2nd Sunday in Lent, 2010
Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18
Philippians 3:17-4:1
Luke 9:28-36
The story is told of a man who in a small rural Iowa community got a permit to open the first tavern. The members of the local church were strongly opposed to the bar so they began to pray that God would intervene. A few days before the tavern was to open, lightening hit it burning it to the ground.
The people of the church were surprised but pleased—until they received notice that the would-be tavern owner (who was a non-believer) was suing them! He contended that their prayers were responsible for his building being burned. The congregation hired a lawyer and in a strongly worded deposition denied the charge.
At the conclusion of the hearing, the judge wryly remarked, “at this point I don’t know what my decision will be, but this appears to be the situation. The pagan owner of the tavern believes in the power of prayer, and the church people do not.” (from the Prairie Rambler, June 1993)
Be careful what you ask for when you invoke the power of God.
God made a covenant with Abraham. When Sara and Abraham were rather old, God promised them that they would have a family and from their lineage would come the promised Messiah.
Now God is calling Abram to a new covenant but notice the hint of skepticism in Abraham as he asks, “how do I know this is going to happen?” The unwritten implication is that “well God, you didn’t do too well on the last covenant. How do I know this ones going to happen?” And then Abram trusted in the Lord and he got what he asked for. What are you asking for during this Lenten season?
When I read the Gospel I thought to myself, I would have made a good apostle. Peter, James and John, whether it’s on the mountaintop or in the Garden of Gethsemane, when Jesus asked them to pray, they fall asleep. I have to admit I’m pretty good at that myself.
Notice also that the apostles, especially Peter, always needed to be doing something. In today’s Gospel, he is in the midst of the ecstatic experience of the Transfiguration. Yet, Peter does not seem to want to immerse himself into this experience, rather he immediately wants “to do” something. Peter says, “let’s build a memorial here so that we remember where this happened” rather than cherishing the experience itself. Peter, like some of the others, wanted “to do” rather than “to be.”
Last Sunday when we had the desert experience and the temptation of Jesus? I asked you to reflect and to ponder who we are and what our relationship is to God. The Scripture today has God saying, “This is my beloved. LISTEN to him.” Yet, all too often we are too busy to listen. We are too busy to listen to Jesus or anyone else.
Perhaps our penance for the Lenten season might be to give up some of our “busyness.” We can give up our over-involvement so that we might be able to listen to the voice of Jesus more effectively. During this holy season we might consider reading the Gospels. There are only four Gospels and that is not too much to read in 40 days.
Or, we might enter into a serious conversation with a spouse, a child, or a close friend about who is Jesus for us and what does Jesus say to us today?
Or perhaps the most important thing that we should do during this desert experience is to pray quietly. All too often, our prayers consist of multiple words and we do not have time to listen to what Jesus would speak to us.
May we use this holy 40 days to listen intently to the beloved Son of God.
Save your people O Lord. Show us the way to come home.
Rev. Ev Hemann
RevEv@SaintPatrickcf.org