A wandering Aramean

Entering the Second Sunday of the Lent Season, we read of the story of the call of Abram (Genesis 12:1-4) whom God later renamed as Abraham (Genesis 17:5). The major monotheist religions in the world (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) honour Abraham. He is respected as the Father of Faith, the blessing of the nations etc. He is the example of every Jew, Christian and Muslim.
Abraham had never settled down in one place. Throughout his life, Abraham kept travelling and moving from place to place. That is why the creed of Judaism begins like this.
A wandering Aramean was my father; and he went down into Egypt and sojourned there, few in number; and there he became a nation, great, mighty, and populous (Deuteronomy 26:5).

Fr. Milanese began his homily with the question of migration. Our parents came to Hong Kong as refugees. Many people left Hong Kong, migrated overseas in the advent of 1997. To a certain extent, they were forced to leave the place where they had grown up. They had to leave behind their many relatives and friends who could not "escape". They wanted to seek a better living environment. But such was not the case of Abraham. He left his kindred not because of famine, nor of disasters. He left because his God told him to do so.
Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you." (Genesis 12:1)
By the time he left, Abram must have been well established among his kindred. He brought along his household and in subsequent stories, he could raise an army to fight battles, to rescue his nephew Lot. To a certain extent, Abram was the first Apostle. God called him to give up his comfort zone, his turf to venture into an unknown future. What was in store for him in the future could only unfold if Abram was willing to take the first step. If not, don't forget God would perfectly respect his free will and would not force him to leave, the whole Bible would consist of eleven chapters of Genesis! Don't worry. The Bible is the Bible. There must exist somewhere, somehow a certain man, call him Abram or Adam or what not, who would answer the call of God in a positive manner. The Bible is a record of such stories.

Unlike those reluctant refugees, Abraham was going to be the Father of nations, the Father of faith. He moved around on the face of the globe to be a source of blessing, an ambassador of Yahweh.
And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you, and him who curses you I will curse; and by you all the families of the earth shall bless themselves (Genesis 12:2-3).
Nowadays, Israel is not numerically a great nation in terms of population or GDP. But if we count the Jews, the Christians and the Muslims together, this monotheistic "nation" is truly great. Because of the decision, the obedience of one man, many people have received blessings and lead a fulfilling life. Abraham would not be able to envision such an outcome. Nobody would. No rational cost-benefit analysis would come up with this option. This is faith.

In the Gospel reading today, we read of the Transfiguration of Jesus. After witnessing the glory of Jesus, Peter would like to continue staying in this comfort zone. He wanted to build three tents to worship Jesus, Moses and Elijah.
And Peter said to Jesus, "Lord, it is well that we are here; if you wish, I will make three booths here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah." (Matthew 17:4)
No way. If Peter/Jesus had not come down from the high mountain, we would not have had Christianity as it is today. The whole world would have been a totally different look. Truly, we need to come down from the high mountain even though it is so close to God. We need spirituality but we also need action.

Dear Lord, it is a pleasure to travel along with You. Stay by me in my journey. Amen.