Second Sunday of Lent - Possession

Readings: Genesis 22:1-2, 9a, 10-13, 15-18; Ps 116; Romans 8:31b-34; Mark 9:2-10

Our readings today give us much food for thought. Abraham's sacrifice is a story which should disturb us very deeply. God seems to be asking him for that which he holds dearest - his only son Isaac. How could a father even contemplate sacrificing him? It seems absurd, complete madness that he is even willing to go that far. Why? Perhaps the answer is that Abraham recognises that his son is a gift from God. This opens our eyes to a truth that we all know, yet so rarely live by - everything that we have comes from God, and so everything that we have comes as a gift. But how much do we tend to feel that the things that we are given are rightfully ours? As the main character in C.S. Lewis' 'Screwtape Letters' says: “All the time the joke is that the word ‘Mine’ in its fully possessive sense cannot be uttered by a human being about anything.” And yet we utter it so often. What Abraham succeeds in doing is abandoning his sense of possession over his son, for love of God, and he is rewarded greatly. God promises him as many descendants as stars in the sky. Abraham’s legacy will live on, because he understood Isaac was a gift of God and responded with the ultimate sign of love, of his own love for God.

At the Transfiguration we see a similar struggle for possession. The disciples want to possess that wonderful moment of the manifestation of the glory of God. They want to capture it and live in it forever. We see that Screwtape also understands the disciples' folly well: “Man can neither make, nor retain, one moment of time; it all comes to him by pure gift”. We cannot possess the glory of God. We can only enjoy those fleeting glimpses when they come, then continue on our journey, just as the disciples had to do. After the transfiguration, Jesus journeys on to the cross. His death on the cross is also a manifestation of the glory of God, but one which the disciples are not prepared to accept. It too is a gift, in the same form that God had requested but in his mercy not accepted from Abraham.

We must be careful in our own lives that we do not strive to take possession of God's glory, to hold on to those moments of joy in our lives to the extent that we are unwilling to accept the cross when it comes our way. And it surely will come our way in moments of personal loss, illness, desolation. Just as the cross could also manifest the glory and love of God, so the moments of difficulty in our lives can also be moments of transfiguration for us. Often, it is in suffering that we feel his presence more powerfully than ever. This paradox is at the heart of the mystery of Jesus, and at the heart of the mystery of our own lives. Let us not cling to whatever it is we hold dear in such a way that we prevent ourselves from embracing this life-giving mystery with faith, hope and love.