2ND SUNDAY HOMILY FOR LENT – YEAR B

2ND SUNDAY HOMILY FOR LENT – YEAR B

THEME: GO TO MORIAH AND LEARN HOW TO MAKE SACRIFICES!

BY: Benedict AGBO (Rev Fr)

* Gen 22: 1 – 18, Rom 8: 31 – 34, Mk 9: 2 – 10.

A. DIVINE WEANING OF ABRAHAM
Every religion is made serious by the tragic elements of faith and love that it entails. For example; Adam’s disobedience was tragic, Abraham’s faith was demanding, Jephtah’s vow was harsh and hard, Judas’ betrayal was terrible, Jesus’ death was horrific, Stephen’s martyrdom was horrendous. Child offering was therefore the most tragic element of primitive religion. Some cult groups like Ogboni still do it. But Christianity has removed and replaced all that with the tragic death of Christ on the Cross, Jn 3: 16, Heb 9: 11 – 14.

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God does not pick up human vessels to use without first of all weaning them and training them on how to make sacrifices, eg Abraham, Moses, Joseph, John the Baptist, etc. Abraham was weaned from sin. He was told in Gen 12: 1 – 3 – ‘Leave your country, your kindred and your father’s house for a country which I will show you’. He was weaned from every affections and possessions. He had not possessed even a plot of land for over 62 years after the Divine promise. Even the cave of Machpelah where he buried his wife was bought. But he picked from Egypt on his way back a slave girl who distracted his affections. From that moment, Abraham who was a man of prayer, had no personal altars any more and his prayer life dwindled. He went in on Hagar (even though with the reluctant permission of Sarah) and she took in. For the next 13 years, Abraham was spiritually distracted. Before God could use him again, he needed to be weaned from that affection – Hagar and Ishmael had to go. He was warned: ‘Walk before me and be blameless’, Gen 17: 1. Abraham prayed a dangerous prayer (for the survival of Ishmael) that has affected world history till today since the descendants of Ishmael (some say, the Arabians) have continued to torment the Isrealites till today.

Abraham still needed to be weaned from his excess affection and attachment to Isaac, the true child of promise that came later. And God said in today’s 1st reading: ‘Abraham, Abraham, take now thy son, thy only son Isaac, whom you love and go to the land of Moriah and offer him’. He didn’t have to make the mistake for the second time.

B. DIVINE WEANING OF THE DISCIPLES
The Calvary experience was prefigured at Moriah and in today’s gospel the mega apostles, Peter, James and John were made to see this. What was in the mind of God as Jesus (prefigured by Isaac) moved from Nazareth to Golgotha (prefigured by Moriah)? That is what we said in the beginning – that tragic faith must merge with tragic love. Yes, agape love must have aspects that are tragic, sacrificial and painful. The disciples needed to be prepared for this experience.

The transfiguration experience was a prerequisite experience of spiritual weaning for the disciples of Christ. There were 3 stages;
1.The Manifestation stage – Appearance of Moses and Elijah to confirm the lordship of Christ.
2. The Illuminative stage – the message from God and Peter’s declaration.
3. The Contemplative stage – They woke up and saw JESUS ONLY. Yes, our focus must end up only on Jesus.

C. OUR TWO MOUNTAINS
According to Vima Dasan, ‘The destiny of every Christian is written between 2 mountains – Mt Calvary (our place of weaning) and Mt Tabor (our place of prayer). The quality of every Christian is determined by our level of sacrifice and our life of prayer. Remember: Going to Moriah (Calvary) is not optional for any Christian. The Lord must send you painful experiences and temptations meant to wean you as a child of God. ‘You must take up your cross and follow me’, Lk 9: 23.

You must go to Moriah where you will learn how to make sacrifices and to Tabor where you will learn how to pray in the Spirit. The problem of modern day Christianity is that many Christians no longer want to visit any of the above Mountains of Spiritual growth and that is why we do not grow in the Spirit. Lent is a good time for us to up our game spiritually. Happy Sunday dear friends!

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