2nd Sunday in Lent
Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18, Psalm 27; Philippians 3:17—4:1; Luke 13:31-35
The gospel lesson for the second Sunday in Lent brings to us friendly Pharisees who warn Jesus about the already ongoing plots to kill him (31). The divine voice takes over entirely after sending a message to the conniving and subpar fox that Herod was to inform him that Jesus is in command of the situation. What we hear then is God’s sincere lament over the people’s inability to allow themselves to be sheltered by his presence and instead surrender to a false sense of power and security in the form of the city of Jerusalem and its local minions to the Roman Empire (34). Yet, the Lord remains fearless towards the waiting cross.
By then, the starry promise to Abram may have been lost in the collective memory of the faithful. In Genesis 15, God provides the comforting assurance of protection and deliverance to the father of faith amid his own lament (2). Isn’t that what mother hens do? And Abram trusted God’s promises, and God thought of it as righteousness (6).
Paul offers a plea to the infant church in Philippi to follow the example of the ones like him (3:17) and remain firm in the way of the Lord (4:1). Paul and his co-workers had, like Abram, trusted God’s assurances of protection despite imprisonment and persecutions. Unlike most of us, they had not fallen prey to the false promises of security from this world (3:18-19). Instead, they had pledged allegiance to the cross and placed all their chips on their heavenly citizenship alongside their Savior, Jesus Christ (3:20).
The Psalmist prays:
The Lord is my light and my salvation;
whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life;
of whom shall I be afraid?
One thing I asked of the Lord;
this I seek:
to live in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life,
to behold the beauty of the Lord,
and to inquire in his temple (Psalm 27: 1,4; NRSVue).
Bridging Faith 