Genesis 15:5-12, 17-18; Philippians 3:17-4:1; Luke 9:28b-36
“Our citizenship is in Heaven”: and so What? Preserve it!
For those of us who travel often, international Passports are not equally respected. For once, black is powerful, perhaps Africans should be proud of this, because it shows that Caucasians are not a bunch of racists – their passports are largely black, and respected; how Africans and Asians end up with greenish and reddish international passports is a tale for another day. The power of black passports derive from human contrivances, and history shows that their powers have fluctuated with good and bad fortunes. The issue, though, is that earthly citizenships have set conditions for their procurement and forfeiture, powerful personalities determine who is in and who is out; parenthood, place of birth, citizenship laws, economic status, etc militate against universal citizenship. You know what, God grants you and me a universal citizenship!
“Our citizenship is in heaven,” explains the purpose of Lent – how human beings everywhere, irrespective of economic, social and ethnic fortune or misfortune, obtained and continue to acquire heavenly citizenship, the only citizenship that matters. What is the price of a “heavenly citizenship”? Zero dollars, zero ethnicity and zero status – it is a free gift from God, through Jesus Christ; it is the cross of Christ that is the price, a cost accruing to God, a credit given to us; this is the subject matter of this Sunday’s homily – God’s clemency and magnanimity; if you want a theological term for it, the New Testament calls it GRACE, a free gift; and, the Old Testament calls it MERCY, God qualifies everyone for it! Yes, a universal citizenship is God’s gift to humanity because of the merits of Jesus’ passion and cross, and Lenten season tells us the story of how it was achieved. Actually, the process started out with a covenant – an agreement, at God’s initiative, because human beings failed God in Adam and Eve!
Those familiar with human frailty of any kind will appreciate the meaning of mercy – the fact that merits-based-salvation has never stood human beings in good stead with God because human imperfection, before a perfect God, always falls short of divine expectation. Adam and Eve are a classic example. In Judeo-Christian history, sin has always been part of the picture; little wonder we talk about “original sin,” among Catholics, and “sin of origin,” among Protestant biblical scholars; whichever way one looks at it, failure is part of the history of human relationships with God. Before human limitations and infidelity, God’s mercy is the only way out and forward – God gave his Son, as a sign of mercy, in order to save human beings. What then is “mercy”?
“Mercy” is the history of a God who keeps shifting the goalposts in order to make his sons and daughters score goals; it is a history of a God who bends the rules in order to grant his children a pass mark; yes, God is a self-limiting God, who qualifies an adulterous and murderous David as king of His people Israel; who grants Israelite citizenship to Rahab a prostitute; a God who in- grafts non Jews like Ruth into Jewish genealogy, who spends 9 months in a lady’s womb, despite the inferior status given to women at the time! Indeed, the history of mercy, and the God of mercy!
Our first reading establishes the historical origins of God’s mercy. Today, Scripture doesn’t record for us Abram’s application and request for greatness; on the contrary, Scripture informs us of a God who takes “Abram,” meaning “father,” and makes him “Abraham,” an exalted father, “everybody’s father.” We are dealing with a story of a family here, not of a race, gender and status hubris and pride have no place; it is about a family which God creates by calling and conferring “fatherhood” on one man, Abraham, for the sake of every human being, us!
The covenant with Abraham, which our first reading recounts, anticipates your citizenship and mine, because every covenant establishes a relationship, especially kinship relationships. In the covenant with Abraham, God qualifies you and me for a familial relationship with him, just as he qualifies Abram by freely choosing to enter into a relationship with him: this is the essence of God’s mercy, we belong to him anyway, because he decides it should be that way. Nobody realizes this reality of the essence of a covenant with God better than St. Paul. Paul calls the conferment of heavenly citizenship! The citizenship we often forget because of earthly preoccupations of human beings, which blinds them to their heavenly citizenships. In spite of this earthly attachments, according to our second reading, Paul calls us brothers and sisters, not a biological model of kinship but that of faith via the cross of Jesus Christ, which earned us our brotherhood and sisterhood, but above all, it confers citizenship of heaven upon us.
As a confirmation of our heavenly citizenship, Jesus, in our gospel, offers some of his disciples a foretaste of this citizenship – immortality with God in glory. The transfiguration of Christ tells us, in a nutshell, that we are pilgrims on earth. That the journey Abraham set out on, from the Middle East, doesn’t have an earthly destination, but heavenly. This point comes across clearly in Jesus’ transfiguration – the earth veils heavenly glory, but just for a time, because immortality is God’s gift to us. In order words, heavenly citizenship comes with the gift of immortality and the abiding presence of God. The appearance of Elijah and Moses, at the transfiguration, proves that immortality is a reality because Elijah and Moses live on, so they can appear again!
If Lent recounts this fact of our heavenly citizenship and how the cross of Christ is a necessary part of it, Lent calls us to appreciate what God gave us in Christ. The catch is, “this is my son, listen to him.” How hard is listening, if that is all God asks of us, in order to keep our citizenships? “Listening” is different from “hearing,” for whatever is said in our hearing, we hear, like the noises of cars and gossips, but we do not necessarily listen. “Listening” takes place when what is heard shapes our lives and behaviors. Here precisely is the challenge – if God offers you and me a heavenly citizenship, on a silver platter, how do we preserve it? The answer is in our gospel – “this is my chosen Son, listen to him!”
Two fundamental points differentiate heavenly citizenship from earthly citizenships: 1) the presence of God, and 2) boarder and security controls. The transfiguration of Christ assures us that it is the presence of God that makes heavenly citizenship a reality, not a piece of paper of whatever color! Also, our Christian credentials are only required before God and not human agencies, so we cannot fake it. These two differences make listening to God the only condition for the preservation of our heavenly citizenship! The conclusion, therefore, is – pick up your bible to read and act in accordance with its directives, that is what it means – “this is my chosen Son, listen to him!”
Assignment for the Week
Buy a copy of the Holy Bible each for your home, car and office: reading and practicing its contents assures your citizenship may remain sacrosanct!
A Literary Exegesis of Luke 9:28b-36 for Second Sunday of Lent, 2016
Step I: What does the Text Say?
Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. (Luke 9:28 NRS) And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white. (Luke 9:29 NRS) Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. (Luke 9:30 NRS) They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. (Luke 9:31 NRS) Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep; but since they had stayed awake, they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. (Luke 9:32 NRS) Just as they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah”– not knowing what he said. (Luke 9:33 NRS) While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were terrified as they entered the cloud. (Luke 9:34 NRS) Then from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!” (Luke 9:35 NRS)
Step II: What does the Text Mean?
1. As is now customary for us to do, we divide the text of the gospel on the basis of its verbal usages, present, past and future. Of particular interest this week is the use of verbs in the aorist. Generally speaking, an aorist verb indicates a past time/tense, but its semantic field is wider that indicating a simple past action. Today, especially, aorist infinitives of our gospel express something more than a past action – aorist infinites punctuate circumstantial evidence of the activities of Jesus Christ.
2. Before delving into the interpretation/analyses of the past tenses/times in our gospel, it is important to remark the two instances of the use of verbs in the present: 1) “Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah” (Luke 9:33) and 2) “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!” (Luke 9:35).
3. It is good to recall God’s first dwelling with human beings, which the Jewish feast of booths and tabernacles celebrates – the Jewish desert journey from Egypt to the Promised Land, when God’s dwelling or presence was a pillar of fire by night and a column of Cloud by day. One may say that the “cloud” of the Transfiguration recalls the dwelling/presence of God, and motivates Peter’s request for building tents/tabernacles; it is befitting to dwell with God!
4. Dwelling with God presupposes two correlated elements: listening to God or keeping God’s commandments, symbolized in the presence of Moses, the Law-giver par excellence, and the practice of monotheism, the champion of which is Elijah – “my God lives or my God is the living God/Yahweh). Here is the meaning of ) “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!” (Luke 9:35). So, the two instances of the use of verbs in the present outline two permanent requirements for anyone who wishes to dwell with God.
5. The “overshadowing” of cloud and the “voice” from the cloud makes the God of the Transfiguration continuous with the God of the Old Testament – he is alive and active; so, timeless! Moreover, the subject of the cross revamps the power of obedience of Jesus Christ to the will of his Father.
6. The uses of two infinitives verbs, the first aorist, past and infinitive (προσεύξασθαι), the other present infinitive (προσεύχεσθαι), exemplify an instance of God’s manifestation, when prayer is accompanied by fidelity to God’s word. The aorist infinitive verbs προσεύξασθαι – to pray, underscores a reality which took place once and for all, and the present infinitive, προσεύχεσθαι – to pray, makes permanent the possibility exemplified by the aorist infinitive: the Transfiguration of Jesus Christ is a time bound element but a timeless truth – you can experience it as Peter and James did, even today!
Step III: Points for Homily
1. According to Wallace’s Greek grammar, an aorist verb, more often than not, reveals only the context of what happens: “The constative aorist covers a multitude of actions. The event might be iterative in nature, or durative, or momentary, but the aorist says none of this. It places the stress on the fact of the occurrence, not its nature.” Consequently, the aorist infinitive, προσεύξασθαι – “to pray,” which begins our gospel reading today, lays emphasis on what happens during prayer. Hence, “Prayer” as a privileged place of encounter with God is a viable topic for reflection this week. The primary purpose of Jesus’ taking of some of his disciples to the top of the mountain is to pray; and, while at prayer, the transfiguration takes place. The presence of Elijah (my God is Yahweh/the living God) shows that God comes alive, when we pray. Also, our fidelity to prayer proves our obedience and loyalty to the God who asks us in Jesus Christ to pray always. The presence of Moses at the transfiguration scene emphasizes the importance of obedience and loyalty to divine injunctions and laws in the life of a Christian.
2. If “prayer” evokes God’s presence and power (Elijah), another possible topic for homily is “Law” (Psalm 19:7-11). Divine laws are like a lantern which brighten the darkness of inter-human relationships. Take the example of the churches that are full to capacity in Africa, and the stench of corruption and murderous activities going on there: what a contradiction. A homily on the place and respect of law in a human society brings God’s light to bear in that society. A flipside of the absence of the rule of law in the so-called third worlds is the enactments of the laws of death and economic strangulations and manipulative legislations in the so-called West. Laws which are purely human without recourse to the Divine are verdicts of capital punishment awaiting execution.