time of Lent that we may walk in faith and come to know the love of the Lord transforming us.

© 2000 The Monastery of Christ in the Desert