By Father Paul Nord, O.S.B.
Sunday Scripture
First Reading: Genesis 15:5-12, 17-18; Response: Psalm 27:1, 7-9, 13-14; Second Reading: Philippians 3:17–4:1; Gospel: Luke 9:28b-36
In Genesis 12, God told Abram: “Go forth from your land, your relatives, and from your father’s house to a land that I will show you (12:1). Abram obeyed God. When Abram arrived in the land of Canaan, the Lord God promised Abram: “To your descendants I will give this land” (12:7). God also promised Abram: “I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you” (12:2). Although Abram did not yet have any children, God promised him many descendants.
Today’s passage from Genesis 15 shows the Lord God renewing both of the promises he made in Genesis 12. First: “The Lord God took Abram outside and said, ‘Look up at the sky and count the stars, if you can. Just so … shall your descendants be.’” Abram believed that God would fulfill his promise. God also restates his promise to give Abram “this land as a possession.” But Abram wants reassurance that God will fulfill this promise to give him the land.
God responds by establishing a covenant with Abram. This includes a renewal of God’s promise: “To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the Great River, the Euphrates.” To establish this covenant, God commands Abram to sacrifice to him these animals: “a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old she-goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” When sundown arrives, Abram falls into a trance as he remains among the sacrificed animals. During Abram’s trance, God reveals to him his descendants’ future — their enslavement in Egypt, and also their eventual redemption. But Abram still awaited God’s fulfillment of his promise of offspring.
God demonstrates to Abram that he is establishing a covenant with him. God does this by making “a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch” pass between the pieces of Abram’s sacrificed animals. Note how Abram had “split … in two” all of the animal sacrifices. Therefore fire passes between each of these “cut-in-two” animal sacrifices. In this way, God accepts Abram’s sacrifices and grants Abram to enter into a covenantal relationship with God. Thus God establishes an intimate relationship with Abram that includes God’s providence and protection for Abram. Essential to this is God’s renewal of his promise of land for Abram’s descendants. Now this is a covenant promise.
In the next reading, St. Paul exhorts the Philippians with these words: “Join with others in being imitators of me, brothers and sisters.” Paul contrasts this with those who “conduct themselves as enemies of the cross of Christ.” Note that Paul does not say “as enemies of Christ,” but rather as enemies of Christ’s cross. Paul is warning against anyone who refuses to accept that suffering and “dying” with Christ are essential to being a true follower of Christ. Paul is insisting that both he and the Philippians obey Jesus’ teaching: “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me” (Matthew 16:24).
Next, Paul describes what happens to someone who attempts to follow Christ but rejects Christ’s cross as the model for their life. Such a person is focused on earthly comforts and possessions. Paul says of such people, “their God is their stomach” and “their minds are occupied with earthly things.” This results in destruction. Paul says, “their glory is in their shame.” This indicates that they take pride and enjoyment in seeking things that really should cause them shame.
Paul explains the reason that we should model our lives on Christ’s cross — and thus reject earthly comforts. This reason is “our citizenship is in heaven” — not on earth. When Christ Jesus returns from heaven, “he will change our lowly body to conform with his glorified body.” This contrasts our bodily existence on earth with Christ’s promise of eternal life — bodily resurrection.
Paul concludes with an exhortation: “In this way stand firm in the Lord.” Paul affectionately calls the Philippians “brothers and sisters — beloved and longed for.” Further, he calls them “my joy and my crown.” This contrasts with Paul’s earlier warning — spoken “even in tears” — about “enemies of the cross of Christ.” Paul’s love for the Philippians causes him either sorrow or joy depending on their willingness to make Christ’s cross the model for their life. Paul insists that this is absolutely essential to following Christ.
Our Gospel today recounts “the Transfiguration” of Jesus from Luke 9. Jesus takes Peter, John and James with him “up the mountain to pray” (9:2). Luke twice emphasizes that Jesus is praying. Matthew and Mark do not mention this in their accounts of the Transfiguration. Luke says “while (Jesus) was praying, “his face changed in appearance” and “his clothing became dazzling white.”
Through prayer, Jesus is communing with God the Father. Thus Peter, James and John receive a glimpse of Jesus’ true nature as the Son of God. The voice from the cloud makes this message explicit: “This is my chosen Son; listen to him.”
In Matthew and Mark, God says “this is my beloved Son,” but here Luke has, “this is my chosen Son.” Luke may be consciously echoing Isaiah 42:1 — “Here is my servant whom I uphold, my chosen one with whom I am pleased.” This verse begins the “Servant Songs of Isaiah 42 to 53” — which were associated with Jesus by the early Church. For example, see Philip’s words about Isaiah 53:7-8 in his encounter with Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8:26-40.
Peter says to Jesus: “Let us make three tents, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” Peter seeks to provide human dwellings, but instead “a cloud came and cast a shadow over them,” and God’s voice speaks from the cloud. This recalls Exodus 40:35 where the cloud of God’s presence descended upon “the tent of meeting” when God communicated with Moses. When the cloud overshadows Jesus, he is revealed to be the Tabernacle of God. In Jesus’ Incarnation, God has chosen to dwell with humanity. This is revealed by his Transfiguration.