Second Sunday of Lent
Last Sunday, Jesus was tempted to engage with the spectacular, magical and the powerful in the wilderness. His resistance revealed who he was and who he came for. Like the Transfiguration, his wilderness experience was his ‘uncovering’ or unveiling, as well as the presence of God’s reign which is at work. Today’s scriptures, and those of past weeks, seem like a reading of the news of the day. In the gospel, Jesus stands alongside them and in solidarity with Moses and Elijah who embodied liberation and justice by challenging tyrants who have dismantled the wellbeing of ordinary people. In Moses, Jesus saw one who took the change of leading the people out of Egypt – something that could have been a failure. In Elijah, Jesus was reminded of the ‘prophetic script’ of the consequence for anyone who speaks for God in speaking truth to power. Jesus stands today not alongside the world’s Herods or Pilates but alongside people pushed to the edges. In our current political landscape, protections for the vulnerable are increasingly dismantled or under threat. Aid for the people of the South is being slashed or terminated every day in the USA. In the UK cuts have been made to spend more on weapons of war. Money is channeled into the pockets of privileged, propertied, and powerful wealthy billionaires, rather than benefiting vulnerable people.
‘To love. To be loved. To never forget your own insignificance. To never get used to the unspeakable violence and the vulgar disparity of life around you. To seek joy in the saddest places. To pursue beauty to its lair. To never simplify what is complicated or complicate what is simple. To respect strength, never power. Above all, to watch. To try and understand. To never look away. And never, never to forget.’
Arundhati Roy, The Cost of Living
Seeking strength in prayer on the mountain, Jesus has a vision where the two giants, Moses and Elijah, appear to him. Something special came through Jesus’ humanity that channelled God’s closeness, compassion, justice, and tenderness in his humanity. He recognised the sacred in himself as a new and powerful way.
The gospel touches the moments in our lives when our eyes are opened and we recognise the sacred within us, in others and our environment. So, the Transfiguration is not only about Jesus but about us and our call to make a difference. Paul reminds us that it is these ‘wretched bodies of ours’ are the material of transfiguration, transformation and change in our world.
In the film ‘Ice Age’ one of characters asserts that ‘the adventure is right here!’ This is the point of Jesus revelation on the mountain. ‘Right here’ is wherever we are, in our highs on mountaintops when we celebrate in joy or have lows in the valleys in moments of confusion and desolation. For anyone open to God’s presence, each moment can be a sacrament. Epiphanies and Transfigurations lead to action. Having seen the light of Christ, we are no longer content with mediocrity, ambiguous ethics, and self-deception. We live in the light and walk by the light and share the light of the world. Coming down from the mountain, the disciples are plunged into a world of pain. We encounter that world of pain in the demons of racism, homophobia, incivility, political prevarication and timidity, consumerism, and violence.
During Lent, we are reminded that if we open our eyes, we can glimpse the sacred in our everyday lives. We are invited to see in a new way, and which leads to action that connects us with God’s precious ones – the poor and oppressed. This is made possible by listening to Jesus and humbly listening to each other. We are invited to ‘remove the veil’; to see the ‘more’ – God’s presence and hear God’s call – in people and all creation. Removing the veil could mean not listening to the propaganda that partisan media and nasty politicians spread against other countries, other groups of people and diminish their humanity and designate our enemies. It could mean opening our eyes to our privilege and discrimination against people of colour and different faiths whilst we offer sanctuary to people who look more like us (Europeans or White South Africans). What do we need to see in a whole new light as divisions tear apart people in churches, in nations, in the world? To see probably is to see God in the other as sister and brother as well as creation.
When Paul writes that ‘our citizenship is in heaven,’ he is referring to a way of being and seeing where different values and priorities play out. Being ‘citizens of heaven’ means seeing this world and imagining it ‘transfigured’ or ‘transformed’ and working to make it happen. It means looking outwards and striving for the rights of all (the poor and the vulnerable; to be the voice for those pushed to the edges of church or society and whose voices are not heard) rather than just our own. John Paul II said, ‘We are all really responsible for all,’ not just our own, but those beyond our borders especially when our actions and policies affect the rights of others. These are the concerns of the ‘citizens of heaven’.
It is possible to see differently and act accordingly: to see the more in others because they bear God’s image; to embrace diversity rather than divisiveness; to let go of racism, distrust of people of other faiths, hatred for homosexuals, of greed, power, the need to control; to let go of fear that paralyses and leads to passivity; to solve problems nonviolently. All this, because we have been to the ‘mountain’ and now back on level ground we see God in all people and things. Jesus does not stay on the mountain but comes down as God comes down to us and is with us as we enter the world of pain and suffering as we see later in the gospel where they encounter a boy who is possessed. Jesus’ transfiguration, as is ours, is incomplete if not connected to care for our neighbour and creation. It reminds us that we cannot live our lives removed from the calls of needy people and our Earth. It is also our mission is ‘to proclaim liberty to captives, recovery of sight to the blind and to let the oppressed go free and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.’
We see in the gospel reading the kind of action God approves. It points to action where fear is overcome – even fear of failure, personal harm or worse. There is the continuous call to action as individuals and as churches to condemn those who profess to be God’s people but oppress the poor and vulnerable in society. They collaborate with empires. Jesus is aware of the risks he faces as he journeys towards Jerusalem to confront economic abuses by the temple and collaboration of religious leaders with the Roman Empire. The temple leadership was the most important ally of the oppressing power which Jesus found intolerable. He plans to disrupt whatever normalises exploitation of the poor.
We are soon to have another Federal election. Let us not allow ourselves to led by frightened little men (and women) who place security and privilege and neglect above compassion for the poor and oppressed. May we not be people who say we believe in God but then cancel that out by our concern for self-preservation, personal needs, and fearful willingness to sacrifice others rather than ourselves. Being a follower of Jesus is not about putting our security above all other things but about taking risks on behalf of God’s true people – the poor, immigrants, and victims of war, violence, and scorched earth. For us it is to listen and follow. It is about putting on Christ, and as Oscar Romero said, we do that by ‘denouncing every lie, every injustice, every sin,’… and by being ‘the voice of the voiceless, and defender of the rights of the poor, a promoter of every just aspiration for liberation.’
Spirit of Jesus,
who longed to gather all God’s children together,
sustain our passion for welcoming and loving all people,
especially those who are marginalized and excluded.
We are aware of the reality
that following you will entail suffering and struggle;
yet, comfort us.
We are not alone or far from your care.
Empower us to persist in your way of peace.
Amen.