Sunday Gospel Reflection, February 25, 2024: He hardly knew what to say, they were so terrified...

He hardly knew what to say, they were so terrified…

Is God’s plan clear to us?

    Imagine the plight of Abraham, who, in the Book of Genesis, has just been told that he is to take his son Isaac, his only one, whom he loves, and offer him up as a holocaust. He must be terrified! Can Abraham possibly understand God’s plan? God promised Abraham countless descendants; how can this promise be fulfilled if Isaac dies? But Abraham trusts in God’s promise and does as he is told, to the point of taking the knife to slaughter his son. Only the messenger who calls to him from heaven can stop Abraham’s action. Abraham has demonstrated that he is, at every moment, completely present, both to Isaac and to God. Here I am, he answers at every turn. Like the psalmist in Psalm 116, Abraham believed even when greatly afflicted. Abraham knows that Isaac’s very existence was God’s work to begin with, and he does not hesitate to do all that God asks of him. 

    The disciples witnessing the Transfiguration of Jesus in Mark's Gospel are no more clear about God’s plan than Abraham was. Jesus has just told them (for the second time) that he will suffer, die, and be raised from the dead, but they do not understand; indeed, they are terrified. They have nothing to relate this to; the idea of resurrection is beyond their experience, and they must have had so many questions! The Transfiguration is a clear statement that Jesus is the fulfillment of all of God’s promises; Jesus’ visible, radical transformation – his clothes became dazzling white – is a promise of the glory of resurrection, a vision of the glory Jesus will enter into even though he must first suffer and die. It is not surprising that, upon coming down from the mountain, they kept the matter to themselves. Who could believe such a story? Was its import fully clear to them? One doubts it. 

    How much of our faith is born of what we understand? What God did not demand of Abraham, God demands from himself: He did not spare his own Son, but handed him over for us all, Paul tells the Roman community. Like Abraham, this community, now experiencing persecution, must have faith: If God is for us, who can be against us? Paul asks them. The Roman Christians are to remain true to God, for it is God who will carry them through, just as God carries us through, giving us his own Son as the source of our salvation. We may not fully understand this extraordinary gift, an expression of God’s deep love for us, but we don’t need to, so long as we have faith in his promise, enough faith to respond, Here I am! 

 

This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.
Image source: www.wordclouds.com