“Questioning What Rising from the Dead Meant,” by Wayne Miller

“Questioning What Rising from the Dead Meant,” by Wayne Miller

Second Sunday of Lent 

Sometime afterward, God put Abraham to the test and said to him: Abraham! “Here I am!” he replied   Genesis 22:1

I will bless you and make your descendants as countless as the stars of the sky and the sands of the seashore; your descendants will take possession of the gates of their enemies, and in your descendants, all the nations of the earth will find blessing, because you obeyed my command. Genesis 22:17-18 

I will walk before the Lord, in the land of the living. I believed, even when I said, “I am greatly afflicted.” Psalm 116:10

“If God is for us, who can be against us?” Romans 8:31 

“So, they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what rising from the dead meant” Mark 9:10

Piety

Lord, I want to see the wonder in all my experiences, and I mistake heroic actions for real heroes. While it’s admirable to go through a crisis grandly, it is infinitely more important to live every day glorifying You when there is no witness, no limelight, and no one paying even the remotest attention to me. Forgive me for wanting my halo now, or at least someone to say, “What a wonderful man of prayer I am!”. 

Help me to be appropriately devoted to you, Lord Jesus, so that all people notice is the Love of God coming from you through me, all the time.

Study

In Scripture, the great miracle of the Incarnation slips into the ordinary life of a child. The great miracle of the Transfiguration fades into the demon-possessed valley below.  The glory of the Resurrection descends into a breakfast on the seashore. These passages are not the anticlimax but the great revelation of God. 

We want to be able to say, “Oh, I have had a wonderful call from God!” But to do even the most humbling tasks to the glory of God takes the Incarnate Word working in us all the time. To be utterly unnoticeable requires God’s Spirit in us, making us absolutely – humanly – His. The real test of a saint’s life is not success but faithfulness to the human level of life. We measure success in Christian work as our purpose, but our aim must be to display God’s glory in human life and live a life “hidden with Christ in God” in our everyday human conditions (Colossians 3:3). Our human relationships are the very conditions that must exhibit the ideal life of God.”

Why did Peter, James, and John need to be at Jesus’ Transfiguration? They needed to learn how to discern their lives by total dependence on the Law, the Prophets, and the WORD. When the need for discernment arises throughout their mission to spread the Word, the Transfiguration gave them a visceral, unforgettable moment to hold onto for the rest of their lives.

Peter said — “I will lay down my life for Your sake,” and he meant it; his sense of the heroic was magnificent. It’s a good thing to be capable of making such a declaration, although Peter didn’t strictly follow through in his first challenge. But I’m not entirely sure what I would do if I faced off with a gunman during Mass.

Jesus does not ask me to die for Him, but to lay down my life for Him. Has the Lord ever asked you: “Will you lay down your life for My sake?” It is far easier to die than to lay down my life, day in and day out, with the sense of the high calling. God did not make us for brilliant moments. We have to walk in the light of them in ordinary ways. There was only one brilliant moment in the life of Jesus, which was on the Mount of Transfiguration; then He emptied Himself the second time of His glory and came down into the demon-possessed valley. For thirty-three years, Jesus laid down His life to do the will of His Father, and, John says, “We ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.” But it is contrary to human nature to do it.”

Salvation is easy because it is a gift to us that cost God so much, but it is difficult

to manifest it in my life. God saves us and fills us with the Holy Spirit, and then says: “Work it out, be loyal to Me,” while the nature of everything in my worldly life wants to make me disloyal. I have called you friends. Stand loyal to your Friend and remember that His honor is at stake in your bodily life.” (My Utmost for His Highest, Updated Edition, Oswald Chambers, www.utmost.org)

Action

How do I manifest SALVATION in my life?

The more I listen to preachers, teachers, motivational speakers from all walks and all faith backgrounds and all “ministries,” I keep hearing the same essential, simple truths professed, although with different “spins” and vernacular: 

Piety: Be transfigured by close communication with the Triune God who lives right inside my heart.

Study: Seek the wisdom of Scripture and tradition to learn how God is calling me – today – in my worldly existence – to manifest Him in every aspect of my life. 

Action: Make a Friend! Be a Friend! Bring Christ to that Friend! (use words when necessary)

De Colores!