“O Lord GOD,” he asked,
“how am I to know that I shall possess it?”
For Abram it was difficult, humanly speaking to understand how an old a childless couple such as he and Sarah would be able to receive the promises of the Lord for land and descendants. And yet the question he asked must have been more like that of Mary, when she asked, "But how can this happen?" (see Luke 1:34), than that of Zechariah when he asked, "How shall I know this?" (see Luke 1:18), for it seems to have been consistent with the act of faith he had just made, rather than backsliding into merely human thinking and doubt. That it issued from faith was demonstrated by how the Lord honored his question and acted to strengthen his incipient faith.
As the sun was about to set, a trance fell upon Abram,
and a deep, terrifying darkness enveloped him.
When the sun had set and it was dark,
there appeared a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch,
which passed between those pieces.
It was on that occasion that the LORD made a covenant with Abram
Abram would need to rely on his trust in God more than he could ever have predicted in order to receive the promised inheritance. After all, his trust would be further tested by the call to offer his only son, the very fulfillment of the promise, back to God. Additionally, he was told that attainment of the promised land would only follow a four hundred year exodus in the land of Egypt. To truly hope in the promise he needed a way to hope beyond the narrow confines of his limited human lifespan. He was given a revelation from God in order that he might stand firm in the promise, to believe "that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back" (see Hebrews 11:19).
While he was praying his face changed in appearance
and his clothing became dazzling white.
And behold, two men were conversing with him, Moses and Elijah,
who appeared in glory and spoke of his exodus
that he was going to accomplish in Jerusalem.
The disciples too needed to be strengthened in their faith for a hope that transcended the apparent limitations of human life. Even more so than Abraham with Isaac, they needed a hope that was not limited by the advance of merely human years of age, a hope that even death could not completely destroy. The apparent failure of Jesus as Messiah that the cross represented would seem to have been an even greater setback than the exile in Egypt, his death a more complete end to their hope than was the call for Abraham to offer his only son. And yet, as for Abraham, none of the human limitations that seemed to define what was possible were definitive for God. The disciples were were helped to hold on to their hope by a vision even greater than the one given to Abraham. This was fitting because the vision to Abraham announced the beginning of the promise. The one given to Peter, John, and James, pointed to the fulfillment, to which Moses (the law) and Elijah (the prophets) all testified.
But he did not know what he was saying.
It took Peter some time to fully integrate the vision he had received into his understanding of the identity of Jesus. He did not come away from the vision with perfect and invincible faith. Indeed he would not long after fall asleep again on another mountain, and from there go on to betray his Lord three times before the cock crowed. Yet Jesus was not surprised by the failure of Peter. Before it happened he told him, "I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers" (see Luke 22:32). What might Jesus have been the content of the prayer of Jesus on Mount Tabor during the Transfiguration? Perhaps this prayer mentioned by Jesus was part of it. Certainly the Transfiguration represented a seed of enduring hope planted in the hearts of the three chosen disciples, a seed to which they could cling, and on which they could fall back even when they experienced their own limitations and failures.
Then from the cloud came a voice that said,
“This is my chosen Son; listen to him.”
We too are called to follow Jesus on his exodus, taking up our own crosses so that the power of his resurrection can also be manifest in us. We have great examples of others who have done so, such as Paul, inviting us to imitate the way in which they first imitated Christ, comforted by the way Christ himself was always faithful to them. We too will experience moments of darkness when things look back from a merely human point of view. Jesus does not desire that we face the darkness alone. He wants us to turn to prayer so that he can strengthen our own faith just as he did his first disciples. We are not to face the cross alone on our own strength, but rather, by relying on the grace given us in advance. We must learn to be thankful and to treasure such mountaintop experiences, while not insisting that we dwell only on the mountain. They are meant to make us strong and faithful for our own exodus. Such experiences can help us remember the high destiny of our hope and calling when we would otherwise be tempted to forget.
But our citizenship is in heaven,
and from it we also await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
He will change our lowly body
to conform with his glorified body
by the power that enables him also
to bring all things into subjection to himself.
If we stand fast in this faith and this hope we will be able to resist the temptation to let our minds be occupied with earthly things. We will be sufficiently rooted so as to be able to live our lives as friends rather than enemies of the cross of Christ. In faith we too can ask, "Lord, how shall I know this?" It is like the prayer, "I believe, help my unbelief" (see Mark 9:24). When asked sincerely, from faith rather than doubt, the Lord has demonstrated that he delights to answer us.
Of you my heart speaks; you my glance seeks.
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