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Scripture Reflection for March 16, 2025, Second Sunday of Lent

Wednesday, March 12, 2025Culture

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How can we be more than what we are -- and make those ashes we received mean something? Listen for God's quiet voice to guide the way. He told Peter and John to listen to his Son. He showed Abram the stars and promised him an inheritance beyond imagining.

Deacon Greg
Kandra

Genesis 15:5-12, 17-18
Psalm 27:1, 7-8, 8-9, 13-14
Philippians 3:17-4:1 or Philippians 3:20-4:1
Luke 9:28b-36

This Sunday's readings seem to be all about wonder -- in Genesis, we hear about a sky filled with countless stars, and then in Luke, we learn of Christ's radiant transfiguration on a mountaintop. There is a sense of amazement.

But for me, it says something vital about Lent. And it all boils down to two little words. The first is one we hear when God speaks to Abram -- his very first word to him, in fact: "Look." Such a simple word, packed with so much power.

God wants to show Abram his legacy, his future, what he has planned for him. With that dramatic word, and the opportunity to pause and consider all the stars in the sky and the limitless possibilities that lie before him, Abram assents to God's will. The rest is, quite literally, history.

The idea of looking and watching, seeing the incredible made credible, reappears in the Gospel, when we hear Luke's account of the Transfiguration -- another glimpse of what will be, and one that inspires fear in the apostles who were there. The Gospel episode concludes the way the reading from Genesis began -- with a reference to the sense of sight.

"They fell silent and did not at that time tell anyone what they had seen."

But there's something else that strikes me. If seeing is vitally important this Sunday, so is another sense: hearing.

Earlier in the Gospel, God has something else to tell the apostles -- another command, like the one he gave Abram. This is the other significant word to remember this Sunday: "Listen."

Look. Listen.

Look at what will be. Listen to the one God sent -- the one who has been transfigured, changed, and who will change the world.

Look. And listen. You want to know what Lent entails? This is where it begins. These are the watchwords of this season we have begun -- words to guide our days and change our hearts and inspire us as we continue the long and challenging walk to Calvary.

Look. Look for opportunities to sacrifice, to give, to sow compassion or inspire hope. Look around you for those in need: the hungry, the poor, the outcast, the scorned. Seek opportunities to give alms. Look for things to give up. Then look into your heart and give.

Look beyond the world you know, what is familiar and comfortable and look to the world beyond, and the God who sent his Son to heal and save.

And then, listen. Listen again to the challenging words of Jesus we heard so recently in "The Sermon on the Plain," calling on the disciples to sacrifice for others. Listen to Christ's teachings these days as we move closer to Jerusalem, to Calvary, to Good Friday and Easter Sunday.

Listen to the stirrings in our own hearts. Be attentive to God's presence in our lives, our jobs, our families. How does he want us to grow and change this season? What is he asking of us this Lent?

How can we be more than what we are -- and make those ashes we received mean something? Listen for God's quiet voice to guide the way. He told Peter and John to listen to his Son. He showed Abram the stars and promised him an inheritance beyond imagining.

Look. Listen. There will be much to see and hear in the weeks ahead. Our eyes will turn toward the Stations of the Cross hanging in church and the empty holy water fonts by the door. We will hear again the mournful refrain of the "Stabat Mater" and its words of sorrow. "At the cross, her station keeping, stood the mournful mother weeping..." Those are among many outward signs leading us to inward contemplation and, we hope, conversion.

Resolve this week to take these scripture readings to heart. We all need to use this season to look. To listen. To be aware of wonder, possibility, change.

Only then can we act, and make the disciplines of Lent really matter.

- Deacon Greg Kandra is an award-winning author and journalist, and creator of the blog, "The Deacon's Bench."