Second Sunday of Lent

Readings for Sunday: Genesis, Philippians, Luke

There is an old expression: “blood is thicker than water.” It means that family bonds are stronger than any other relationship, including with our friends. That expression is most definitely true when it comes to the blood of Christ. We can see this in the readings this weekend. It starts in the first reading from Genesis, where God establishes a covenant with Abram, eventually renaming him Abraham. A covenant was not just a contract. A covenant established a family relationship, a “blood” relationship. And thus, unlike a contract which is time limited, a covenant is for life. In that time in the Middle East, when two groups or tribes wanted to establish a covenant, there would be a ceremony in which animals were cut up, shedding blood, and the two parties would walk between the animal parts invoking the gods as witness to the establishment of a covenant/blood relationship. In the first reading, we hear of how the One true God, with himself as witness, established a covenant with Abraham and his descendants.

Fast forward to Jesus’ day, and we see that God establishes a new covenant in the blood of Christ for both Jews (Abraham’s descendants) and gentiles (everybody else). In the Gospel reading, Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem where he will suffer, die and rise from the dead. Along the way, he goes up a mountain to pray and is transfigured in glory. It states, “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.”

Moses and Elijah represent the whole of the Old Testament, the Law and the Prophets. The exodus that he was going to accomplish is freeing humanity from slavery to sin and death under the Devil, much like God freed the Israelites from slavery in Egypt to Pharoah. God freed his people and led them through the waters of the Red Sea to the promised land.

The new covenant that Jesus established in his blood is applied to us in the waters of baptism, when we are adopted as God’s sons and daughters and promised a place in his eternal home. That is why St. Paul states in the second reading: “our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we also await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.” While some people may think the waters of baptism are simple show and empty ritual, we realize that in and through the water, the blood of Christ binds us to the Father as family. In Christ, blood is truly thicker than water.