Scripture: Second Sunday of Lent

Reflection: In this week’s Readings, two important events take place on mountains. In Genesis, Abraham takes Isaac up, intending to sacrifice his son per God’s command, only for God to intervene and halt this violent act. In the Gospel, three disciples witness the miraculous vision of the Transfiguration. What do these episodes offer our politics today?

How many ways do we insist, through our policy, that people sacrifice their loved ones — by denying them food, affordable health care, access to clean water, or other necessities? How many ways have we come to accept violence in our communities — in gun deaths and in the threats of those who would harm people who don’t look like them to spread fear and an anti-democracy agenda?

Why do we refuse to prioritize a politics of plenty as something we all deserve? In the Gospel, the disciples are dazzled by the vision of the Transfiguration. We too can journey up the mountain and see a vision of our world transformed. It’s not that we lack the resources, or even a thirst for justice. We lack the equity and the structures needed to promote justice. We lack the political will for lasting, authentic change. But our world can be better, almost unimaginably so. This is the world to which God calls us.

We can have a world where all people, without exception, have access to the resources they need to flourish and have the life God dreams of for them. As the Psalmist says, “I will walk before the Lord, in the land of the living.” And as the Second Reading says, “if God is for us, who can be against us?”

Prayer by Seattle-based spiritual writer Cameron Bellm:

Merciful and loving God, this Lent we seek your guidance and protection
The myth of scarcity tells us there’s not enough,
While cynicism gazes on dismissively,
Chiding us to be realistic in our demands.
But what if the realest thing we can imagine
Is a world transfigured by the goodness of God,
A world shaped by equity and justice,
A world we can, if we choose, build together?
Let us bask in the glow of that possibility
Until our hearts are full, our hands ready to work,
Until we can climb down from the mountain
With tools in hand, voices joined in song.

Amen.