Genesis 22:1-2, 9-13,15-18
Events in today’s first reading take place approximately 1,800 years before Christ. In those times, child sacrifice was common among pagans, and that is why Abraham believed God wanted him to sacrifice his only son, Isaac. Later generations constantly looked back to this event as an example of Abraham’s great faith.
Romans 8:31-34
This reading is part of a hymn celebrating God’s love. It concludes the 8th chapter of Romans, a chapter in which Paul had been extolling the gift of salvation that God has given to us through Jesus. God spared Abraham’s son, but did not spare his own.
What then shall we say to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but handed him over for us all, how will he not also give us everything else along with him? Who will bring a charge against God's chosen ones? It is God who acquits us. Who will condemn? It is Christ (Jesus) who died, rather, was raised, who also is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us.
Mark 9:2-10
Bishop Untener’s Homily
Our readings today include two mountains on which people had an extraordinary experience of God: the mountain Abraham climbed with his son Isaac, and the mountain that Peter, James and John climbed with the Son of God.
We need mountains in our lives. Life can be flat, routine. We need high mountains, not just little hills now and then... mountains that take us to great heights and give us an experience of God that stays with us after we’ve long come down from the mountain.
Nowadays we’re inclined to settle for small hills now and then, because it takes too long and it’s too much work to climb a mountain.
Now, I’m speaking figuratively, of course. Let me give you a down to earth example of what I mean by a "mountain" or a "mountain-top experience." It could be as simple as a fine meal with a fine conversation – except that such dining is not simple. It takes a lot more time and planning and effort than the usual fare (or fast food) with the usual people talking about the usual things so that we can get done in time to watch the usual stuff on television. Fine dinners with fine conversation can be a mountain-top experience. Jesus did a fair amount of that.
Good art can be another example – whether literature, music, painting. It lifts our heart, our spirit to great heights – heights that we will not experience by watching re-runs of Gilligan’s Island. Another example is cultivating an appreciation of nature which is all around us, and which we can take for granted.
Then there is fasting. When we fast, really fast, good things happen to us. On a normal day our bodies spend more energy on digestion than on anything else. If we have a major reduction in our food consumption – or, as some occasionally do, have only water for 24 hours – we have a great store of energy not usually available, and it can drive us to thoughts that are far higher, wider, deeper than usual. We also experience hunger, which puts us more closely in touch with our life, and our death. It can be a mountain-top experience. That’s why we fast during Lent. It’s not something designed to make us suffer and pay for our sins. It’s an age-old tradition designed to release spiritual energy within us.
Another example is prayer. It may be that we pray regularly throughout the year – before meals, at church on Sunday. During Lent we’re called upon to spend extra time in prayer, particularly to find some quiet time when we can experience the presence of God within us in a way we can’t put into words. Moments like that with God are mountain-top experiences, and very similar to what Peter, James and John experienced at the Transfiguration.
My prayer for you this Lent is that you will make the effort to do some things that go beyond your routine, and that you will climb the mountain, and that you will have experiences whose effects will carry through Lent and on into the rest of the year, and the rest of your life.
Originally given on March 18/19, 2004