NA STAR STRUCK KA NA BA?

NA STAR STRUCK KA NA BA?

Second Sunday of Lent

Gen.22:1-2,9a,10-13,15-18; Ps 116; Rom.8:31b-34; Mk.9:2-10

Star struck! It is an experience of awe before something or someone so good and beautiful or the opposite. Star struck – when inside the jeepney, a very beautiful lady sits beside you. Star struck – when out of nowhere, you suddenly meet your ugly and disgusting neighbor. Star struck – when in April, you will see your name included in the list of those who pass the BAR exams. Star struck – when after school, your only son tells you, “Nay, nagbunga na ang pawis at pagod mo sa akin dahil may apo kana!” Star struck! It is an experience of awe before something or someone so good and beautiful or the opposite.

The characters in our readings today have their own share of “star struck” experiences. In our Gospel, Peter, James, and John, after seeing Jesus “transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no fuller on earth could bleach them” became star struck. Peter did not know what to say. They were very terrified. In our first reading, Abraham on an ordinary day was called by God, “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.” Though not explicitly mentioned in the text, Abraham too became star struck. How can you imagine your God asking you without any explanation to kill your only Son as an offering to him? You simply cannot but be star struck!

However, in these two star struck occasions, the disciples were terrified and did not know what to do while Abraham carried out the instruction of God without question and clarification. What spells the difference? As Abraham was about to strike with the knife his son, a messenger of the Lord told him to stop because God knew how devoted he was to Him. This is what we call FAITH. Indeed, Abraham is regarded as the “Father of Faith.”

What then is faith? In Hebrews, we are told that “faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. (11:1)” But we ask further, what makes us assured and conviced? What is the content of faith? Our second reading provides us with an answer: “If God is for us, who can be against us?” With faith, we are assured of what we have hoped for and convinced of the things not seen because of the truth that God is with us. He is always on our side. Emmanuel!

In our lives, one reality that can make us star struck is pain and suffering. When we are confronted with a terminal illness, an unsolvable family problem, and a situation so complicated, we cannot but be star struck! We can be like the disciples who did not know what to do because they were terrified. However, the challenge for us is to be like Abraham – to be men and women of faith – who are assured and convinced by the presence of God in our lives.

Yes, all our questions on God, “Why did you take away my family? Why did you allow these bad things to happen to me? Are you really a loving God? Then, why did you ruin my life with these problems?” are valid. They are expressions of our wounded humanity. However, Pope Francis in his homily for the Yolanda victims in Tacloban has said, “JESUS THERE NAILED TO THE CROSS, AND FROM THERE, HE DOES NOT LET US DOWN. JESUS IS LORD AND THE LORD FROM THE CROSS IS THERE FOR YOU.” We may not see, hear, or feel him, yet Paul in our second reading has assured us that if God “did not spare his own Son but handed him over for us all, how will he not also give us everything else along with him?”

In this second Sunday of Lent, let us beg the Father to give us the gift of faith so that when we will be star struck by pain and suffering, we will not be terrified and tremble in fear but continue to carry out His will for us like Abraham, our father in faith.

Star struck! It is an experience of awe before something or someone so good and beautiful or the opposite. However, if God will suddenly pass by this congregation, will he be star struck because of our living faith? Or will he tremble in fear because of our faithlessness? Amen!

N.B. Photo taken from https://sssip.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/star15.jpg