II- Lent:Gen 12:1-4a;II Tim 1:8b-10; Mt 17:1-9 

This Gospel account shares the scene of heavenly glory of Jesus.   While praying, Jesus was transfigured into a shining figure, full of heavenly glory. ( In a few weeks we will notice him praying again and that time his face will be red with sweat of blood). But this time he is full of bright light. The suffering in the garden of Gathsemene will lead him to the final glory. At the transfiguration Jesus is found with Moses and Elijah, the representatives of Law and the prophets. Moses had met the Lord in the burning bush at Mount Horeb (Exodus 3:1-4). After his later encounter with God, Moses' face shone so brightly that it frightened the people.  So, Moses had to use a veil over his face to prevent the glare before the people. Elijah had traveled for forty days to Mt. Horeb on the strength of the food brought by an angel (1 Kings 19:8). At Mt. Horeb, Elijah sought refuge in a cave as the glory of the Lord passed over him (1 Kings 19:9-18). So Moses and Elijah who found God’s glory are found with Jesus who is Father’s glory. The message that came from heaven at transfiguration was addressed to the Apostles: my beloved son, to listen to him.

Listening to Jesus, hearing and heeding his voice in our life, is not always comfortable. Abraham discovered this, as we heard in the First Reading. He was living happily and prosperously in the fertile land of Mesopotamia, when God spoke to his heart. God invited him to leave behind his extended family, his business, his homeland, his security, his financial stability, his friends - everything, in fact. And he didn't even tell him where he was going. He just said, "Go to a land I will show you." But God had a plan for his life, a plan that would bring blessings to Abraham himself, and also bring blessings to others through him. Listening and accepting God’s call, he stepped out of his comfort zone and put his trust in God. We can only imagine the turbulence it caused at first between him and his wife, and how awkward he must have felt trying to explain his decision to friends and colleagues.

When God calls, he calls with a special mission and purpose. The first reading today tells us God’s purpose of calling Abraham. “I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you. All the communities of the earth shall find blessing in you.”

So the call of Abraham was to be blessing for all the communities of the earth. Why did God call Abraham away from his own people. Couldn’t he make him a great nation allowing him to live in the same village he was living ? Why did God make his life difficult by making him move to an unknown land ? First of all we need to know that Abraham was a pagan, worshiping pagan gods and living with pagan people. So, in the event of his  getting discouraged with God, there were very high chances for him to fall back to his old way of life, going to his neighbors and relatives who would tempt him to leave his new found God. So, God took him away from his accustomed environment. To get an extraordinary encounter with God, one has to leave everything comfortable to him. Jesus took the three disciples away to a mountain and let them have a beatific vision of him. As a result of God’s taking him away from his pagan surroundings, Abraham was able to develop a great personal relationship with God. Sometimes God destroys everything that might hinder us in our way of developing a relationship with him.

This would explain why God would ask Joshua to exterminate the populace- men, women and children, in the new conquered cities of Jericho, Canaan and Ai. Chapters 1-12 of Joshua are really bloody battles and extermination of other nations by the Israelites. We would even wonder if it is the same God, the father of Jesus Christ who taught him to teach his disciples to show the other cheek if somebody strikes you on your one cheek. We would wish those chapters in the bible were expunged from it. The reason God asked them to kill all those people was to keep them pure and not get any close to worshipping other gods. All the other nations had many gods. God demanded absolute loyalty from the Israelites, like that of a wife to a husband. If they were to allow the conquered people to live with them, their pagan faith would infiltrate the Israelites’ monotheism. That is why the first commandment dictated: I am the Lord your God, you shall have no other god besides me. The disintegration of the people of Israel as a nation started with Solomon who married foreign women and allowed the worship of their foreign gods in Israel. So his both sons divided the nation between them.

Choosing Abraham, an anonymous, un-illustrious man cannot be satisfactorily explained. So are the cases of Isaac and Jacob. Esau was the proper heir of his father Isaac and his choice too. But God chose Jacob, though this happened through a treachery from the part of Jacob. Jacob was a cheater. But still God chose him to be the father of a Great nation. H e is named Israel and the land his family inherited is called Israel Israel, the land that was originally promised to Abraham. Even among the 12 tribes of Israel, God had a special choice of the tribe of Judah from whom the Savior was to come. So, God made choices throughout history. As the scripture says: Rom 9:15-19 : For he says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion."  It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy.  Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden. 

 Even Jesus chose a special group of 3 from the 12 and those three had this special vision of the transfiguration. Why did he not include others in it ? It is God’s choice. It is to show how God’s grace works in our life. As Paul says, it is not by works but by grace that we are saved. It is a pure gift. The choice of whole salvation history points to this truth. God loves all, but he chooses some to be model for others.

Now, when God chooses someone, are those excluded or rejected by God, cursed by God? Not at all. God chooses others to play the role of agents magnifying God’s glory. As God chose Pharoah to magnify his glory in Egypt, he chose other nations in the history. When Israel strayed away from God, God chose even a more wicked nation to be the instrument of God’s punishment on the Israelites. That would explain why even people who live righteous lives are facing challenges and sickness which have no cure. It does not mean that God does not love them, but he uses them for his glory. Looking at a blind man the disciples asked who is the culprit, he or his parents, who sinned ? Jesus said, neither he nor his parents, but through him God’s glory may be made manifest.  And again Jesus said, referring to the people killed by the fall of a tower in Shiloam and those killed by Pilate. Were they more sinful than others living in Israel? He said no. Well, If not, why were they targeted to be victims? God uses some as conduit or instruments to bring conversion and grace to others. But those made victims are also no less chosen of God.

All these choices show that God’s salvation is not merited, but accepted only in grace. But for that, one has to be willing to accept God’s invitation. Jesus’ original intention also was to offer the salvation only through the chosen ones. But when they rejected the free gift of salvation he offered it to the gentiles. That is how the church came to be established as a separate religion from Judaism. Jesus himself said, I am sent to the lost sheep of Israel. And their rejection of salvation became a grace for us gentiles. The Apostles continued in the Jewish religion, but only when they were rejected in their worship places they started the group, known as the people of the way.

God’s choice does not mean freedom from trouble or sufferings. Abraham had to be willing to sacrifice his own son of inheritance. There was no greater challenge to faith than that. Jesus the chosen one of God, about whom the Father said today, this is my beloved son, had to suffer to receive the glory. So does all of his disciples too. Without suffering there is no salvation. The lent challenges us to accept God’s invitation like Abraham, to come out of our comfort zones, and to follow God where he leads us and to have a personal relationship with him through prayer, and to become a blessing for others.