Posted on March 15, 2025 View all Gospel Reflection
“Master it is good that we are here;” (Luke 9:33)
This week we see a connection put before us between the promise made to Abraham and the fulfillment of the reality of the arrival of Jesus Christ as the Messiah. In the first reading when the Lord God spoke to Abram he said to him “Look up at the sky and count the stars, if you can. Just so, shall your descendants be.” (Gen. 15:5) This promise is recalled again later in Genesis when God changes his name from Abram to Abraham (Gen. 17:5-6). God makes this promise to Abraham in the face of impossibility. He was of advanced age and yet, now he was to be fruitful and also he was to receive the entire land of Canaan
When God formed his covenant with Abraham, we began to see how God works to do the impossible in this world if we but allow ourselves to enter into and respond to His invitation to that covenant relationship. In the season of Lent, this covenant relationship is highlighted. From the time when Jesus went into the desert for 40 days to the Last Supper where Jesus fulfilled the ancient covenant and made a new and everlasting covenant with us through the Eucharist.
Each of these moments is an impossibility. Abraham to be fruitful in his old age, the people of Israel to be delivered from slavery, the water changed into wine, the bread multiplied for the many, and the finally the Passover meal remembrance transformed into an image of covenant with God through the sacrifice of Jesus and the partaking of his Body and Blood in the Eucharist.
When Jesus took the disciples up on the mountain and they beheld the Transfiguration, he sought to both encourage them with a glimpse into his glory, and to reveal to them the truth of the covenant about to be fulfilled by the presence of Moses, Elijah and the cloud of God’s glory. While the disciples were impressed, they were still not sure how to respond. Peter said “let us make three tents” with the idea of honoring each of these prophets including Jesus, and remaining there in prayer. But the truth is that Jesus was greater than Moses and Elijah. The presence of the prophets from the Old Testament in this encounter on the mountain, should be seen as a journey from the Old Covenant of the Law to the New Covenant of Christ’s Blood.
Here was Jesus on the mountain, just like Moses was on the mountain receiving the Ten Commandments. Then Jesus would descend from the mountain into the people of Israel who (just like in Moses’ time) had wandered away from their relationship with God and were focused on their own selfish interests. St. Paul reminds us that we can also fall prey to having our stomach be our god. Jesus leads us to salvation through his death on the cross and resurrection. As we continue this journey in Lent, let us ask our Lord for the strength to be steadfast in our Lenten resolutions, to draw closer to Him in prayer and to allow Him to be our light and our salvation.
