NOTE: For all of the Sunday’s of Lent I would like to suggest that we spend some time in prayer and reflection…like a mini-retreat. My hope is that it will help us dive deep into this season of grace and set a course for the week ahead…
For the longest time I’ve had a debit card without the infamous ‘chip”. So I have been swiping my card blissfully. No problems. Easy-peasy. Well, my bank thought it was time that I got an upgrade. When I picked up my dry-cleaning this week, I inserted my card, and the cashier said to me, “follow the prompts.” That was easy! However, not all prompts are easy. Moses, tending sheep, spied a marvelous and curious sight –a burning bush. But the words he heard coming from the bush, burning yet unconsumed, wwere even more marvelous and curious. COME NO NEARER. Moses was encountering God. COME NO NEARER. Remove your sandals. And what does Moses do? He falls to the ground and covers his face. So much for following the prompts!
For the past thirty years or so, I’ve been teaching young adults as they prepare for the Sacrament of Confirmation. Over those years, I have developed (or stolen from someplace?) what I like to call the five most important questions. As followers of Christ, I believe that these five questions can be prompts to guide us on our journey of faith.
Who am I? Who Is God Who am I to God? Who is God to me? AND What difference does it make?
This third week of Lent stops Moses in his tracks. It also stops the people dialoguing with Jesus in Luke’s Gospel…and so it should stop us…for radical reflection. If we are truly in a relationship with God…and we come to know Him…and to Love Him…or even to the point of desiring to please Him, does that not require something of us? What makes us think that God is the only one who makes moves in the relationship? Pretty selfish on our part, eh? (I guess we are going with our strength!!)
What must we do? Like Moses, we need to know who we are in our relationship with — God. Coming to know Him, we realize how different (other) we are from Him…but at the same time, need Him. Not only does He desire us, we need and desire Him. So what do we need to do? Take off our sandals; put our faces to the ground. We need to humble ourselves to Him. Like the people in Luke’s Gospel need to heed the words of Jesus as He says “But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish…”
Repentence.
In the Biblical Hebrew, repentance is represented by two verbs: shuv , “to return “ and nacham meaning “to feel sorrow.” The Greek New Testament for repentance is metanoia, meaning “after/behind one’s mind”, (to perceive, to think, the result of perceiving or observing). There is a meaning of time and change…one thinks differently after something is experienced. Not such a bad thing…touch a hot stove…I’m not going to do that again. (Sad to say, I’ve burned myself multiple times.). More than that, metanoia is a change of heart and action.
Moses’ whole posture and disposition changed once he realized he was in the presence of God. Not only that, his encounter CHANGES the direction of his entire life. Goodbye to Jethro’s sheep— hello to the sheep of God under the mighty hand of pharaoh. Sheep suffering, who God has heard and wants to draw near.
The people talking to Jesus about current events in the gospel have a similar encounter. Jesus tells them not to be so sure of themselves…”by no means” are they better off. There is something they must do. Repent. Repentance, “return” “sorrow”, “change of mind and heart”, is the response to the encounter.
Relationships begin with encounters (deep relationships from frequent encounters). Life changing and transforming relationships come from an intentional choice—to recognize the other, honor and reverence the other and to make a choice for the other and for the relationship. (And away from other things, persons perhaps, and anything not aligned with this elevated choice).
We may not be called to go into Egypt to rescue a people – but there are those enslaved, entrapped and suffering in our world, are there not? Is this relationship with the Loving God exclusive to a fortunate few? Or are we comfortable with the flock of sheep we are tending? Our selfishness, greed, pride, point of view, perspective, personal habits, experiences can be pretty comfortable…and pretty enslaving. Change of heart? Me? Change my mind? Me? Sacrifice my ego?
In Luke’s Gospel for this third Sunday of Lent, we hear the words of Jesus to the people, “Repent…Perish”… but we do not hear answer. He wants us to be near Him. What is their choice? Today, what is ours?
Exodus 3: 1- 8A, 13 – 15 ,
Psalm 103
1 Cor 10:1-6.10-12
Luke 13:1-9