(Homily for the 3rd Sunday of Lent Yr. C)
The three readings of this day
present the different traits or better qualities of the Christian God. In the
Gospel, St. Luke presents a merciful God, who desires ardently the conversion
of sinners, he patiently waits for our
conversion, before he intervenes with his justice (tzedakah). In the first reading, God appeared like a fire that
burns but never consumes, and God presents Himself as: “I am who I am”, but
prior to this, we remember Moses who abandoned everything in order to answer
the call of the Lord, thereby to go to Egypt for the liberation of his people.
And in the second reading, St. Paul presents God as a provident God. Therein we are presented with the history
of the people of Israel, and thus, to reawaken our own spiritual consciousness
that even when we decide to follow the Lord, we are not immune to temptation.
The single thread that runs through
the readings of this Sunday is indicated by the name of God as revealed to
Moses: “I am who I am”. As such, He is
not an impersonal reality, rather he intervenes powerfully in human history.
Indeed, at the heart of this message is the manifestation of the saving act of
God in Christ, who sees the affliction of his people and “comes down”, he intervenes and delivers his people from the
slavery of sin, from the historical Egypt and ‘our own Egypt’. Drawing the
issue further, at the heart of today’s readings is God’s desire to bring his
people back to freedom (first reading), his desire for us to be converted to
Him (Gospel), and His invitation to be conscious of the fact that our spiritual
journey is not a one-time conquest: “let anyone who thinks that he stands take
heed lest he fall” (second reading).
The first reading (Ex. 3:1-8a.13-15) introduces a fresh
theme for our reflection today, it talks about God’s revelation and the
revealing of his identity. As if, the
first reading is giving us reasons on why we have to repent. We are to be
converted because God is not man, He is a God for his people, He is a personal
God, who loves us individually and enters into relationship with us. And as a response to his presence and love
we are called to conversion. In the encounter between Moses and God, we see
the invitation to Moses: “Put off your shoes from your feet, for the place on
which you are standing is holy ground” (Ex.
3:5), this therefore entails that we have to remove anything that do not
allow us to approach God. We must put off sandals of distraction and sin, in
order to behold God!
In the passage proper, we heard about
the extraordinary divine revelation that Moses had through the famous vision of
the burning bush that was not consumed by fire. God is the fire that burns but does not consume. In the old
mentality, fire is a symbol of power and divine force. In the Old Testament it
is also the symbol of the divine presence. God is eternal, that is why the fire
of his presence and power cannot be consumed. God revealed himself as a
faithful God, God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, that is a God that maintains his promises. He revealed himself as a
liberator of his people. He liberated
them out of his spontaneous and gratuitous initiative. God says: “I have
seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry
because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, and I have come down to
deliver them” (vv.7-8). In the first
and the second readings we are reminded of the liberating work of God, and that
should stimulate us for conversion. Moreover, later God confers on Moses the
responsibility to lead the people to freedom and He assures him of complete
success in his mission, revealing His name: “I am, who I am” (v.14). The name “I am who I am” means a God that is present, He is not an
absent God. Indeed, the great novelty of this revelation was not
necessarily the name, but rather the revelation of the significance of the
name. The verb “to be” is intended in
the sense of being present, of being there, but not in the sense of an abstract
or absolute being, but in the sense of a relational being. He is God for
his people, little wonder, the Messiah
will be called Immanuel: God with us (cf.
Is.7:14; Mt. 1:23). If you draw the significant of the name further it not
only means “I am” but “I am for you”. Yahweh is the Being that is for man. On
the other hand, in revealing himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,
more interestingly God reveals himself as a personal God. And because he is a
personal God, he calls us individually to conversion.
In today’s Gospel (Lk. 13:1-9), Jesus taking inspiration from the two incidents (the murder of some
Galileans and the construction accident), taught his listeners a great lesson.
The first incident has to do with the killing of some Galileans whose blood
mixed with the sacrifice in the temple (by Pilate’s soldiers). The second is
about the eighteen persons from Jerusalem who died when the tower of Siloam
collapsed. However, at that time, it was a widespread opinion that prosperity
and well-being are signs of recompense for a good and honest life. On the other
hand, sickness and calamity are signs of punishment for sins. Even in our present world, there is this
common mentality. If an evil, sickness or calamity befalls someone, people
tend to trace the cause to their misconduct. So also, sometimes, when things are not moving according to one’s
expectations, you see questions like: “what have I done to deserve this?” Why
me?”.
Jesus is out to correct this impression and mentality, and in doing
this he tries to appeal to their consciences and to reawaken in them the
consciousness of how erroneous this conception is. Therefore, he asked: “Do you
think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans,
because they suffered thus? Or those eighteen upon whom the tower of Siloam
fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse offenders than all the
others who dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, No” (vv. 2-5). Jesus negates that expressly. There is no relation of cause and effect between sin and misfortune,
between personal sin and sickness. Jesus never taught that on this earth the
wicked will be punished, while good people will receive their premium. Rather,
premium and recompense are promised for the next life; as such the punishment
for those who are obstinate in evil is for the world beyond, little wonder he
warned: “No, but unless you repent you will all likewise perish” (vv.3.5).
Jesus
discarded that erroneous conception, and maintains that what is important is
our change of heart and mind, mainly our conversion. He vehemently
affirmed, “Unless you repent you will all likewise perish” (cf.vv. 3 &5). This phrase is the hit track of this passage. It reveals God both as a
just and a merciful God. He is a God of second chance, these words are
equally addressed to us today, “unless you repent”, God is continually calling
us for repentance, for a change of mind and heart. For this, St. Paul
admonished the Romans thus: “Do not model your behavior on the contemporary
world, but let the renewing of your minds transform you, so that you may
discern for yourselves what is the will of God” (Rm. 12:1). And indeed, this
divine benevolence orchestrated through his merciful love, cannot but prompt in
us an attitude of praise and thanksgiving to God, little wonder the
Psalmist in the responsorial psalm blesses God thus: “Bless the Lord, O my
soul, and all within me, his holy name…and never forget all his
benefits” (Ps. 103:1-2). He calls us
not only to praise God, but also to the remembrance of all his benefits,
Yahweh’s faithfulness and the human infidelity; this aspect of remembrance is a
fundamental attitude of every pious Jew: “Be careful not to forget Yahweh
your God, by neglecting his commandments” (Deut.
8:11); “Remember; never forget” (Deut.
9:7).
Conversion per se comports a
firm decision and a continuous renewal to liberate oneself from sin, desirous
of putting into practice the words of Jesus. Jesus’s invitation to conversion
is not to be taken for granted, it is
not to be procrastinated ad infinitum.
It calls for personal decision, and the
time for that is here and now. The two incidents we heard, took place
unexpectedly, that is way, we don’t have to waste time, and we have to profit
from the present moment of grace. Furthermore, with the parable of the
fruitless fig tree (vv. 6-9) Jesus
wanted to call our attention to two possible ways of human thinking: First, of
those who think, ‘already it is too late for me to change my life’, ‘God is tired
of me’, or ‘God cannot forgive all my
sins’. Second, of those who reason, ‘God is too patient’, ‘there is always time
for conversion’. But the real position
is that God is patient, his patience cannot be programmed, and the possibility
for conversion is always open. At this point, we cannot but remember the
spiritual refrain of Pope Francis: “God never gets tired of forgiving us”. The
brief parable on the fig tree reinforces Jesus’ demand of repentance, and thus
proffers a link with the second reading, for as St. Paul opined: “Let anyone
who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall”. As such, to avoid a false sense
of spiritual security.
In the second reading (1Cor. 10:1-6.10-12), St. Paul presents an urgent and stimulating
motive for that conversion. In the history of the chosen people God showed
a particular attention and preference. In their favor, so many times he
intervened with extraordinary signs. St. Paul observed, that even though “our
fathers were all under the cloud, all passed through the sea and all were
baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea and all ate the same
supernatural food and all drank the supernatural drink…Nevertheless, with most
of them, God was not pleased”. St. Paul continued, “Now these things are
warnings for us, not to desire evil as they did and were destroyed by the
Destroyer”. We have to appropriate this
admonition of St. Paul, because in our own experiences, in so many ways God has
been blessing and showing us his love. Yet, at times his goodness and
benevolence to us do not draw us closer to him. Besides, it behooves us to
understand that all the blessings he has lavished upon us require a good dose
of responsibility, on our side, and as such the duty to be converted to him. In
all, he teaches us that our salvation is
a fruit of God’s gratuitous act, but this does not exclude the human
cooperation to the divine grace. There should be no presumption of
certainty: “Therefore, let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he
fall”.
May God help us to understand the
urgency of conversion! May His word and presence propel us for an authentic
conversion, and may He continue to liberate us from all that entangle us to
sin! Amen!! Happy Sunday To you All!!!
(Fr. Vitus M. C. Unegbu, SC)
No comments:
Post a Comment