2nd Sunday in Lent - Year C


ABRAHAM'S SACRIFICE

God has called Abraham to leave his home and begin a thousand-mile journey to Egypt. The patriarch responds favorably, so the Lord makes a Covenant or pact of friendship with him. The agreement is literally signed in blood in an ancient ritual. When two people wanted to make a accord they would divide a group of animals and walk between the carcasses. This made a blood bond between the individuals in the agreement. Abraham makes such an arrangement. He enters into a spell--a deep darkness--and has a vision of God. The Lord appears as a flaming brazier and moves between the sacrifices. The antiquity of this ceremony befits the time of the patriarchs, just after the second millennium B.C.

 

a flaming torch passed between those pieces

 

our citizenship is in heaven

this is my son

 

HIS GLORIFIED BODY

Western Christianity has been heavily influenced by Greek philosophy. Key to this view is that each human being is a composite of body and soul. The soul is a spirit that can live independently of the flesh. The sages of the Old Testament did not share this view. For them, a human being was a complete unit. Without a body, a person was only a shadow. The name for the afterlife was "Sheol", literally "Shadowland". Hence if there is a resurrection it must be a full body resuscitation. Paul defends this view and teaches that our own revivification must be patterned after the risen body of Jesus. This glorified corpus had the ability to appear at will, to walk through walls, and to levitate. Paul believes that we will share these characteristics.

Related: Resources on Sunday Readings - Clipart, homelies, articles, coloring pages, music: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John

© 2000 by Father Richard Lonsdale. You may freely copy this document. It may be freely reproduced in any non-profit publication.Thie clipart and commentatires above were originally on a web site maintained by Fr. Lonsdale. To copy the clipart images, click with your right mouse button and use "save picture (or image) as…"To view a complete list of clipart images and commentaries: Lonsdale Commentaries and Clipart