Second Sunday of Lent, March 5, 2023
(click here to listen to or read today’s scriptures)
God’s pleasure
The Lord said to Abram, “Go forth!”
And Abram went. He gathered his family and belongings and set out. He was a rich man, and he took with him thousands of animals. He did this for the sake of others.
I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you. All the communities of the earth shall find blessing in you.
Abram did this because he believed God. It was understood that he believed in God, as it is no longer understood with us. We must make choices Abram did not need to make. His Bible (as does ours) began with four words:
In the beginning, God …
That much he knew. But his challenge, his choice, his triumph was to believe God’s words. “I will bless you and keep you,” God told Abram.
Centuries after Abram, during which mankind nearly wrecked the world with headstrong wars and rumors of wars, Jesus came. On his birth day the angels called to the shepherds, and to all of us:
Peace on earth to those who enjoy God’s pleasure.
All it takes to enjoy God’s pleasure is to believe him and believe in his blessing. Ron Rolheiser sees it like this:
Life will come to those who realize that God, when he looks at us, is so overcome with tenderness that he needs a celestial chair with which to steady himself. That is an incredible belief, but it is part of the essence of our creed. To say that we believe in God, as Jesus revealed God, is to believe that God takes pleasure in loving us, that it gives God delight to be our parent, and that God takes joy in continually offering us forgiveness and love. To believe that God sees us in this way is to make an act of faith in the God that Jesus revealed.
Rolheiser watches Jesus’ baptism, and we watch his transfiguration today, and we all can see something of what Jesus saw as he heard his Father’s blessing from the sky: “This is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased.”
Until hearing those words, Jesus’ real identity was as hidden from him. Now, with these words searing his soul and circumcising his heart, Jesus knows his true identity. He is the beloved child who gives God pleasure. From that realization – that he so enjoys God’s favor – he draws his stability, his unique capacity for altruism, his exceptional courage, and that deep joy that nobody and no event can ever take away from him. Jesus knows that he gives God pleasure and from that he draws his life.
God brought Moses and Elijah, along with Peter, James and John to bless Jesus again on Mt. Tabor.
He was transfigured before them; his face shone like the sun and his clothes became white as light. And then from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”
The good news gospel of Jesus reveals the depths of God’s love for everyone – for Jesus, and for all of us. Rolheiser grew up in a farm family near Cactus Lake, a small Saskatchewan town. “My father was the moral compass, my mother the heart; but they could reverse those roles, and did many times.” Rolheiser became a priest, professor and writer. He got to know his Bible, and he got to know his blessing.
Biblically this is what it means to be blessed. You are blessed, receive a blessing, when you draw life from someone else’s pleasure in loving you. Such is God’s pleasure in loving us.
(Genesis 12, Psalm 33, 2 Timothy 1, Matthew 17, Matthew 17)
(posted at www.davesandel.net)
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