HOMILY FOR SECOND SUNDAY OF LENT YEAR A, 5TH MARCH, 2023

Readings: Gen. 12:1-4; Ps. 33; 2 Tim. 1:8-10; Matt. 17:1-9

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike  Onyia

 

THE CALL AND SEPARATION THAT LEADS TO PERSONAL ENCOUNTER WITH GOD

 

Reflecting on the awesome nature of God as manifested in the things He created, the surprising ways He chooses to carry out His plans, the people He chooses, the place, and the things He use in fulfilling His plans, they are just incomprehensible. This is evident in our readings today.

 

In the first reading, we heard how God called Abraham to leave his country, his family and his father’s house, for the land  He will show him. Here God promised to  bless him and make him a great nation. Such were the promises that God had given to Abraham, and he believed in God fully and completely, leaving his ancestral family and lands behind, and journeyed with God to the promised land. As the scriptures made us to know, Abraham had a lot of properties, amazing connections and things he definitely enjoyed in his ancestral homeland. But he chose to trust in God and abandoned all these things, and journeyed with God in faith and commitment towards attaining the promised made to him.

 

Thus, this call of Abraham marks the beginning of a special encounter and a close relationship between God and man. By following and trusting God, Abraham demonstrates extraordinary faith in God’s guidance and providence. Through his faith the whole humanity were blessed because from his descendants comes the saviour of humanity and this saviour is revealed at the mountain of transfiguration in the person of Jesus as we have it in our Gospel passage today.

 

The remarkable event of transfiguration reveals in a moment that Jesus was not just merely a Man, but also the Son of God and the Saviour of the world. He has two distinct yet inseparable natures of Man and Divine, through which he would seal and make a new Covenant that will last forever with all humanity, which will be made through his Passion, his death on the Cross and his resurrection. Through this  Covenant, all of us are made to be sons and daughters of God, sharers of God’s inheritance and glory which was promised to Abraham and his descendants.

 

Therefore, the event of the transfiguration of the Lord reminds us of the revelation of Christ as the beloved Son of the Father, the one we are called to trust and listen to. An event that occur to draw our attention to inevitable event of parousia (the second coming of Jesus at the judgement day), which calls us to a life of faith and radical transformation. A transformation that brings about a new out fit that makes one a new person with a new life, a new mind and a new way of doing things. The transfiguration account tells us about a dramatic encounter of God’s presence.  A truly spiritual personal experience of God calling us for a possibility of divine encounter.

 

Dear friends, today God is calling and separating us from the things of this passing world in order to have a personal encounter with him just like Abraham and the three disciples Peter, James and John. For we all have been called to journey with the Lord and to obey His will. Often time when we are called to follow the Lord, the path may seem to be uncertain and unknown to us, it may seem difficult and contrary to our own way of life.  And the devil is always ready to distract us, persuading and tempting us to remain in our old and ugly way of life  and not to respond to the Lord’s calling.

 

Therefore, we are called this Holy Season of Lent  to reexamine our lives, how are we responding to God’s call?  How are we able to discern carefully the will of God in our lives? God has called us to change our ugly ways of life and follow Him, in whatever directions that He wishes to lead us through. Are we ready to follow him? Are we ready to let go of the excess desire for sinful things of this passing world? Are we ready to sacrifice all for the sake of following the Lord and  experience his glory and presence in our lives?

 

The truth remains that, we can change our friends, our residence, our cars or our physical appearance: hear, cloth and colour of our skin. We can change our gender as some people do today, we can change even our church denomination, the Masses we attend,  our pious societies, even our pastors or priests. But if we do not have a personal transfigurative experience like the three disciples, that will bring about a change of mind and heart towards loving God and neighbours, we will remain the same and the old experience of unfruitful life will perpetuate itself over and over again. Because, everything absolutely changes when we encounter and  experience God personally in our lives and change our mind and heart for good. For that change can only be propelled by a strong personal experience of God in our lives just like Peter, James and John.

 

Hence, St Paul calls us in our second reading to embrace the Gospel in the power of God, who saved and called us with a holy calling in order to personally experience the transfigurative power of His presence, not in virtue of our work but in virtue of His own purpose and grace which He gave us through Jesus Christ.

 As we worship God today, may He transform us into the image and likeness of his Son Jesus and fill our heart with the Joy of His kingdom.

 

LET US PRAY: Almighty God,  as you have called us to the mountain of encounter and transfiguration, may we truly encounter you personally in your Words and Sacraments which we celebrate this Holy season of Lent. We ask this through Christ our Lord.  Amen.  Happy Sunday.