Word to the Wise
Sunday, February 25, 2024 - 2nd Sunday of Lent - B
[Gen 22:1-2, 9a, 10-13, 15-18; Rom 8:31b-34; Mark 9:2-10]"This is my beloved Son. Listen to him." [Mark] If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but handed him over for us all, how will he not also give us everything else along with him. [Romans] "I know now how devoted you are to God, since you did not withhold from me your own beloved son." [Genesis]
If one journeys in Lent with the Gospel According to Mark, the ignorance of the disciples during Jesus' lifetime on earth becomes a bit frustrating. Why couldn't they see and believe what we see and believe: JESUS IS THE SON OF GOD? There is a voice from heaven at the Jordan when Jesus is "baptized" by John the Baptist [Mark 1:10-11]: "You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased." There is the voice from heaven on the mountain in today's gospel passage: "This is my beloved Son. Listen to him." [Mark 9:7] Finally, at the foot of the cross, there is the witness of the pagan centurion: "Truly this man was the Son of God!" [Mark 16:39]. What else did the disciples need? The answer is that the evangelist wanted to point out that only at the cross was Jesus' full identity acknowledged [even then by a pagan] and that any disciple of Jesus must accept the cross and see everything Jesus did in the light of it.
The passages from Genesis and Romans today speak to God's gift of his only Son to be handed over to human sinfulness and executed like a criminal. Abraham was tested and passed the test: "You did not withhold from me your own beloved Son!"] Paul eloquently speaks of God's gift of "his own Son."
Lent leads us to the cross and the empty tomb. It is the reason for the journey. The disciples might have been forgiven for not seeing Jesus as the Son of God in all his signs and preaching because Jesus was something entirely new in their experience. We have the benefit of all the scriptures and Tradition. Do we believe that Jesus is the Son of God and live our lives in the light of that faith? AMEN