SECOND SUNDAY OF LENT — B
Genesis 22:1-2,9-13,15-18
Romans 8:31-34
Mark 9:2-10
On April 3, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was in Memphis, Tennessee to support striking sanitation workers. He gave a speech that evening that become known as the “Mountaintop Sermon.” He ended the speech this way: “I don’t know what will happen now. We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn’t matter with me now. Because I’ve been to the mountaintop. And I don’t mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land. So I’m happy tonight. I’m not worried about anything. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.” The next day, while standing on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel, Dr. King was cut down by an assassin’s bullet.
St. Mark’s gospel tells of the mountaintop where Jesus was transfigured. Being on a mountaintop, seeing glory revealed is a wonderful thing, something you want to hold onto. “Let us make three tents,” Peter said. Let us stay up here on the mountaintop above all the toil, all the hardship, all the ugliness down below. But one does not linger on a mountaintop. One sees the beautiful vista spread out before you and then must come down the mountain. Mountaintop experiences are not meant so that one can escape from the struggles of life but rather to be encouraged when going through them. Jesus cautions his faithful disciples not to relate what they had seen to anyone, except when the Son of Man had risen from the dead. Instead of dazzling visions and heavenly visitors Jesus talked about his impending death. The mission of Jesus was not defined by three tents on a mountaintop but by three crosses on Calvary’s hill.
Dr. King’s sermon helps us understand Jesus’ transfiguration because they would both say, “I just want to do God’s will.” Neither stayed on the mountaintop basking in the glory because they were striving to follow God’s will wherever it would lead. That is the challenge held out to us this Lent. Will we make our one desire and choice always and only to do the will of God? Even when we say “yes” a problem remains – how do you tell what is God’s will? Some choices are obvious. Is it God’s will that I eat those deliciously greasy French Fries or have a broccoli salad? Let me think. Parents of a colicky baby know that God’s will for them is that they do without sleep and have their entire lives uprooted as they try to keep their child comforted. But more often than not, we have options and can’t tell exactly which one God wants us to choose. We need to, what is known in the tradition, discern God’s will.
What does discerning God’s will look like? The key can be found in a statement from Dr. King’s sermon. “Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will.” Discernment requires examining what we want and seeing if it coincides with what God wants. One of the great spiritual masters, St. Ignatius, suggested that one way of doing that was by looking at our preferences. As. Dr. King observed, he, like all of us, would prefer a long life to a short one. But even though the attacks and threats he had already gone through endangered the chance for a long life, he was willing to risk that chance because he was clear about what God was asking of him.
St. Ignatius puts it this way: “we do not necessarily prefer health rather than sickness, riches rather than poverty, honor rather than dishonor, a long rather than a short life, and so in all the rest, so that we ultimately desire and choose only what” God wants. We do not necessarily prefer health rather than sickness. Think of the nurse who is working in the Covid ward. There is a greater chance that she will catch the disease than that of her colleague working in dermatology but she does so freely because she feels it is her calling with her gifts and talents to reach out this hurting population. We do not necessarily prefer riches rather than poverty. A graduating senior has two job offers – one paying much more than the other. But the lower salaried job might give the graduate a chance to make a real difference, to have a big impact on her life and that of her family. We do not necessarily prefer honor to dishonor. You’re hanging with your friends. The talk turns to politics and some ugly, racist language starts spreading. If you speak up you will feel the rest of the group turn on you and accuse you of being a hypocrite. Notice the key word in this discernment – “necessarily.” You don’t prefer sickness over health or poverty over riches either. The discernment happens when you don’t automatically go with your preference but instead seek to understand where God is leading you. How can you tell? Again, Dr. King provides the hint. “I’m happy tonight. I’m not worried about anything.” God is a God of peace, a God of Joy. When we walk in the will of God we are filled with peace and joy. As you go through the rest of Lent put those little choices (French fries, anyone?) and those life choices under the banner of doing always and only what God wants and soon the peace that surpasses understand will flood your soul.
