Vows and Pieces

Vows and Pieces. 

Usually, the First Reading on Sundays is paired with the Gospel, because it somehow sheds light or provides a key to enter more deeply into the mystery of what is happening in the Gospel reading.  In our First Reading today, we hear what sounds like a bizarre event involving animals cut in half, and possibly a dream sequence.  But what does any of this have to do with us and the transfiguration during Lent?

In the Ancient Near East, similar practices were involved in the swearing of covenants – like this passing through animal pieces.  As the parties involved in swearing the covenant passed in between the halves, they were symbolically invoking a curse of death upon themselves – that as these animals have been cut up, may they be cut up if they ever violate the covenant.

Abram asked God how Abram would know that God would make good on God’s promise, and this covenant swearing was God’s response.

But there is something out of the ordinary this time.  If you pay close attention, Abram did not pass in between the animals pieces, because “a deep sleep fell upon Abram”.  Only God, represented by the “smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between the pieces.”  God made a covenant, a promise, a vow to Abram – which depends not on Abram – who did not pass in between the pieces, but only on God, who passed through the animal pieces.

Turning to our Gospel, we see how this episode from the Book of Genesis sheds light on the event of the Transfiguration.  Only Luke mentions what Moses and Elijah were speaking to Jesus about: “his exodus”, that is, his “departure”.  In his letter to the Galatians, St. Paul says that through His crucifixion, Jesus became a “curse for us” [Galatians 3:13]. 

When we think of making a vow, especially religious vows, we generally thing of something that we do “for” God.  But the truth is, it is God who has already made a vow to be faithful to us, through the death and resurrection of Jesus, for which during the season of Lent, we are preparing to celebrate at Easter.  Like our Lenten observances – whatever they may be – vows are not meant to be a “bargaining chip” with God, but a wholehearted response to the God who has passed through the pieces before us.