The Sacrifice of Isaac, Rembrandt 1635, The Hermitage, St. Petersburgh, Russia.

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…from the cloud came a voice, “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.”    Mark 9:7.

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Filicide is not a word you meet every day. It means the murder of your son. In the 22nd chapter of the Book of Genesis, God calls upon Abraham to sacrifice his only son (by his wife Sarah) as a test of loyalty. (Remember Abraham had two sons; the other, Ishmael, was by his concubine Hagar, quite legal in those days; but they had been expelled from Abraham’s camp). Abraham, without protest, proceeded to carry out this divine command. Remember that child sacrifice in those days was a recognized and socially acceptable practice among the Canaanites, where Abraham lived, and usually involved some crisis or essential service which demanded the intervention of pagan gods. The last-second intervention by an angel, a messenger from God, preventing the boy’s death, effectively prohibited the Israelites from ever contemplating this practice again, though it is mentioned in the Bible several times thereafter.  That being so, look at the parallelism with the sacrifice of Jesus centuries later, with the notable difference that Jesus did actually die. This is how, I think, today’s gospel becomes understandable. It was necessary for Jesus’ followers to know and understand totally who this man was. Yes he was charismatic (didn’t his first followers drop everything and follow him?). Yes he had extraordinary powers (his unheard of cure of the leper in the gospel two weeks ago proved that). Yes he was holy and totally devoted to preaching his message (seen three weeks ago where he wanted to go to new places to preach rather than receive the adulation of the crowds because of this powers). But who WAS he? Was he really and truly of God? That was the question. Recall that the Pharisees accused him of getting his powers from the devil! (Matthew 12:22-37). From all this it was clear that his followers had to be assured that Jesus was from God, and today’s gospel discloses the way that they found out.

And what a spectacular way it was! Jesus summoned his three closest followers, Peter, James and John, and they climbed a “high mountain”. Once they arrived, suddenly Jesus’ clothes became dazzlingly white; then two towering figures from holy scripture appeared on either side of him: Moses, to whom God had given the 10 Commandments (Exodus 20:2-17) , and Elijah, who, witnessed by Elisha, was taken up to heaven in a chariot of fire (2 Kings 2:11).  They were talking to Jesus and clearly accepting him as at least equal. Finally a cloud descended, covering the three disciples in shade, and a voice from the cloud thundered “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.” Well, would you have doubted ever again that this man was of God? And all at once, there was Jesus, standing alone in front of them, who then forbade them to talk of this extraordinary event until he had “risen from the dead”, something that totally mystified them. They kept quiet.

The result of all this provides a solid and permanent bedrock on which to stand as a follower of the Lord: “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (today’s second reading). We enjoy a solid confidence that what we Christians accept is true, that Jesus loved us so much that he died for us and now pleads for us before the throne of God, that he actually conquered death itself. And he invites us to follow in his footsteps. It is our Lenten duty to check if we do, in fact, do that. If not, why not, and if that is so, how can we remedy it? How can we make absolutely sure that each of us, because of our baptism, is truly Christ to the world? That is the overarching challenge of Lent. 

The Transfiguration, Savoldo, Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy.

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