Sunday 5 March 2023
2nd Sunday of Lent
Genesis 12:1-4. Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you – Psalm 32(33):4-5, 18-20, 22. 2 Timothy 1:8-10. Matthew 17:1-9.
The Lord’s exceptional promise
‘So Abraham went as the Lord told him.’ The Lord’s promise was grand, abundant, exceptional. But so, in its way, was Abraham’s openness to hearing the call. Abraham’s obedience, which ebbs and flows, was born of God’s promise for him and his descendants. Neither Abraham nor his many descendants could be considered to have been chosen because they were perfect. Instead, as Paul points out in his letter to Timothy, like the Christian they are saved and called because of God’s grace.
The scene of the Transfiguration is a reminder of the awe-inspiring state of that grace. God, so close in Jesus and in so many ways in our lives, is also transcendent, beyond our grasp. We can feel with Peter that trembling desire to stay on the mountain top, amid the transcendent beauty. But we are called to follow Jesus into the messiness of each day. How do I accompany him?
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