A Homily – The Fifth Sunday of Lent (Year C)

First Reading – Isaiah 43:16-21 ©

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 125(126) ©

Second Reading – Philippians 3:8-14 ©

Gospel Acclamation – Joel 2:12-13

The Gospel According to John 8:1-11 ©

(NJB)

Listen!

God does not intervene in the affairs of human beings or the machinations of emperors and kings…be careful how you read the words of the prophet.

The people were wrong to give God credit for their flight from Egypt. God had nothing to do with that endeavor.

Be mindful.

God loved the Egyptians too, they are also God’s children, and God mourned the suffering of those who fell, just as God mourns the victims of all human conflict.

There is no need to recall the past, it is a tapestry of metaphor and myth an does not refer to historical realities, except perhaps in the broadest outlines. We should not celebrate this narrative or glorify the war crimes that one nation committed against another.

To heal we must move beyond this narrative, if we do not we will be lost forever in the desert of our hearts.

Let it go.

God is waiting for us to put aside our wild ways, to walk humbly, to love mercy and to seek justice, as God does for all people.

Know this.

It was not God who freed the Jews from captivity in Babylon. It was the king of Persia and it was good of him to do so; he honored the fellowship that all human beings share, simply for being human.

Be mindful.

Insofar as all good deeds have their origin in the goodness we derive from God, then yes, God deserves the credit. Nevertheless, it was the free choice of the Persian King to release those who had been enslaved, allowing them to return to their homes…though not all of them did. Many remained in the diaspora as citizens of Persia, some became Greek under the rule of Alexander, and later Roman under the auspices of their power.

Those who returned to Judea regarded their cousins who had never left the land, as impure, as gentiles, and worse as outcasts…this was a crime against them.

Consider the teaching of the Apostle and do not try to measure yourself against him. Do not measure yourself against his good or his bad deeds.

Know this.

Your destiny is the same as his, it is the same as the Samaritans, the same as the King of Persia, the same as the returning Judeans, the same as the Jews of the diaspora, the same as the Canaanites, the Amorites and the Hittites, the same as the Egyptians and the same as all of the Israelites…God has prepared a place for you in eternity, and has laid plans to ensure that you will find it.

The apostle expresses the greatest wisdom when he articulates the view that the things of this world, all of our deeds, both the tragic and the triumphant, that everything is rubbish.

This is not to say that we should throw it all away, discard everything and appreciate nothing. It is to understand that all of our works are temporary, transient and in time will be forgotten.

In time the entire planet will go up in smoke, swallowed by our mother-star and when that happens there will be nothing left of any of us.

That day will come…eventually.

What matters on the cosmic scale is how we treat each other in the hear and now; it matters that we walk humbly, love mercy and seek justice as much as we are able, for this is the way that Jesus taught us to follow.

Remember this:

The anointed one is not a king, Jesus was not a lord; the Romans crowned him with thorns and mocked him when they called him king of the Jews, this title was not meant to be taken seriously. Jesus was the son of a carpenter, and the friend of fishermen. He was a man of the land, one of the am haaretz.

Go to him, follow him, enter the way of compassion; contemplate the sacrifice of mercy, it is what Jesus offered to God on the cross, and mercy is the only sacrifice desired by God…the creator of the universe.

Consider the Gospel reading for today, it presents a narrative of Jesus at the Temple, in the cultic center of his people, and in that place his understanding of his people and their traditions is challenged by a group of Pharisees, his rabbinical peers, as well as a group of scribes who are also students of the sacred texts.

They present Jesus with a problem, a legal matter; the question concerns the proper way to deal with a woman who has been caught in the act of adultery.

In the case that was offered, testimony was not given. Witnesses did not come forward and a defense was not offered on her behalf.

A group had gathered; they were intent on killing her, on squeezing the breath out of her by placing large stones on her chest until she could not breath anymore (as stonings were done in the tradition of the Hebrew people).

The crowd felt that they had a sacred obligation to kill her; they believed that they had a duty, according to the laws of Moses, and that the adulteress must be put to death to satisfy the law.

The “law of Moses” however, had become a fetish, like an idol, and the crowd wanted to satisfy it in the same way that we desire to satisfy all off our fetishes, and in seeking her death they sought to present a human sacrifice in the temple precinct.

The pharisees and scribes wanted to test Jesus, and the crowd who gathered wanted the spectacle of a killing, and Jesus responds by offering the only thing that God desires, the only thing that anyone there could freely give, he offers her mercy, and through her the offer of mercy is given directly to God…a sacrifice of mercy was substituted for her life.

Do not read the story as if Jesus won a victory over the assembled crowd; read it as if he passed the test and thwarted the efforts of his opponents to trip him up.

The crowd understood his compassion and they loved him for it, he showed them the way and they wanted it, he carried the crowd with him into the place beloved by God, into the blessed land, the place of mercy and compassion, of humility and justice…a return to the garden which we had forsaken.

Jesus was the first to make the offering of mercy, and one by one as the crowd dispersed, they each left an offering of the same…they offered mercy, and the woman retained her life.

First Reading – Isaiah 43:16-21 ©

See, I am Doing a New Deed, and I Will Give My Chosen People Drink

Thus says the Lord, who made a way through the sea, a path in the great waters; who put chariots and horse in the field and a powerful army which lay there never to rise again, snuffed out, put out like a wick:

No need to recall the past, no need to think about what was done before.

See, I am doing a new deed, even now it comes to light; can you not see it?

Yes, I am making a road in the wilderness, paths in the wilds.

The wild beasts will honour me, jackals and ostriches, because I am putting water in the wilderness (rivers in the wild) to give my chosen people drink.

The people I have formed for myself will sing my praises.

 

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 125(126) ©

What marvels the Lord worked for us! Indeed we were glad.

When the Lord delivered Zion from bondage,

  it seemed like a dream.

Then was our mouth filled with laughter,

  on our lips there were songs.

What marvels the Lord worked for us! Indeed we were glad.

The heathens themselves said: ‘What marvels

  the Lord worked for them!’

What marvels the Lord worked for us!

  Indeed we were glad.

What marvels the Lord worked for us! Indeed we were glad.

Deliver us, O Lord, from our bondage

  as streams in dry land.

Those who are sowing in tears

  will sing when they reap.

What marvels the Lord worked for us! Indeed we were glad.

They go out, they go out, full of tears,

  carrying seed for the sowing:

they come back, they come back, full of song,

  carrying their sheaves.

What marvels the Lord worked for us! Indeed we were glad.

 

Second Reading - Philippians 3:8-14 ©

I Look on Everything as so Much Rubbish if Only I Can Have Christ

I believe nothing can happen that will outweigh the supreme advantage of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For him I have accepted the loss of everything, and I look on everything as so much rubbish if only I can have Christ and be given a place in him. I am no longer trying for perfection by my own efforts, the perfection that comes from the Law, but I want only the perfection that comes through faith in Christ, and is from God and based on faith. All I want is to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and to share his sufferings by reproducing the pattern of his death. That is the way I can hope to take my place in the resurrection of the dead. Not that I have become perfect yet: I have not yet won, but I am still running, trying to capture the prize for which Christ Jesus captured me. I can assure you my brothers, I am far from thinking that I have already won. All I can say is that I forget the past and I strain ahead for what is still to come; I am racing for the finish, for the prize to which God calls us upwards to receive in Christ Jesus.

 

Gospel Acclamation – Joel 2:12-13

Praise to you, O Christ, king of eternal glory!

Now, now – it is the Lord who speaks – come back to me with all your heart, for I am all tenderness and compassion.

Praise to you, O Christ, king of eternal glory!

 

The Gospel According to John 8:1-11 ©

'Let the One Among You Who Has Not Sinned Be the First to Throw a Stone'

Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. At daybreak he appeared in the Temple again; and as all the people came to him, he sat down and began to teach them.

  The scribes and Pharisees brought a woman along who had been caught committing adultery; and making her stand there in full view of everybody, they said to Jesus, ‘Master, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery, and Moses has ordered us in the Law to condemn women like this to death by stoning. What have you to say?’ They asked him this as a test, looking for something to use against him. But Jesus bent down and started writing on the ground with his finger. As they persisted with their question, he looked up and said, ‘If there is one of you who has not sinned, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.’ Then he bent down and wrote on the ground again. When they heard this they went away one by one, beginning with the eldest, until Jesus was left alone with the woman, who remained standing there. He looked up and said, ‘Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?’ ‘No one, sir’ she replied. ‘Neither do I condemn you,’ said Jesus ‘go away, and do not sin any more.’

 

A Homily – The Fifth Sunday of Lent (Year C)

A Homily – The Fourth Sunday of Lent (Year C)

First Reading – Joshua 5:9-12 ©

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 33(34):2-7 ©

Second Reading – 2 Corinthians 5:17-21 ©

Gospel Acclamation – Luke 15:18

The Gospel According to Luke 15:1-3, 11-32 ©

 

(NJB)

 Listen!

 Set aside the notion that the events reported in the book of Joshua refer to actual historical realities…they do not.

 These writings are fragments of oral history woven together with allegories into a metaphorical tapestry whose mythological narrative was meant to a struggling people.

 The Joshua Epic begins to be collected and written down in the tenth and eleventh centuries BCE, in a process that took generations. It reflects the point of view of the Davidic Monarchy, and that of David’s heirs, it is not a faithful representation of the actual history of the people of Israel, Judea or any of the other tribes belonging to the Hebrew confederation.

 Know this:

 God did not deliver the people from Egypt, they saved themselves. They had nothing to be ashamed of for having been the vassals of Egypt for so many years. According to their own story the children of Israel entered into the service of the Egyptians during a time of famine, they did so as a means of self-preservation, it is not likely that they ever left the land of Cannan in doing so, some perhaps but not the majority, they merely accepted Egyptian rule, and paid Egyptian taxes, while remaining in service for several hundred years. The Children of Israel may have ultimately come to find this burden to onerous to live with, but during that time they grew into a strong people.

 Here is the story that the tradition has preserved:

 There was conflict in Egypt and the Hebrews through off their bonds, when they did, they did so under their own power. They were on their own, caught between feuding empires and without the backing of a major power. The tribes consisted of some herders and nomads, the ancestors of the Bedouin, but there were also bands of thieves, brigands, pirates and runaway slaves.

 They established their own customs, traditions based on law rather than the religious cults of imperial power, they planted new roots and settled the Levant, allowing other tribes to join them if they agreed to keep the law before them, the foundation of which was a commitment to an ethical society, and those who not they put to the sword.

 What is hidden in the reading is this:

 People must rely on themselves for what they do in the world, they must produce their own food, protect themselves and grow their own tribes. People are responsible for this and cannot wait upon God to provide it for them…if they do they will starve. God will not intervene, not until our point of departure from this world, from that moment on God will handle the rest.

 Be mindful of the psalmist.

 If you intend to seek God, look no farther than your heart; you will find God by loving, and in loving you will be blessed.

 Praise God through works of love. Look for no other glory than service seek praise through the emulation of God’s infinite compassion.

 Know this!

 The Divine spirit is nameless, you cannot lift God’s name in praise, if you try you must be humble and keep before you the knowledge that whatever issues from your throat and passes through your lips is nothing more than air, shaped by your tongue whose only connection to the divine is found in the intent with which you utter it.

 Listen to your neighbors when they are afraid; rescue them. Reassure them with you faith, let them see the divine light shining through you…the light of hope and love.

 Understand this:

 God is merciful; with God there is no need for shame. God is no respecter of station, class or wealth…God loves everyone the same.

 Do not look for God to solve your problems, we are each of us another Job, though our tribulations are not tests applied to us by some celestial agent. Our tribulations are merely the vicissitudes of natural world and human culture, they are the price we pay for our freedom of will, and we persevere while we endure them through faith, by your trust in the divine you will come to understand how transient they are.

 Do not look to God to for rescue, look to your neighbor instead. Be the person your neighbor looks to for aid; be that person even if your neighbor is a stranger…rescue them in their need.

 Be mindful.

 All pain is temporary, but love lasts forever; therefore, do not fear.

 Speak the truth, avoid evil; do good.

 God see all, hears all, knows all, even your innermost thoughts, your secrets and desires, your hidden motivations, we all exist within the divine being and God understands the whole of our experience, even as we understand it ourselves (only better).

 Keep your mind in the present and do not focus on the good things that may or may not come as a result of the work you do in the here and now…the work is what you are called too.

 Love and do good, love without the thought of reward for yourself. Love as God loves so that those near you can experience the love of God through you in in the here and now.

 Hearken to those who teach hope…ignore the fear-mongers. The way is not found in fear.

 Consider the teaching of the Apostle and know that our salvation is derived from the work of God’s, not our own. It is God’s work, and the work is done already, the work began as John said, in the first moment of creation.

 The fall, such as it was, happened subsequent to and in the context of God’s saving work, not apart from it or outside of it…apart from God there is nothing.

 The work of salvation begins in eternity, and eternity is where it is realized, while the product of sin is a function of time and space, it comes to an end.

 Jesus revealed the truth of it and entrusted all future followers of the way with the task of sharing that Good news with the world...this is the mission of the Church, to proclaim that we are already reconciled to God, that there is no debt to pay, to lift the terrible burden of sin and allow it to fall away from hearts of the people.

 We fall and rise together, because we were created as one in the goodness of God.

 Consider the Gospel reading for today and know this:

 People change and appearances are not everything; there is good in everyone, and in everyone there is reason to be disappointed. The degree of judgement levelled by the Pharisees in this narrative; is not something we should emulate, neither is the jealousy expressed in this parable by the loyal son. Beneath the veneer of piety there is often bitterness and resentment; making the pretense of piety a mere façade.

 The parable is about justice.

 Jesus teaches from the perspective of divine justice…few are able to recognize the mandate of heaven when they see it, fewer still are those who can articulate it with authority as Jesus does.

 The more common discussion of justice is found in the superimposition of human values and  contemporary social mores over what we hope and fear God would desire.

 It is a rare to be able to set aside the prejudices of the day in favor of an expression of the heavenly, but this is the role of the prophet; to articulate a mode of justice characterized by love and mercy, compassion and forgiveness, and to demand that we reform our human traditions in light of those.

 This parable is often analyzed as a narrative on the power of repentance.

 Repentance: the action a sinner takes when he or she turns away from the world and toward God.

 This parable is a story of conversion and the power of transformation that ensues from it.

 The characters in the parable are a father (read God) and his two sons (read the dual nature of humanity), the younger self-indulgent and the older self-disciplined.

 The self-indulgent child is like most of us, he is greedy and heedless of the future. The journey he makes, takes him for from his father…far from God. It is a long journey, it takes years to complete and it leaves him destitute.

 The disciplined child represents a much smaller number of us (though most people fall somewhere in between). He stays home, remains obedient and asks for nothing from his father, though expecting to receive everything that belongs to the father as his inheritance.

 He is pious and resolute, but in his heart he is resentful and bitter. Because he asks for nothing for himself, he receives nothing for himself and in his heart he is covetous of everything.

 Between the sin of self-indulgence and the sin of covetousness; which is greater?

 I think it is impossible to say; sin is sin, and this is a story of sin and repentance.

 The younger son repents and returns home, the road into depravity was long, but the road to recovery was short, and what the narrative reveals is that while he was away from home, the eyes of his loving father; the eyes of God, were always on him.

 I believe this is the point of the narrative.

 The purpose of this narrative is not to remind us that repentance is possible, or that God rejoices in the repentant. The point is to say that the divine is always with us; we are never out of God’s sight, and we are never far from God’s love.

 The parable concerns God’s mercy, God’s Love, God’s compassion and forgiving heart. It is about what God and Jesus, ask each of us to emulate everyday insofar as we have chosen to be followers of the way.

First Reading – Joshua 5:9-12 ©

The Israelites Celebrate Their First Passover in the Promised Land

The Lord said to Joshua, ‘Today I have taken the shame of Egypt away from you.’

  The Israelites pitched their camp at Gilgal and kept the Passover there on the fourteenth day of the month, at evening in the plain of Jericho. On the morrow of the Passover they tasted the produce of that country, unleavened bread and roasted ears of corn, that same day. From that time, from their first eating of the produce of that country, the manna stopped falling. And having manna no longer, the Israelites fed from that year onwards on what the land of Canaan yielded.

 

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 33(34):2-7 ©

Taste and see that the Lord is good.

I will bless the Lord at all times,

  his praise always on my lips;

in the Lord my soul shall make its boast.

  The humble shall hear and be glad.

Taste and see that the Lord is good.

Glorify the Lord with me.

  Together let us praise his name.

I sought the Lord and he answered me;

  from all my terrors he set me free.

Taste and see that the Lord is good.

Look towards him and be radiant;

  let your faces not be abashed.

This poor man called, the Lord heard him

  and rescued him from all his distress.

Taste and see that the Lord is good.

 

Second Reading – 2 Corinthians 5:17-21 ©

God Reconciled Himself to us Through Christ

For anyone who is in Christ, there is a new creation; the old creation has gone, and now the new one is here. It is all God’s work. It was God who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the work of handing on this reconciliation. In other words, God in Christ was reconciling the world to himself, not holding men’s faults against them, and he has entrusted to us the news that they are reconciled. So we are ambassadors for Christ; it is as though God were appealing through us, and the appeal that we make in Christ’s name is: be reconciled to God. For our sake God made the sinless one into sin, so that in him we might become the goodness of God.

 

Gospel Acclamation – Luke 15:18

Praise and honour to you, Lord Jesus!

I will leave this place and go to my father and say:

‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.’

Praise and honour to you, Lord Jesus!

 

The Gospel According to Luke 15:1-3,11-32 ©

The Prodigal Son

The tax collectors and the sinners were all seeking the company of Jesus to hear what he had to say, and the Pharisees and the scribes complained. ‘This man’ they said ‘welcomes sinners and eats with them.’ So he spoke this parable to them:

‘A man had two sons. The younger said to his father, “Father, let me have the share of the estate that would come to me.” So the father divided the property between them. A few days later, the younger son got together everything he had and left for a distant country where he squandered his money on a life of debauchery.

‘When he had spent it all, that country experienced a severe famine, and now he began to feel the pinch, so he hired himself out to one of the local inhabitants who put him on his farm to feed the pigs. And he would willingly have filled his belly with the husks the pigs were eating but no one offered him anything. Then he came to his senses and said, “How many of my father’s paid servants have more food than they want, and here am I dying of hunger! I will leave this place and go to my father and say: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you; I no longer deserve to be called your son; treat me as one of your paid servants.” So he left the place and went back to his father.

‘While he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was moved with pity. He ran to the boy, clasped him in his arms and kissed him tenderly. Then his son said, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I no longer deserve to be called your son.” But the father said to his servants, “Quick! Bring out the best robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the calf we have been fattening, and kill it; we are going to have a feast, a celebration, because this son of mine was dead and has come back to life; he was lost and is found.” And they began to celebrate.

‘Now the elder son was out in the fields, and on his way back, as he drew near the house, he could hear music and dancing. Calling one of the servants he asked what it was all about. “Your brother has come” replied the servant “and your father has killed the calf we had fattened because he has got him back safe and sound.” He was angry then and refused to go in, and his father came out to plead with him; but he answered his father, “Look, all these years I have slaved for you and never once disobeyed your orders, yet you never offered me so much as a kid for me to celebrate with my friends. But, for this son of yours, when he comes back after swallowing up your property – he and his women – you kill the calf we had been fattening.”

‘The father said, “My son, you are with me always and all I have is yours. But it was only right we should celebrate and rejoice, because your brother here was dead and has come to life; he was lost and is found.”’

 

A Homily – The Fourth Sunday of Lent (Year C)

A Homily – The Third Sunday of Lent (Year C)

First Reading – Exodus 3:1-8,13-15 ©

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 102(103):1-4,6-8,11 ©

Second Reading – 1 Corinthians 10:1-6,10-12 ©

Gospel Acclamation – Matthew 4:17

The Gospel According to Luke 13:1-9 ©

 

(NJB)

 

Listen!

 The reading from the Book of Exodus is a story of Moses, presenting an image of God who would turn one nation against another, tribe against tribe, family against family. It presents an image of God who prefers one group over another making promises to them of conquest, and the intervention of the almighty on behalf of that selected people.

 This story depicts the punishment of the people of Egypt for the sins of Pharaoh, who, if you read the story correctly only did the things he did because God intervened in his process off discernment to harden his heart, time and time again; God determined the course of action Pharaoh would take, and then punished the entire nation for those deeds.

 This is false; these stories are not worthy of the sacred text. They make God, the creator of the universe out to be a hack, a mean spirited and capricious fool, a bully, a murderer and a thief.

 Remember this:

 God is not a king, God is not a lord. God does not intervene in the affairs of human beings, preferring one group over another.

 Do not fall into the same pitfalls as the psalmist.

 Give thanks to God for the blessings of life, freedom, self-determination and every other element of our being that allows us to be persons.

 God gave us personhood, it is a gift we are meant to cherish. God’s spirit is reflected in our personhood and in that reflection God is present fully. God is present in us, and present in every other person we encounter, the mighty and the meek, the good and the bad, the ugly and the beautiful.

 Give thanks to God and give thanks to those who do God’s work, to those who are loving, to the peacemakers, bless them as you are able. Bless all of God’s children, as God does, love them all; the helpful and the harmful, the just and the unjust, the kind and the mean…share a blessing with them

 Consider the teaching of the apostle, like the other disciples, he commonly allows his fear to blind him to the way of faith and hope which Jesus preached.

 Remember this:

 God loves you; God loves everyone. God does not lay traps along your path to test your faith…that is not the way.

 God does not visit suffering on one generation for the purpose of teaching a lesson to another, as the apostle suggested…that would be unjust.

 God does not intervene in human affairs, as such, we know that God did not guide the Israelites through the desert. They found their own way, and they suffered terribly on their journey.

 They did not suffer because they were sinful people, they suffered because life is hard. Many people died, many were killed in the wars they fought; they visited violence and anguish and sorrow on their enemies, not because God willed it, but because they were led into those endeavors according to their own human ambitions. It is poor theology to suggest otherwise, and contrary to the teaching of Jesus who says that God wills us to love our enemies, that we pray for those who persecute us...this is the way and within it is the entire content of Christian faith.

 It should be understood that the Israelites committed terrible crimes, their own records testify too it. And yet, despite their crimes, they did many things that were good. They put some communities to the sword, they also bonded with one another and strengthened their own. They made a place for themselves in the world according to the ways of the world, while it is not praiseworthy it is not condemnatory either.

 This is the way of sin, human beings perpetrate it according to our nature, as Christians we hope that God will bring something good out of it.

 Jesus teaches that we can be forgiven for our sins, in the same way that we forgive everyone who has sinned, in the same way that we seek forgiveness for our own, by not dwelling on our pain and moving forward as one.

 Do not be confused by the apostle, resist his appeal to authority, do not follow him into error.

 When the apostle uses allegory to relate images and tropes from the exodus to his audience, as fore-shadowing the Christ and the rites of baptism, his interpretations and interpolations of meaning cannot be viewed as having been written with those intentions a thousand years prior to the birth of Jesus and the foundation of the Church…he is writing poetry, not attempting to establish a historical record. Therefore, we should read the text as a poet would and find meaning in its fiction.

 Understand this:

 Moses never lived, everything we have read about him is myth and metaphor. By reading the text as a poet would, we honor the spirit by which it was written. This is how we keep the text alive from age to age, by not falling into the trap of believing that we have discovered its meaning, the truth of it, once and for all.

 The proper use to which we put the sacred text is to promote the teaching of the way, which is rooted in love, mercy and compassion. We use it to facilitate the rejection of fear, by clinging to the image it presents of God as the bringer of hope, not the harbinger of terror.  

 Be wary of the Scriptures, especially when the authors attempt to fit their narrative of Jesus into a picture that makes it look as if he is fulfilling a prediction made by a prognosticator from the past…this is always a falsehood.

 Even if a prediction was made, and even if Jesus did the thing that was predicted, it is a false narrative to suggest that Jesus’ actions were in fulfillment of it.

 Prophets only speak of the future for two reasons: 1) to engender hope, 2) to warn of danger.

 The words of a prophet are always addressed to the people in their own time, in their own place. Prophecy is never meant to guide the lives of future generations, except in the cases when the prophet is engaged in pattern recognition, or addressing an issue of universal truth, such as the nature of justice…a truth which is itself unchanging.

 Know this.

 The Gospel writers were propagandists. They fabricated many of the details of Jesus’ life. They fabricated those details to suit the narrative they preferred about who Jesus was, why his life and death were necessary, and what his life and death meant for the early church.

 In this narrative the Gospel writers place Jesus directly in the tradition of John the Baptist, with the words “Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand.” This is a continuation of John’s narrative, meant to harness the energy of John’s movement, contextualizing Jesus’ arrest and murder as a part of the same sequence of injustices visited upon the people then.

 Consider the Gospel reading for today, the text is plain.

 It acknowledges the overwhelming reality of suffering in the world, whether it is the type of suffering caused by human beings, or suffering caused by the random nature of events in the world; or the specific suffering inflicted on the people by the Roman prelate, Pilate, who brutalized the people of Palestine, for political and religious purposes (which to the Romans were one and the same).

 In the face of this suffering Jesus teaches his people that they should proceed with care, be mindful, watchful and considerate of the secular powers. He encourages his followers to take care of one another or they too will be caught up in the aegis of Pilate’s authority and subjected to the cruel whimsy of Roman justice.

 The people who suffered and died under Pilate did not suffer and die because they deserved it more than any others, they were not more-guilty of crimes than he was, or his followers were, but they were careless, and due to their carelessness they were caught up in the grip of Roman power.

 In this parable Jesus stresses the power of intention. The farmer is the Roman State, he has the power of life and death over the people, if the people do not fulfill his expectations, he will destroy them. This is what Jesus wants the disciples in particular remember.

 The man looking after the vineyard represents the community. The community pleads for mercy on behalf of the people, so that through mindfulness and care, the people are brought along safely into the next year, preserving themselves and their families in the face of the oppressive Roman State.

 

First Reading – Exodus 3:1-8,13-15 ©

'I AM has sent me to you'

Moses was looking after the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law priest of Midian. He led his flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in the shape of a flame of fire, coming from the middle of a bush. Moses looked; there was the bush blazing but it was not being burnt up. ‘I must go and look at this strange sight,’ Moses said, ‘and see why the bush is not burnt.’ Now the Lord saw him go forward to look, and God called to him from the middle of the bush. ‘Moses, Moses!’ he said. ‘Here I am,’ Moses answered. ‘Come no nearer,’ he said. ‘Take off your shoes, for the place on which you stand is holy ground. I am the God of your fathers,’ he said, ‘the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.’ At this Moses covered his face, afraid to look at God.

And the Lord said, ‘I have seen the miserable state of my people in Egypt. I have heard their appeal to be free of their slave-drivers. Yes, I am well aware of their sufferings. I mean to deliver them out of the hands of the Egyptians and bring them up out of that land to a land rich and broad, a land where milk and honey flow, the home of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites.’

Then Moses said to God, ‘I am to go, then, to the sons of Israel and say to them, “The God of your fathers has sent me to you.” But if they ask me what his name is, what am I to tell them?’ And God said to Moses, ‘I Am who I Am. This’ he added ‘is what you must say to the sons of Israel: “I Am has sent me to you.”’ And God also said to Moses, ‘You are to say to the sons of Israel: “The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.” This is my name for all time; by this name I shall be invoked for all generations to come.’

 

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 102(103):1-4,6-8,11 ©

The Lord is compassion and love.

My soul, give thanks to the Lord

  all my being, bless his holy name.

My soul, give thanks to the Lord

  and never forget all his blessings.

The Lord is compassion and love.

It is he who forgives all your guilt,

  who heals every one of your ills,

who redeems your life from the grave,

  who crowns you with love and compassion,

The Lord is compassion and love.

The Lord does deeds of justice,

  gives judgement for all who are oppressed.

He made known his ways to Moses

  and his deeds to Israel’s sons.

The Lord is compassion and love.

The Lord is compassion and love,

  slow to anger and rich in mercy.

For as the heavens are high above the earth

  so strong is his love for those who fear him.

The Lord is compassion and love.

 

Second Reading – 1 Corinthians 10:1-6,10-12 ©

The Life of the People Under Moses in the Desert Was Written Down to be a Lesson For Us

I want to remind you, brothers, how our fathers were all guided by a cloud above them and how they all passed through the sea. They were all baptised into Moses in this cloud and in this sea; all ate the same spiritual food and all drank the same spiritual drink, since they all drank from the spiritual rock that followed them as they went, and that rock was Christ. In spite of this, most of them failed to please God and their corpses littered the desert.

These things all happened as warnings for us, not to have the wicked lusts for forbidden things that they had. You must never complain: some of them did, and they were killed by the Destroyer.

All this happened to them as a warning, and it was written down to be a lesson for us who are living at the end of the age. The man who thinks he is safe must be careful that he does not fall.

 

Gospel Acclamation – Matthew 4:17

Glory to you, O Christ, you are the Word of God!

Repent, says the Lord, for the kingdom of heaven is close at hand.

Glory to you, O Christ, you are the Word of God!

 

The Gospel According to Luke 13:1-9 ©

'Leave the Fig Tree One More Year'

Some people arrived and told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with that of their sacrifices. At this he said to them, ‘Do you suppose these Galileans who suffered like that were greater sinners than any other Galileans? They were not, I tell you. No; but unless you repent you will all perish as they did. Or those eighteen on whom the tower at Siloam fell and killed them? Do you suppose that they were more guilty than all the other people living in Jerusalem? They were not, I tell you. No; but unless you repent you will all perish as they did.’

 He told this parable: ‘A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came looking for fruit on it but found none. He said to the man who looked after the vineyard, “Look here, for three years now I have been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and finding none. Cut it down: why should it be taking up the ground?” “Sir,” the man replied “leave it one more year and give me time to dig round it and manure it: it may bear fruit next year; if not, then you can cut it down.”’

 

The Third Sunday of Lent (Year C)