Second Sunday of Lent
Oh it’s amazing how those
scriptures readings work. I had a whole
different homily planned but listening to that first reading I said, “Okay I
think that’s what I need to talk on today.
Because that first reading—we don’t talk about the first reading, we go
right to the gospel reading. Today’s feast, Transfiguration and Jesus appearing
in glory. But we all have mountain-top
experiences. Maybe go back to that first
reading and it might make a little bit more sense.
That event from the book of
Genesis is talking about happened almost 5000 years ago. At a moment in time and history roughly 5000
years ago, as that reading points out, God appeared to Abram and said, “Abram I
want to be your God, I want your people to be My people. I am going to enter into a relationship with
you. And this is how we are going to do
it.” And if you listen very carefully to
that reading Abram said, “Gosh, what am I supposed to do? How do we enter into this covenant?”
The Lord said, “Take three
different animals, goats, calves, heifers, lay them out before you, cut the
carcass of the animal in two and separate them.” If you listened to that reading carefully
about midway down it says, “A fiery flame appeared and seared through the
middle of the carcasses of the animals that were split in two.” And you say, “What is that all about?”
Five thousand years ago the
people, the culture of that time, that was the way that they sealed
relationships, as they entered into covenants.
A covenant was an agreement between two different people or two
different kings or a king and his own people—this is how we are going to live
and get along with one another. They
spelled out all the terms of this arrangement and then they had to have some
way to ritualize it, to ratify it.
That’s what that reading is talking about. Because as they would take the carcass of the
animal, split them in two, the blood would spill out upon the face of the
earth. As time when on whoever represented
each side at this covenant cove, so someone from the West side, someone from
the East side. You folks in the South
side, we’ll get to you later, alright?
The representatives would come and walk through the carcass of the
animals, squish, squish, squish, squish, squish. Alright, you get the idea? That if we violate the terms of this covenant
code may our blood be spilled on the face of the earth as was the blood of this
animal.
Blood was sacred to them as
it is to you and to me. Drain all the
blood out of your body and you aren’t going to be living. That was how they ritualized the covenant
agreement. After the ritual sacrifice
then they had table fellowship. They sat
down together and shared a meal.
Abram and his descendants
are steeped in what covenant codes, how they were made, how they were ratified
and how to carry them out. But they knew
that this God that is entering into this relationship isn’t going to come down
and walk through the carcass of that animal.
That’s what the searing flame is all about.
As time went on the
Israelite people are growing. They’ve
been through the Red Sea, they came out of Egypt and entered into their
promised land, they built altars, much like the altar you and I have here this
morning. They would come up and they
would take the animal of sacrifice and place it on the altar. Their priest would take the blood of the
animal and sprinkle it on the four corners of the altar to symbolize that
North, South, East and West, all of creation belongs to You God. They would take the blood of the animal,
sprinkle it on all the people, so I would go around at this time now with a
bucket of blood and sprinkle all of you which would bring you into this
offering. This animal would be taking
yours and my place as we offer ourselves up to our God.
Notice in the gospel, here’s
where it ties together. Here’s Jesus on
the mountain of Tabor with Peter, James and John, three of His closest
disciples. Moses and Elijah, two symbols
of the Old Testament covenant, the law of the prophets are with Him. And a voice comes out of this cloud. Now in the scriptures, Old Testament and New
Testament anytime you hear about clouds and smoke that is symbolic of God’s
presence surrounding the people. That’s
why a cloud overshadows them and out of this cloud a voice says, “This is My
Son, listen to Him.” Beautiful.
You and I as Catholics, we
use that imagery of smoke. We have
incense, right, in many of our services.
Especially at a funeral. What do
we do during a funeral? The casket or
the cremains are here. At the end of the
service we take incense, we reverence the body of the deceased and the smoke
rises up. Psalm 141 says, “May our
prayers rise like incense before You.”
It comes right from this whole covenant service and ritual. Powerful.
Now you have to keep all
this in mind because what you and I are about right now is entering into this
covenant once again. But we have Jesus,
we don’t have an animal. We don’t have a
goat or a calf or a heifer. That’s why
Jesus on Holy Thursday, as we call it, when He had the Seder meal with his
apostles gathered them together and He says, “Guys, this is My body, this is My
blood” taking bread and wine, “the mystery of the new covenant shed for you and
for many that sins my be forgiven.” They
got the message because He is saying very clearly it isn’t a goat or a calf
who’s blood is being sacrificed and poured out, it’s My life, My blood that is
being shed, poured out, once and for all for you. You want to come to the Father here’s how you
do it now, through Me. “I am the Way,
the Truth and the Life, no one comes to the Father except through Me.”
So what are we going to do
this morning? Somebody’s going to
represent us. They will bring down that
aisle bread and wine. Jesus very wisely
chose two of the basic symbols of life.
Bread, nourishment, food. Wine,
because how do you get wine? Grapes have
to be pressed, sacrificed, die to give the juice. So Jesus used bread and wine to symbolize His
body and His blood that are poured out on the cross for you and for me. That bread and that wine will be brought
down, placed on the altar.
What you and I will do
during this beautiful gift today that God has given to us once again, take this
bread and wine which represents everyone of us.
Wouldn’t it be great if you could come up and place your hands on the
altar? But we are going to ritualize
it. You’re going to stay in your pews
and I will represent all of you as I will take the bread and wine and offer
them up to God. We will say the same
words that Jesus said, “This is My body.
This is My blood.” God says,
“Great and wonderful. I accept you Pam,
I accept you Mike, I accept you Jan, I accept you Mary, I accept you Greg, I
accept you Pat, and I take you to myself.
And the bread and the wine that you are giving to me, now becomes the
body and the blood of My Son Jesus.” You
and I are changed into the body and blood of the Risen Lord. We come down the aisle, we receive Jesus,
become what we are, the body of Christ.
Then at the end of the Mass
we will leave, go back through those doors, wherever our journeys take us, and
you will be the eyes, ears, hands and feet of the Risen Lord. This is your mountain-top experience. It doesn’t get any better than this. Wherever you will go forth the rest of this
day and this week you will take what you have been given here this morning, the
Risen Lord to be your nourishment, your strength, your hope, your joy, your
mercy, your compassion, your understanding, your love, your peace. And you in turn will give that to somebody
else. And then next week you’ll come
back here again and we’ll do it all over again.
And we’ll tell the stories and share the memories to get the strength to
go back into the valleys and the peaks, the ups and the downs, the joys, the
fears, everything that life brings to you and to me.
Covenant. God’s love.
God’s presence. This is what we
are about. That’s what those readings
are proclaiming. Powerful. Beautiful.
So simple and so basic. Very
simply today, perhaps everyday this week.
Every time we take a piece of bread, something to put into your mouth to
nourish your body. Every time you take a
sip of water. Image it as flowing from
this gift of the bread and wine that you’re going to be receiving here in the
Eucharist. So that everything during
this coming week is sanctified, is made holy by what we are doing here
today.
Peter said in the gospel,
“Lord let’s stay here.” Well if you want
to stay here all week, go ahead, fine.
I’m not going to kick you out.
But you’ve got work to do, schools to go to, families to be with. So you need to leave this church after this
Mass, but you don’t go alone. You take
everybody that’s with you in this church right now because it is the Lord Jesus
coming to each and every one of us. So
you’re not going to be alone this week.
You’re going to be surrounded by thousands of people who will have
partaken of the body and blood of Jesus in the Eucharist throughout the whole
wide world. We are together. We’ll get through the week, come again next
week and we’ll renew it once again.
It is good for us to be
here, but it’s good for us to leave and continue the journey with great faith
and with great hope. Thank God.