2nd Sunday of Lent (C) – March 16, 2025

St. Paul – Lyons, KS

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

“The exodus that he was going to accomplish in Jerusalem”

As we heard at the beginning of Mass, every first Sunday of Lent focuses our attention on the scene of Jesus’ forty days in the desert and his temptations. And every second Sunday of Lent focuses our attention on the event of Jesus’ transfiguration. And there are so many things going on in this scene. For instance, it always happens right after the first time Jesus predicts his passion and death—Jesus tells the disciples, “Oh yeah, I will be handed over, and killed—just FYI.” Another part of this scene (and part of the mystery of this scene) is that Jesus reveals the glory contained within him, a glory we are destined to share (like Paul mentioned in our second reading). This scene, like the scene of his baptism reaffirms his status as the “Beloved Son.” So many things going on! But I want to focus on one thing—one thing that kind of sets the stage for where we are at in Lent, where we are at in this series of “Renewing…”, where we are.

And the line is this. There Jesus is, transfigured, speaking with Moses and Elijah—and we hear this line, they “spoke of his exodus that he was going to accomplish in Jerusalem” (Luke 9:31). They spoke of his “exodus.” “Uhm, what?!” We all have heard about the Exodus, right? Who are the main characters of the Exodus? Moses, Pharaoh, yeah! So what in the world does that mean, “The exodus that [Jesus] would accomplish in Jerusalem”? But to make a very long story short, Jesus is inaugurating a New Exodus. By what he will do in Jerusalem (in other words, by his death and resurrection)—Jesus is bringing about a New Exodus. But that only makes sense if me know what’s going on in the first Exodus. And it will only be relevant to us (we will only care—and let’s be honest, that’s the big question, “Why do I care?”)—we will only care if we can situate ourselves within that story as well.

Exodus and New Exodus

So what is going on in the first Exodus? Again, I’m sure you could retell the whole story of Israel being slaves to Egypt, Pharaoh killing the boys, Moses being saved because his mom put him in a basket in the river and Pharaoh’s daughter found him, Moses encounter God in a burning bush, river turned to blood, “Let me people go free!”, the parting of the Red Sea. So yeah, hopefully we know the story. But what’s the “big picture”? What happens in the Exodus, the event of the Exodus?

The Exodus is the story, the paradigmatic story of God rescuing his people—simple as that. Enslaved in Egypt for four hundred years, God intervenes through the action of the man Moses and rescues his people from slavery. And from there, he leads them on a long journey through the desert, eventually settling them in the promise land. So in essence, the Exodus is the story of moving from slavery to freedom. God working through the man Moses—so God and this man are the main characters. And the Passover, the sacrificial death of the lamb and eating the lamb—that’s the major precipitating event, that’s what sets this all in motion.

Ok. So, when we hear that Moses and Elijah are speaking to Jesus of the “exodus that he was going to accomplish”—very simply, we are talking about Jesus following the exodus paradigm, the same pattern. But what he is doing, what he’s bringing about, is at a much deeper and much more important level! What does that mean?

The New Exodus—this is the story of people not just enslaved in chains, but a people enslaved to sin and death, a people wounded at their very core, in their heart—and not just four hundred years, but since the beginning! This is all of humanity.And here too, uncoincidentally, God intervenes through the action of the man Jesus—not Moses, but the God-Man, God become man, through Jesus; the God-Man is the main character once again. And uncoincidentally the major precipitating event also happens at Passover. And also uncoincidentally, through the sacrificial death of the “Lamb of God,” through Jesus’s death—this is the precipitating event that sets everything in motion. And so what should we expect is being brought about? Well, not just a move from slavery to freedom—no, think deeper. It’s a move from this spiritual slavery, this wound deep within our heart—from woundedness to newness of life, to healing, to renewal.

And just like the original Exodus tells us that what turned God’s heart to us—we hear in Exodus, “the LORD said, ‘I have seen the misery of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry…; I know their sufferings” (Exodus 3:7). The misery, their cry, their suffering—this is what moved God’s heart. So what about this New Exodus? Well, very simply, our woundedness. The misery, the cry of the human heart, the suffering—same thing! It’s those famous passages in Scripture that tell us why Jesus does all of this. “For God so loved the world that he sent his only Son” (John 3:16); Jesus says, “He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted” (Luke 4:18); Jesus asks, “Do you want to be healed?” (John 5:6). Over and over, Jesus makes it clear: he has not come just to help us be “good people,” or to help us “stop doing bad things” or to force us to go to church each Sunday—Jesus doesn’t come to just give us rules! Jesus comes because his heart has been moved with compassion for us! The Song of Songs has this passage that says, “You have ravished my heart!” That word for “ravished” means something like stripping the bark off of a tree, leaving the delicate phloem layer of the tree exposed, vulnerable. This is why Jesus come to enact the New and definitive Exodus: moved with compassion, heartbroken, seeing our suffering, our brokenness, our woundedness—he comes to heal. That’s what salvation means!

The Hold Out

But then there is one more part of the story. (We love all of that part: the rescue, God loving us, doing everything for us, Jesus!) But there’s one more part of the exodus story that we cannot forget. After God and Moses has rescued the people from their slavery (of over 400 years!)—there in the desert, journeying toward their new life, journeying through the difficulties of the desert… there in the middle of this difficult journey, the people start complaining! And they say, “You know, this is hard. Let’s just go back to Egypt. Yeah, it’s not perfect. Yeah, it’s slavery. But hey, at least it was normal. And I could deal with normal.” 

Ok, that’s the first Exodus. What about us on this New Exodus? Jesus has rescued us, died on the cross, great! But—what’s gonna happen?—the people who have been rescued are going to? Want to go back. Bingo.

This is the challenge for us. We are at the point in this series of “Renewing…”—we are at the point of saying, “You know, this is hard. You know, I don’t know if this is going anywhere. You know, ‘Egypt’ isn’t that bad. Yeah, being imperfect, still sinning, knowing I have broken places within me—yeah, it’s not great. But hey, at least it was normal. And I could deal with normal.” And this can be for a lot of reasons: maybe we don’t want to face things within us, maybe we are in denial about how deep things actually go, maybe we just say, “I’m fine,” maybe we’re a little dismissive of it. And look, I understand. When I first was told about the idea of being wounded, of my problems going much deeper than my sins (you know, not just worried about the leaves but discovering the roots)—all of this can seem a bit much. And yet, if Jesus is the one saying it, I figured I should listen.

And so my encouragement, here smack dab in the middle of it—my encouragement is this: stick with it, continue, press on. Just like when you receive a diagnosis from the doctor, the road ahead can seem like too much, overwhelming; you may think, “Well, I don’t feel that bad, so I don’t think I need to worry about it”—it can be easy to just return to normal, not receive treatment. Same thing: on this New Exodus, we can become complacent, say things aren’t that bad, and save Jesus’ healing for when we really need it. But as every doctor will say, it’s way easier to deal with things earlier on than when they’ve advanced to critical levels. So press in, embrace the healing being offered in Christ.

A Renewed Participation in the Mass

One way that the people were sustained in the desert—you know, there in the first Exodus—the people received a “daily bread” from the LORD, a miraculous bread, food for the journey. This is what sustained them.

What about us? Well, for us, we have this supercharged thing called the Mass. In the Mass, the sacrifice of the Lamb is made present, we are at calvary with Jesus. At the Mass, we eat of the Lamb, we embark on the Exodus again and again—constantly renewing our journey. At the Mass, we receive a “daily bread,” a bread that sustains us along the way. And most importantly, in the Mass, we are united to Jesus on the cross. As we hear in the prophets, “He was pierced for our transgressions [our condition, our brokenness]…and by his wounds we are healed.”

My encouragement would be to pray the Mass with a renewed intentionality, a renewed participation. During the offering at the altar, unite yourself to Him, place whatever pains and struggles and sins and sufferings—place them on the altar, join them to Christ. And then receive back all of that transformed. Just as the bread is transformed, our lives—everything we offer—can be transformed. And yes, we can then continue this journey through the desert of our new exodus—strengthened, healed, renewed by Christ himself.