Joyce's Blog

Fourth Sunday of Lent

“[God] has given us the ministry of reconciliation”
2 Cor 5:18

In the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, in a tiny town named Mafraq, two Bedouin youth got into a fight. One lad pulled out a knife and plunged it fatally into the other’s flesh. In fear he fled across the desert, fled the slain boy's vengeful relatives, fled to find a Bedouin sanctuary, a “tent of refuge” designed by law for those who kill unintentionally or in the heat of anger. At last he reached what might be a refuge -- the black-tented encampment of a nomad tribe. He flung himself at the feet of its leader, an aged sheik, and begged him: “I have killed in the heat of anger. I implore your protection; I seek the refuge of your tent.”

“If God wills, I grant it to you as long as you remain with us,” the old man responded.

A few days later the avenging relatives tracked the fugitive to the refuge. They asked the sheik, “Have you seen this man? Is he here? We will have him!”
“He is here, but you will not have him.’

“He has killed, and we, the blood relatives of the slain man, will stone him by law.

"You will not.”
"We demand him!”
“No. The boy has my protection. I have given my word, my promise of refuge.”
“But you do not understand. He has killed your grandson!”
The ancient sheik was silent. No one dared to speak. Then, in visible pain, with tears searing his face, the old man stood up and spoke ever so slowly, “My only grandson -- he is dead?”
“Yes, your only grandson is dead.”
Then this boy will be my son. He is forgiven, and he will live with us as my own. Go now; it is finished.” (retold by Walter Burghardt, SJ)
Second Sunday of Lent
“And behold, two men were conversing with him, Moses and Elijah.”
Luke 9:30
Why Moses and Elijah at the transfiguration? Why not Father Abraham or Solomon with all his wisdom or King David? The standard answer is that Moses and Elijah are the key representatives of the Law and the Prophets. Moses is known as “The Great Lawgiver.” He is credited with authoring the Torah. Scattered throughout these first five books of Hebrew Scripture are hundreds of laws -- including the Ten Commandments -- delivered by Moses and still observed by devout Jews -- laws that determine not only how Jews should worship but also how they should live.
Elijah’s story is shorter -- nine episodes, a mere six chapters in 1^st and 2^nd Kings. But he is perhaps the only “wonder worker in Old Testament times who could give Moses a run for his money -- both in astounding miracles and legacy.” (Who’s Who in the Bible) Elijah called down fire from heaven after 850 Canaanite prophets failed. He raised a widow’s son from the dead. He was the premier prophet in a long line of prophets sent by God to win back the hearts of the Jewish nation, a people who had forgotten their history and their God.
Concludes Professor Eugene Peterson (The Jesus Way), “Moses and Elijah, who appear in conversation with Jesus at his transfiguration, lived their lives formed and defined by the Name, Yahweh. They bring into the conversation with Jesus on the mountain everything that Jesus brings together coherently and in completeness in his “Word made flesh,” the Way. The Gospel writers mean for us to understand that everything that God revealed in the word and actions that preceded Jesus is now fulfilled in Jesus.”
Another reason may be: who better than Moses and Elijah could point to Jesus as the glory of God. Both received a unique revelation of God’s glory on Mount Sinai. Moses’ encounter with God resulted in a glory so great that his own face shown. When he came down the mountain, the people had to shield their eyes when they looked at him. It was to Moses that God revealed his name. In a culture where knowing someone’s name meant having power over that person, Moses learned the name of God: “I AM WHO AM.”
Elijah’s encounter with God was not in a windstorm or an earthquake or fire -- the usual heralds of divine presence. Rather, Elijah encountered God in a “tiny whispering sound” -- “the sound of sheer silence.” Both Elijah and Moses were given a radical new insight into the essence of God, into God’s very being. Moses learned God’s name. Elijah heard God’s voice. Now, through Jesus Christ, the disciples with him on the mountaintop -- in fact, all of us, are able to enter into the mystery of the glory of Jesus: to see God face to face, to hear God’s voice in the words of Jesus his Son. Concludes Fr. Philip Van Linden, C.M., “Glimpses of glory that Christians receive from God are real but are given so that Christians can move on with him and with him alone.”
According to Jewish tradition, Moses and Elijah were the two individuals whose “return” would herald the messianic age. Moses had prophesied the coming of a prophet like himself. (Deut. 18:15-18) The book of the prophet Malachi (which is, interestingly, the final book of the Old Testament) ends with a promise that Elijah would return from heaven before God’s kingdom would come. (3:22-23) Elijah’s and Moses’ presence with Jesus on the mountaintop point to Jesus as the one who will fulfill the promise that the “day of the Lord” has come.

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