A Christian Lesson on Naturalization Strategy
Genesis 15:5-12, 17-18; Philippians 3:17-4:1 or 3:20-4:1; Luke 9:28b-36
A novice, a nun in training, goes to her spiritual director to complain to him that she was convinced God was not calling her to be a nun because she had lost three members of her family since she (began her formation) went to the novitiate. Her spiritual director asked her to produce the contract paper she signed with God that no one will die in her family because she wanted to become a nun/sister. She answered that there was no such contract signed with God. Her spiritual director encouraged her to continue her formation for the religious life because even nuns/sisters die just as their family members do – suffering for God is inevitable!
The call of Abram from his home and country to a new home and country is a metaphor for the journey of faith embarked upon by every Christian. Abram set out without knowing where he was headed, the only guide he had was his faith in the fidelity of the God who called him. As it is often the case, like the story we told above, doubts may set in as to the genuineness and clarity of the voice we heard calling on us at the out set of our journeys of faith. In such situations, we ask for a sign or guarantee that it is worth the effort and trust to continue; beyond a voice, we need something tangible to hold unto. God sometimes meets us halfway; at least, he did with Abram. God “signed” a covenant with Abram to encourage him – covenant with God is the way!
The covenant with Abram was a covenant to inherit a land, to be citizens of a country: “To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the Great River, the Euphrates” (Genesis 15:18). Here and now, all human beings, at birth, receive the same earthly citizenship, for no one is either stateless or landless. In fact, many have dual citizenships today, ascribing to two nations on earth. For Christians, however, the covenant of God is a covenant of a second citizenship that is immaterial and intangible. In the words of Paul, in our second reading, “Our citizenship is in Heaven” (Philippians 3:20). Every Christian is invited to possess a dual citizenship of earth and heaven. While the earthly citizenship is conferred by birth, the heaven citizenship is based on naturalization via moral rectitude, the keeping of the terms of our covenant with God – naturalization is the key!
Interestingly, every covenant comes with its prescriptions of dos and don’ts. There is always a morality attached to every covenant, fidelity to which guarantees its fulfillment. Although the encouragement Abram got from God was a guarantee of a Promised Land for his descendants, today’s gospel takes our minds beyond the earthly home to one above the earth. The appearance of Moses and Elijah talking with Jesus makes the descendants of Abram possessors of an immortal inheritance. The fact that Moses and Elijah could still appear to Jesus despite centuries that separated them means that after death, there is still life; to be an inhabitant of the earth is just a preparation for another place where residency is forever – heaven is our home!
Christians need to learn the act of faith in waiting for the realization of God’s promises from Abram. Abram realized that he had to wait patiently for the fulfillment of the promise of God to him. While he waited, he trusted in God “who credited it to him as an act of righteousness” (Genesis 12:6). Abram’s two acts of faith reveal to us why “faith” must be active: 1) Abram obeyed the command to leave his fatherland for an unknown destination; and, 2) he went in search of the animals for the covenant with God: “Bring me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old she-goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon” (Genesis 15:9). These acts remind Christians that obedience to God comes before God’s fulfillment of his promises; that it is not necessary to see before one obeys. Like the prescriptions of Lent, which could sound like punishments, with faith and trust in God they indicate the active waiting posture of Christians for the realization of their heavenly citizenship – no cross, no crown!
The reality of the covenant between Abram and God tells about the origins of Lent, beyond the forty days requirement. It reminds us of why we need rules and regulations, and locate their foundation in covenants and contracts. Just as every game has its rules, even going to heaven has its rules and requirements. For those who don’t like rules and regulations, too bad! What is interesting about rules and regulations, for a Christian, is the fact that they are not punishments from God but the offer of choice to us to choose our citizenship, of earth or of heaven. The period of Lent and its prescriptions are training on how to naturalize as citizens of heaven; to practice them honestly is to enlist oneself on the application form, while waiting to be naturalized/granted a dual citizenship – fidelity to God is indispensable!
The appearance of Moses and Elijah to Jesus, in our gospel, proves that Lenten period is a training process for Christian “naturalization,” the steps to be taken to earn the citizenship of heaven. The examples of Moses and Elijah, in our gospel, make a life of discomfort or Lent inevitable for a child of God. Moses had to flee Egypt to the land of the Medians before he could encounter God, Yahweh, in the burning bush. It was a life of refugee that gave him a new citizenship and a job as God’s ambassador and viceroy for Israelites. Elijah combated the prophets of Baal and Asherah (1 Kings 18:19) before fleeing from Jezebel into the wilderness and to the mountain of encounter with God, then he was taken up to heaven. Fasting and deprivation, sometimes with the fear of martyrdom or actual martyrdom, are the conditions for naturalization in heaven. In fact, our heavenly citizenship is given more certainty because Moses and Elijah, who were considered dead and gone, prove that they are still alive by appearing to and talking with Jesus – take a chance, and God will surprise you!
Our fasting, almsgiving and prayer only summarize the purpose for which we were created: “God made us to know him, to love him, and to serve him in this world, and to be happy with him forever in heaven.” The prescriptions of Lent only display our love, service/worship of God and the desire to live with God forever in heaven, when we live out those requirements faithfully. Those prescriptions keep us on the same trajectory with God’s covenant with Abram, the zeal of Elijah, the leadership of Moses and the dynamism of Paul – if you imitate Christ, you will be with him!
The power of the Transfiguration of today’s gospel shows God’s power transforming us into persons worthy of his company. At the moment of prayer, Jesus becomes transfigured, and the dead, Moses and Elijah, appeared with him in glory. They met with God’s perimeters for dwelling with him, so they glowed with new light, the light of God, the light of heaven. The cloud, God’s presence, glows on those who are transformed through prayers and the power of mortification of the flesh and moral rectitude. Like Moses and Elijah, you and I are a gradually being transfigured into the person of Jesus Christ through our prayers, fasting and almsgiving. Even here and now, we experience what our heavenly citizenship will look like through the transfiguration of Jesus Christ – you and I are already heirs of God, through Christ!
When Paul says, in our second reading, “Join with others in being imitators of me, brothers and sisters, and observe those who thus conduct themselves according to the model you have in us” (Philippians 3:17), he is setting out the moral compass for obtaining our heavenly citizenship. He also provides an unhelpful approach to heavenly citizenship or how heavenly citizenship could be lost, when he says: “For many, as I have often told you and now tell you even in tears, conduct themselves as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction. Their God is their stomach; their glory is in their ‘shame.’ Their minds are occupied with earthly things” (Philippians 3:18-19). Those who are enemies of the “cross of Christ,” who turn their stomach into “their God” and “their minds are occupied with earthly things” have abandoned their citizenship of heaven, consequently lost out in the process of their naturalization. Lent provides us with the opportunity to return on track for our heavenly citizenship – our sufferings for Christ prove that we are on track to heaven!
Assignment for the Week:
Assess the genuineness of and list your sufferings or inconveniences for the sake of Christ, to know whether you are on track or not to heaven.