Jesus preaches the Good News to the poor and works miracles for those who are sick and hurting.  He is the Messiah Israel waits for. 

Miracles, wonderful deeds, spectacular events, both attract and frighten most of us humans. So, it does not come as a surprise that Peter, in wonder and awe, says as he sees Jesus transfigured: “Teacher, it is good that we are here! Let us make three tents: one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.”

But he has no sooner said this than a cloud casts a shadow over him and over James and John. And a voice comes from the cloud: “This is my beloved Son; listen to him.” This, then, seems to tell us that we are not to stop at what attracts and awes us. For what counts above all is the Word of God. The attractive and awesome is just a sign, yes, of this Word. 

Focus not on miracles but on the Word of God 

Hence, we will not be with those who want miracles and prodigious signs more than a word of truth. We shall focus, rather, on him who has the words of eternal life.

And since Jesus is God’s last Word, he passes on to us the final truth. If we welcome this truth, it will pull us out of our false securities and teach us to die, so we may live. And to lose, so we may win. For we will stay saved and secure if we care for one another and live in fellowship. Greed, looking to just our own interest, yields but ruin.

Also, the tents we build for Jesus, Moses and Elijah should not enthrall us. For to let them do so is to go against what God-with-us wants for us. We try hard to lock him up. Yet what he wants is to stay by our side as we walk through life. For his are our joys and hopes, our griefs and anxieties. Hence, those of the poor are ours, too, as his followers (GS 1).

Yes, the works of mercy, the miracles, are signs of the Messiah and the kingdom. But he himself, the way he is and lives, is the greatest of miracles. We, indeed, stand in wonder and awe that his Father does not spare him but gives him up for us all. And that the Son, as he gives up his body and sheds his blood for us, is raised up and receives the name-above-all-names.

So, it is clear that in death lies life, that to serve and die for others means God reigns. May we always keep in mind that we live by Jesus’ death, that we can die with him by the life he gives us (SV.EN I:276).

Lord Jesus, you take pity on those who are poor, sick, left behind, excluded, and you work miracles for them; teach us to have mercy on them and care for them, so that the kingdom of God may be ours. And help us to grasp that to rise from the dead means to die first.  

25 February 2024
Second Sunday of Lent (B)
Gen 22, 1-2. 9a. 10-13. 15-18; Rom 8, 31b-34; Mk 9, 2-10