Saturday, March 12, 2022

2022/03/13 Cut and Transfigured

 Before Mass

The first reading may seem kinda weird,,,and gross, so let me explain what it’s about and maybe it’ll make some sense.  God is making a covenant with Abraham – the father of our faith.  You’ll remember a covenant is more than a contract – a covenant is a family bond… kinda like adoption - or marriage.  Once you’re adopted, you can’t be un-adopted.  God wants that kind of relationship with Abraham, and Abraham asks for a sign – so God gives it to him in a way that would have been perfectly normal to him, but it sounds very weird to us… and probably gross too.  It’s a ceremony involving a lot of cut up animals…You’ll see what I mean when we listen.  Just remember this is sort-of like God making a vow to Abraham like, ‘cross-my heart, hope to die, stick a needle in my eye’.  Do kids still say that?  

How about this:  God is basically saying, I would DIE before I break this covenant with you.  I’ll repeat that for you to think about, because that’s a loaded statement:  God is saying I would DIE before I break this covenant with you.

Gn 15:5-12, 17-18
Ps 27:1, 7-8, 8-9, 13-14.
Phil 3:17—4:1
Lk 9:28b-36

Homily

See what I mean about the first reading being kind of gross or weird?  What’s up with them cutting those animals in half anyway?

Like I said before Mass, God is making a covenant with Abraham, and in those days, that’s how you sealed a covenant:  You’d take and animal, cut it in two, and then both parties would walk through the middle of the parts – basically saying ‘if I do not keep my promises, let me be cut in two like these animals’.  The only way out of a Covenant is death.

In fact, the word for covenant in Hebrew is ‘berit’ – which actually means ‘to cut’… which is a reference to this ceremony of cutting all of these animals.  It’s a serious matter to enter into a covenant, and this bloody ceremony would make it VERY memorable to you.   But notice – normally BOTH parties must walk through the middle… but in this case, Abraham is sitting over here in a trance.  Only God passed through the parts – symbolized by the torch and the fire pot – So God is saying, ‘if I’m ever unfaithful to this covenant, let ME be cut in two’… which is absurd, because God can’t be cut in two.  But there’s a deeper meaning here:  The fact that only God walked down the middle meant He was taking on ALL of the responsibility in this covenant - in other words, God was saying “if either one of us is unfaithful, I will take the punishment upon myself!!”  In that light, this suddenly could be seen as a prediction of the future crucifixion.

That’s how much we can trust God… Regardless of what WE do, HE will always fulfill his promise to us.  The Israelites, on the other hand, would not fulfill their side of the covenant.  God KNEW this and had already accounted for it.  However, He continued to invite them into a more personal relationship… Inviting Each person to personally enter into the covenant… which means they need to ‘berit’… cut something.  God decided things needed to become a bit more personal… ok, a LOT more personal.  That’s where circumcision came in… they had to cut off part of themselves in order to personally enter into that covenant.  That became THE sign of the covenant people!

Today we don’t physically cut anything off – but we still make sacrifices.  We definitely see this during Lent, when most of us give up something:  we ‘cut’ ourselves off from something we like.  Like we don’t eat meat on Fridays in Lent… Before the 60’s that was the rule for EVERY Friday.  And it was kinda cool, because the whole culture recognized that Catholics were different… that we had 'cut' ourselves off from meat on Fridays.  In a way, it set us apart.  You’d drive down the street and see Friday specials everywhere: catfish - or seafood buffet or whatever.  It was a visible symbol to the world that WE are a Covenant people.  But in the 60’s, the Church relaxed that rule to allow us to eat meat on Fridays except during Lent, but in the same breath they said that if we’re not abstaining from meat, we should choose something ELSE to do or give up.  In short – every one of us is supposed to ‘berit’ – be cut off from something at least once a week… not as a stupid rule we have to follow – but as a sign that WE are in a covenant relationship with God!!  

It may seem like this ancient practice and vocabulary of covenants is foreign to us – but some of it has stuck in our language.  Have you ever heard the phrase, “let’s cut a deal”?  There's that word 'Cut', or ‘berit’.  And here's a phrase I'm sure you've heard:  ‘Until death do us PART’?  Right there in the vows of matrimony, we recognize that in a true covenantal relationship, we can only be separated by death.

Finally, Jesus started a new covenant and what happened…. HE was cut… crucified and his heart was pierced.  That cutting was the sign of the new covenant…but it was more than that...I think it also relates to the old covenant.  Since the Israelites were consistently unfaithful.  And remember God had promised that if EITHER of us is unfaithful, I'LL take the punishment.  Maybe that's why He chose to take on a body in order to die to fulfill the old covenant vows… and then He expanded the covenant by ushering in the New and Everlasting covenant open to all people for the forgiveness of sins.

In this new covenant.. in this new WAY of living, you and I are like Jesus.

Just like He climbed the mountain, we are all struggling through life - trying to get closer to God.  Just like He had to suffer - We all have to make sacrifices – we have to berit / cut ourselves somehow – and just like he was glorified, we all will be glorified.  Yes - All of us can experience that same transfigured, glorified body revealed by Jesus.  But – is that something we only experience in the next life?  No – the Kingdom of God is among us!  We can be transfigured and experience glorification right here and now.  How?

Notice what Jesus was doing when He was transfigured… why did He go up the mountain?  Anybody catch that?  He went up to pray.  It says:

        While he was praying his face changed in appearance

        and his clothing became dazzling white.

        And behold, two men were conversing with him, Moses and Elijah,

        who appeared in glory and spoke of his exodus

        that he was going to accomplish in Jerusalem.

In other words, when Jesus prayed, several things happened:  

- he was physically changed – being lit up like a lightbulb.  

- He connected with the saints in heaven.  

- He received His marching orders for how He was to fulfill God's mission in His life… and finally 

– prayer is where he found His truest, deepest identity when the Father said, “This is my Chosen son”.  All that from prayer!

You and I can tap into that same power!!  

When you and I pray, we can be physically changed… the Spirit can light us up so that others are attracted to us.  In fact, prayer that DOESN’T change us isn’t really prayer… if we’re just checking the boxes, we’re not really allowing our relationship with God to grow.  

Second, we can connect with the angels and saints.  Notice that Jesus wasn’t talking to two dead guys… but they weren't DEAD!!  Moses and Elijah were ALIVE… this is evidence of eternal life!  So we can confidently connect with the saints in prayer.  

Third, We also can get our marching orders for how WE are to bring about the mission of OUR lives.  

Finally, did you notice that the whole Trinity was there that day?  Obviously Jesus, the son was there - then there was the cloud which overshadowed them, which was the Holy Spirit - and then we had the Father speaking to Jesus.  You and I can also enter into that same realm of the Trinity – as we talk with Jesus, the Chosen Son, the Spirit will overshadow us with the glory cloud – and we’ll hear the voice of the Father reminding us of our truest, deepest identity:  You are my beloved Son or Daughter.  YOU are a beloved son or daughter!  Why?  

Because, we are adopted.  We are a covenant people.  


No comments:

Post a Comment