1 March, 2026, 2nd Sunday of Lent, YR A: Genesis 12:1-4a; 2 Timothy 1:8b-10; Matthew 17:1-9
Did you notice the detail in today’s Gospel that is only reported by Matthew?
When the disciples hear the voice from the cloud and fall prostrate with fear, Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Rise, and do not be afraid.”
Jesus’ approach and consideration is not only typical of Matthew’s Gospel but of our relationship with God.
Have you ever had your breath taken away by an awesomely beautiful sight or sound that left you feeling awed and belittled by its majesty? Or have you ever had a disconcerting insight into your character and experienced fear or shame? Have you been the recipient of great kindness, a compliment or gesture and have felt unworthy?
Any of these experiences could bring my relationship with God to a new level, if I let it, and if I don’t stop at the awe, the belittling, the shame or fear, the unworthiness.
Any of those reactions are but the messenger, not the message.
If I acknowledge the messenger, I can then accept and open the message. That is when Christ touches me and tells me. “Do not be afraid. That is when Jesus assures me that these are not random experiences but encounters with God.
Through Jesus’s touch am I not connected to the divine immensity, ready to embrace me? I may seem to myself insignificant, but that’s not who I am to God—the God who seeks me.
Might I not someday grow to be what God sees?