2nd Sunday of Lent: Trustful Listening
Sermon by Emmanuel Suntheni OSB – Second Sunday of Lent – Year A
Sermon And Christian Act In The Word
Theme: Trustful Listening! Listen to the will of God!
Point of Reflection: As a Benedictine myself, what comes to my mind when I hear the word ‘obedience’ is the aspect of listening as our holy father St Benedict put it rightly in the prologue for his Rule, he started by saying, listen my son with the ear of the heart! Do I listen to the Word of God with the eye of the heart? Do I allow the fire of the Word of God to modify my life and inspire me? In what ways? Does my listening to God’s Word shape how I encounter and respond to others? Confident listening, and response to God’s voice, is necessary for any believer on a journey of faith, to face those inevitable moments of hopelessness and the sense of futility. In such moments, the words of the prayer of the Psalmist became all-important, “let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us”.
First Reading: Genesis 12:1–4
Psalm: Psalm 33:4–5, 18–20, 22
Second Reading: 2 Timothy 1:8–10
Gospel: Matthew 17:1–9
The message of the second Sunday of Lent emphasises that the decision to trust and obey God must be intrinsically connected with persistent listening to God’s voice, which comes to a willing listener in diverse ways. Are we ready to listen?
We are in lent and we need to experience change, today the structure of sharing the Word of God is different, we are beginning with the Christian Act in the Word and then the Sermon-Reflection.
Christian Act in Word of God “Trustful Listening”
The Scriptural readings of the Second Sunday of Lent, summon us to reflect on our missionary mandate which is embodied in Trustful Listening.
Every celebration of Holy Mass concludes with a command to “go forth”, and one of those formulas adds, “and proclaim the Word of God with your lives”. The Gospel of today tells us that the three disciples of Jesus after hearing God’s voice, wanted to pitch tents on the mountain because they experienced God’s presence and were happy to stay where they were. Yet, following Jesus, they had to come down from the mountain, and continue their mission, just as Abram was commanded to go forth from his place of rest. When we reflect on this command three insights emerge as lessons for our lives.
Firstly, listening to the Word of God changes us and challenges our life and faith. In this season of Lent listening to the Word of God must be followed by conversion, thus, a visible change takes place in our lives. God assures us that “a doer who acts, such a one shall be blessed in what he does” (Jas 1:25). The Word of God should challenge and transform us. Therefore, we must examine our life and determine what needs to be eliminated from it. This would make us transformed people.
Secondly, going forth listening to God’s Word, sets us on fire. St Ignatius said, “go forth and set the world on fire”. When we listen to God’s Word we are empowered by the life-giving breath of the Holy Spirit, and we cannot keep that Word to ourselves. We must share it with our brothers and sisters. We are to share that fire we experience in the encounter with the Word of God through our testimony and witness of life, especially in our families, community, at work, at school and everywhere we find ourselves.
Thirdly, going forth listening to God’s Word compels us to action. Like Abram we are to go forth and become God’s missionaries. We must leave our comfort zones and move forth wherever God sends us, and in the process evangelize his people. This does not necessarily mean going to distant, foreign lands. We are to be missionaries first to our own world which is in so much need of God’s presence. This kind of mission involves “going out of the self” in order to meet our brothers and sisters. In this encounter we share our personal joys and sorrows, but above all, we share our faith with others. We must not justify our withdrawal by saying “I am unsociable” or “I am an introvert”; we should be open-hearted persons who can channel God’s blessings to others. In doing this we “come down” from the mountain of our comfort and move on to the “foreign lands” like Abram or the disciples.
Finally, we should embark on this mission with courage. It is God who calls us to carry forth this mandate of missionary discipleship. We should not fear anything because God assures us of his continuous protection and blessings.
God calls everyone, regardless of age or status, to carry out this mission in a particular and unique way. Prayer and meditation on God’s Word are what we need to respond adequately to this call and mission. Thus, our going forth must be done in the attitude of constant and trustful listening to God’s Word.
Sermon (Reflection): Abram’s life story from the first reading took a new turn as a result of him heeding God’s call. This call, narrated in the first reading, started the would-be patriarch, on a long and all-important journey. It was a new beginning for him, but also a starting for the story of other patriarchs, and the history of God’s chosen people in general. This history, often termed “the history of salvation”, refers to God’s plan and actions to restore his creation, and save his people from the disastrous consequences of the fall of the first parents, described in the last’s Sunday first reading. God’s voice and command come, spurring Abram to complete the journey towards Canaan.
God’s call came as a commanding order to “go forth”, accompanied by a stunningly rich promise related to the painful situation of Abram’s life and his uncertain future, namely the promise of numerous descendants, and the land to live in. These promises referred to a distant future, as God did not specify the time of their fulfilment, and were concentrated on the word “blessing”; Abram was to be a blessing, and all families of the earth would find blessing in him. This was a truly stunning message to a homeless and childless man. Abram was likely very well aware that he might not see the full scope of these promised fulfilled in his lifetime. But with deep trust in the dependability of God’s word he moved on “as the Lord had told him”, in spite of the questions and uncertainties, and in spite of his advanced age of seventy-five. In his trust and fidelity, shown in listening and obedience to God’s voice, the promises he received began to take concrete shape. As he moved forward on the journey, the fulfilment of God’s word moved closer.
In the second reading, writing to his disciple and co-worker Timothy, the apostle Paul was himself facing an uneasy situation, as he felt the end of his life and service fast approaching. Because of his work and commitment to Jesus and the Gospel, he was languishing in jail, expecting to give the final testimony to his Lord by laying down his own life in martyrdom. Such a wait must have been extremely distressing and very challenging. He might have been asking himself, “Is such an end a sign that my life-mission was a failure?” Nevertheless, the apostle persisted in constant prayer, and gratefulness to God. He had already experienced the paradoxical truth that God’s “power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9).
The Gospel passage of today narrates the event of Jesus’ transfiguration, which took place on a mountain during his journey to Jerusalem. This was Jesus’ journey into death, which he would suffer on yet another hill, Calvary, just outside the walls of the city. A vision of glory on the mount of transfiguration was to counterbalance the tragedy of the scandalous death on Calvary.
At Jesus’ transfiguration, three chosen apostles witnessed a divine revelation similar to the one on Mount Sinai where God appeared to Moses, and later in history, to Elijah. The bright cloud, God’s voice and the disciples’ prostration, all serve as expressions of reverence when a human being witnesses the powerful manifestations of God. The disciples knew about such events from Israel’s past, and they must have realized that they were in the presence of the living God. Their natural fear was transformed by a touch from Jesus at the end of the story, a touch of reassurance and consolation. His words, “get up and do not be afraid”, and the subsequent mention of the resurrection looked forward to the events that the disciples were soon to experience in Jerusalem where they would see their Lord crucified. A glimpse of the bright glory of Jesus on the mount of transfiguration was intended for the time when they would see him tortured, humiliated and crucified. The vision of the glorified Jesus was meant to strengthen their faith and hope, for the time when they would see Jesus crucified, and would prevent them from being overwhelmed and shattered by the scandal of Jesus’ suffering.
At the heart of the story of the transfiguration lies communication from God to the disciples. God identified Jesus as his “beloved Son” whom the disciples ought to listen to. In this way God prepared the disciples for the future. When difficult events of life and history would conspire to take away their faith and hope, they were to rely on the words from God, and confidently cling to his Son, to his teaching and his commands. The community of believers which would arise on the basis of the disciples’ testimony, would embrace Jesus as the divine guiding voice, fulfilling the role which Moses and Elijah played in the past, for the people of Israel.
As we are in Lenten season, let us learn to be listening to the Son of God who is Jesus Christ.
Action: I will listen to the voice of the Lord and do His will.
Prayer: Our Loving Lord God, we thank you for calling us to go forth listening to your Divine Word. Help us to be doers of your Word. Inflame us with the breath of the Holy Spirit, so that we may go wherever you are sending us and proclaim your Word. Lord open our hearts to always listen to your voice, we place our hope in you. We ask through Christ our Lord, Amen.
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