2nd Sunday of Lent
GENESIS 15, 5-18
In those days, God took Abraham outside and said to him:
― Look at the sky, count the stars, if you can.
And he added.
―So will your descendants be.
Abraham believed the Lord, and it was credited to him as righteousness. The Lord said to him:
―I am the Lord who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.
He replied:
―Lord God, how shall I know that I shall possess it?
The Lord answered:
―Bring me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old goat, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.
Abraham brought them and cut them in half, laying each half opposite the other, but he did not cut up the birds. Birds of prey came down on the carcasses, and Abraham drove them away. As the sun was setting, a deep sleep fell upon Abraham, and a great and terrifying darkness descended upon him. The sun set, and there was darkness: a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between the pieces.
On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abraham, saying:
―To your descendants I will give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river.
It is one of the “radical” themes of the Old Testament. Abraham, the father of believers, receives “The Promise,” because God makes “The Covenant” with him.
Abraham is old and has no descendants, but the Lord promises him “to be the father of a great nation.” Abraham says to God, “What can you give me?…I am going to die without having a son…”. At this moment, the promise is presented, ratified by the Covenant.
In the text, several interesting aspects must be highlighted.
First, the phrase “Abraham believed God,” or “trusted in God.” Abraham is presented among the Patriarchs, the great figures of the prehistory of the people, before its birth as such after the Exodus from Egypt, as the prototype of Faith. Abraham is “the one who believed God,” against all hope.
Second, the almost fantastic genre in which “The Covenant” is expressed, representing a covenant rite between two kings or two powerful lords. It is characteristic of Israel not to think of God only as “The Master” who can command what he wants, but as “The Ally.” This line will be strongly explicated in the Exodus and will culminate in “Jesus-Savior” as the revelation of Abbá.
Third, we encounter “The Promise” and “The Covenant” in their most material terms. “A great Nation,” “A land.” We know that all this is nothing more than the prehistory of faith. We know that it will end no less than in the promise of a New Life, definitive and beyond death, in the Kingdom of God. We therefore read these texts of the Old Testament with the reverence of those who look at their ancestors, understanding that we men are progressively coming to know God and increasingly understanding our relationship with Him. This is important in order to assent to these texts as “Word of God.”
PHILIPPIANS 3, 17 – 4, 1
Brothers and sisters, join in imitating me, and observe those who live according to the example you have in us. For, as I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, there are many who live as enemies of the cross of Christ: their end is destruction; their god is the belly; their glory is in their shame; their minds are set on earthly things.
But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him to subject all things to himself.
Therefore, my beloved and longed-for brothers and sisters, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, my beloved.
The letter to the Philippians shows the way of life of the Christian, who has believed in the word, who has trusted in God.
Citizens of the earth – citizens of heaven. This is the dilemma. If we expect nothing more than the earth, we will live attentive to the earth. If we expect more, our life will change. This is therefore the challenge of faith. Living consistently with our faith.
José Enrique Galarreta, S.J.