Last Sunday, the 1st Sunday of Lent, we remembered the Temptation of Jesus in the desert. The 2nd Sunday of Lent, we celebrate his transfiguration in glory on the mountain. 

The gospel writers, Matthew, Mark and Luke, say Jesus appeared in glory after telling his disciples he was going to suffer and die in Jerusalem. They’re  deeply troubled and saddened by that announcement, and so Jesus reveals his glory, the glory of his coming resurrection, to strengthen their faith.

This gospel is also meant to strengthen our faith. 

Jesus’ message about carrying the cross was not just a hard message for his disciples then, it’s a hard message for us now. Carrying a cross is something we back away from. The teachings of Jesus can seem hard : Love your enemies; do good to those who sin against you. Turn the other cheek when someone strikes you. Forgive your brother or sister, not seventy times but seventy times seven. Think better of others than yourself. Bear the burdens of others. Be simple like little children. Never say a word against someone else. Take the last place instead of the first. Be the salt of the earth and the light of the world.

So many of Jesus’ teachings seem to go beyond what we are able to do. Let’s be reasonable about this, we say.  So we’re tempted to lower our sights and even give up on trying to reach them.

For us today, this feast promises there’s glory ahead, no matter how bad our personal lives may be, or how bad our world might seem to be, or how impossible the message of the gospel sounds. 

We may not experience what the three disciples experienced, but we’re promised  experiences of God’s glory, experiences of a lesser kind, intimations of God’s glory, to strengthen us to keep going, following Jesus Christ.

But we can’t pass over our first reading this Sunday, God’s call to Abraham to sacrifice his own son, Isaac, on Mount Moriah. That’ s also a hard reading to understand. Abraham, ”Take your son Isaac, your only one, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah. There you shall offer him up as a holocaust on a height that I will point out to you.”

Why would God ask for such a thing, that a father take his son, his only son, the son he loves, and put him to death? In that command we can see all the mysterious sufferings wonder about in life. 

Why did my son, my daughter, my friend die? Why these wars that take the lives of children and destroy families and nations. Why this violence in our country and all over the world. Why can’t we get along in our country? So much suffering seems unjust. 

Why does God permit it? Why doesn’t God do something?

The mystery of the Passion of our Lord is God’s answer to questions like that. He sends his only Son, the Son that he loves, and he experiences the evils of our world, and he dies and rises again. 

We ask for the faith of Abraham. His faith was so strong. He believed in God’s ultimate love and justice. We ask for the faith of Mary, the Mother of Jesus, whose faith also was so strong. She saw her only son, the son she loved, suffer and die.  We ask for the faith of  our church, that we may believe, that God will strengthen our faith.