Second Sunday of Lent
When I was looking for a way to connect our readings for today to
events in today’s world, I thought about the movie The Poseiden Adventure
which came out in 1972. It was the story of a ship which capsized in a tidal
wave. The people trapped in the hull of the ship had a limited time to figure
out how to escape death. It was a known fact that there was a hatch on the
bottom of the ship which was now the top of the ship which could be opened
if it could be reached before the trapped oxygen was depleted. It was not
known for certain who really had accurate information about how to reach it.
Some knew, some thought they knew and some pretended to know. The
story was about trying to figure out who really knew and who to follow.
Those who chose the right leader, stayed together and kept their focus on the
goal made it out alive. Many did not.
Our world today and the capsized ship have much in common. We
have chaos and confusion and are being given directives by those who are
sure they know what we should do, those who think they know and those
who pretend to know. There does seem to be general agreement about one
thing by most people. Business as usual will probably no longer work and
there is a need to make some changes.
In our first reading today, Abraham stands ready to do what he thinks
God wants him to do- sacrifice his son Isaac. Business as usual. Neither his
willingness to do this nor his actions were startling at the time. The gods
which humans have worshipped have always demanded human sacrifice
down through the ages. A little research uncovered twenty five cultures
which regularly made use of this ritual in their religious practices. The
practice continues in our present time in more subtle ways: ethnic cleansing,
national security, power struggles, capital punishment, racial prejudice,
immigration laws, racial inequality, economic inequality, inequality of
access to medical care etc. etc. all exacting their toll of people who cannot
be allowed to live or who must die because they don’t belong or they just
don’t fit into the system.
On this particular occasion that we are reading about today
something different happens. Abraham is told by God to stop it. The God
of Abraham intervenes and offers a new victim– a new sacrifice.—a Divine
Ingredient. Jesus wi7ll become the Cosmic-Universal Christ who will
transform human history. Here is your way out of the madness. You will no
longer be restricted by your limited economic and political perspectives of
exclusion, scarcity and control. You will no longer be trapped in your mind-
focused on solving the problems of the present and the future by using the
failed methods of the past while you neglect to address the crushing
p7roblems of the people standing before you. This is my beloved Son.
Listen to Him. Live by His teaching and do what he did in the manner in
which he did it. What happened to him will happen to you and in the ever
deepening and widening mystery of death giving way to life which is the
Paschal Mystery, there will be change and there will be transformation.
We’ve been working at this for centuries. Are we getting anywhere?
Are we making any progress in this assignment of listening to God’s
beloved son? In some ways it seems as though things are getting worse, not
better. No doubt the times are changing and there is transformation. Some
of those who believe they know what we should do want to take us back to
darker times. They seem stronger than ever and even more radical in the
means they are willing to use to bring about the change they believe is
needed. Another group is there as well. This group is also larger, stronger,
and more determined. They have been tempered by the pain of the
pandemic, murdered black people, and those who suffer from desperate
economic struggle and injustice. Their numbers grow also when the pain of
their desperate plight becomes a lump in the throat of those who are
watching – too hot to endure, too heavy to carry and too painful to ignore
and the swallowing of this lump moves the perception of what they are
seeing from the head to the heart. At this point, there is a spiritual
awakening to a new level of conscious awareness that we are all brothers
and sisters and this tortured earth is our home . With this new awareness
they stand with Martin Luther King all of the others who have been to the
mountain and seen the Promised Land. They know it is good to be there
and they know they can never go back. They are ready to work for justice
and act for peace as the only logical way forward. They have been
transfigured and transformed.
In our little book of Lenten Reflections, Joan Chittister reminds us that we are
called to be in that crowd- to be prophets. In her words: The prophet in this day—facing
a world where rugged individualism reigns— must do more than simply serve. They
must lead this world beyond its present divisions of race and gender, of national identitiy
and economic class…the prophetic tradition has been handed on to each of us
reclaim…so that no one’s needs or pain is overlooked on the way.
And so. That day on the mountain, the disciples were called by God and they
understood as best they could. Transfiguration calls us to a new life, not an old one.
This is my beloved son. Listen to him.
Johanna Brian