The purpose of Lent is to bring us closer to God, to better hear His voice and to free us from false, worldly attachments. Are we making progress? Or do we feel weak and tired after almost two weeks of fasting?
We have heard how Jesus went up a mountain to pray together with Peter, John and James. While Jesus is praying, the three disciples were heavy with sleep. Perhaps from exhaustion from the long climb. Perhaps because the time spent praying has become too long for them. We can identify with the three disciples: We started our journey, we try to pray, Jesus is with us, but we are weak and tired.
And suddenly it happens: ‘As Jesus prayed, the aspect of his face was changed and his clothing became brilliant as lightning.’ Moses and Elijah appear in glory and talk to Jesus about his coming death in Jerusalem. The three disciples are fully awake again and are astonished at what they see and hear.
Something like this can also happen to us in our fasting and praying. We have to go through a time of exhaustion and tiredness and perhaps also boredom in order to come closer to God. Let us not miss this moment of divine light!
Abram, who we heard about in the first reading, also had to go through a long period of tiresome waiting. Since he had received the promise from God, he had wandered for many years until he reached the land of Canaan. He lived there as a homeless stranger, and he still had no son. Then God spoke to him once again and Abram put his faith in the Lord. But he still asked for a sign: ‘My Lord,’ he said ‘how am I to know that I shall inherit the land?’
What happened next seems very strange to us: God commanded Abram to bring various animals, cut them in half and place the two halves opposite each other. What is the point of this?
Exegetes say that this was a very old political ritual. When a ruler made a covenant with a vassal, which usually meant that the ruler offered military protection and the vassal had to pay tribute, animals were slaughtered, and the bloody halves of the animals were placed opposite each other. Then, the vassal had to walk through the animal halves. In doing so, the ruler said to the vassal: ‘If you don’t honour our agreement, I will do the same to you as I did to these animals!’ A rather brutal way of drawing attention to the consequences of a breach of covenant on the part of the weaker party.
Abram knew exactly what it meant: God wanted to make a covenant with him. And it was clear who the weaker partner was. What did the Almighty want in return? Firm faith and loyalty. Abram must have wondered whether he was really able to trust in the Lord for the rest of his life. Always. Without hesitation. Without doubt.
As the weaker partner, he would have to pass through the animal halves. But he couldn’t. The sight of the bloody carcasses frightened him. He was afraid of making a promise to the Almighty that he might not be able to keep. Abram was paralysed. He waited. Then he fell into a deep sleep, and terror seized him. The sun had set, and darkness had fallen.
Suddenly, there appeared a smoking furnace and a firebrand. They passed between the halves.
The fire is a sign of God’s presence. God himself passes between the animal carcasses. This means that God himself takes the punishment for the breach of covenant upon himself. The stronger party relieves the weaker party of the penalties and takes them upon himself. Something unheard of.
God fulfils his part of the agreement: He gives Abram descendants and a new homeland. And God is still faithful even if Abram or his descendants fail to fulfil their part of the agreement. God binds himself to his own promise, and he even takes upon himself the death penalty that was supposed to be threatened for Abram and his descendants if they were unfaithful.
This is exactly what Jesus talks about with Moses and Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration. Jesus came to make God’s unbreakable faithfulness visible. He releases us from the punishment for sin and unbelief and takes it upon himself.
God the Father himself speaks from the cloud: ‘This is my Son, the Chosen One. Listen to him.’ What should we listen to? Jesus’ words about repentance, the forgiveness of sins, the kingdom of God. And Jesus’ words about himself, the Son, who came to reconcile us with God and to take the punishment for our sin and our unbelief upon himself.
Yes, we are weak, we make mistakes, and we are sometimes tired and exhausted. But we are on our way to the promised homeland. And God is faithful. In the radiant light that surrounded Jesus on the mountain, we see our own future. The apostle Paul writes it openly:
‘Our homeland is in heaven, and from heaven comes the saviour we are waiting for, the Lord Jesus Christ, and he will transfigure these wretched bodies of ours into copies of his glorious body.’
Amen.
