2nd Sunday of Lent, Year B
“God put Abraham to the test.”
How would you fair with the same test? Last week I spoke about our struggles to resist temptation. Who you do any better with the test that Abraham faced when God told him, “Take your son Isaac, your only whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah. There you shall offer him up as a holocaust” (first reading for today)?
Abraham had waited a long time for a son. When Isaac was born, Abraham loved him dearly. Yet, when God told him to sacrifice Isaac, Abraham was willing to do it. He “built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. Then he reached out and took the knife to slaughter his son.”
Abraham was willing to make the sacrifice God commanded of him.
Would you have been willing to do the same?
Abraham loved Isaac but he also loved God and fully trusted God. In his love and trust for God, he was willing to do whatever God asked of him.
Are you willing to make a sacrifice for God?
Where would you draw the line?
Of course, the good news is that God stopped Abraham before he killed Isaac. God then provided a ram for that day’s sacrifice. While Abraham did not have to sacrifice his son Isaac that day, the day would come when God would sacrifice his Son Jesus for us on the Cross. God makes the ultimate sacrifice for us.
Why? “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him” (John 3:16-17).
Being a disciple of Jesus requires us to make sacrifices. From the sacrifices can come blessings. Remember God’s words to Abraham ” in our first reading, “I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that because you acted as you did in not withholding from me your beloved son, I will bless you abundantly.”
Today’s responsorial psalm begins, “I believed, even when I said, “I am greatly afflicted.”” Suffering happens but it does not mean that God has abandoned us. And we should not abandon God because we suffer. As Paul writes, “If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but handed him over for us all…” The world is full of suffering. The devil tries to strike against us but we need not fear the suffering or the devil for God has made the ultimate sacrifice for us and will always be at our side as we make sacrifices and accept suffering throughout our lives.
Jesus knew that it would be hard for his disciples to see him suffer. After He told them what was to come, He “took Peter, James, and John and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves.” Why? So, they could see him transfigured into his glory to know his divinity. He wanted them to see him with Elijah to know that He is the fulfillment of what the prophecies foretold. He wanted them to see him with Moses so that they would know He is the fulfillment of the Law. He wanted them to hear God’s voice say, “This is my beloved Son, Listen to him.” Jesus is the Son of God. We need to listen to him.
Do you listen to Jesus? Are you willing to make sacrifices for your faith?
Peace,
Fr. Jeff