Synopsis: Lent III Sunday (Feb 28) Homily on Luke 13: 1-9 (L/16)
Introduction: All three of today’s readings speak of God’s mercy and compassion in disciplining His children by occasional punishment and giving them a second chance in spite of their repeated sins. Although God’s love for us is constant and consistent, He will not save us without our co-operation. That is why He invites us during Lent to repent of our sins and to renew our lives by producing fruits of love, compassion, forgiveness, and faithful service.
Scripture lessons: The first reading tells us how God shows His mercy to His chosen people by choosing Moses as their leader and liberator. The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (v. 6) reveals Himself to Moses from the burning bush and assures Moses of His Divine presence with His people and of His awareness of their sufferings in Egypt. He declares His intention to use Moses as the leader who will rescue His enslaved people. Then God reveals His name as Yahweh (He who is) and renews His promise to the patriarchs (v. 8), to give them a “land flowing with milk and honey.” The second reading warns us that our merciful God is also a disciplining God. Paul reminds the Christians of Corinth that they must learn from the sad experience of the Israelites who were punished for their sins by a merciful but just God. The merciful and gracious God is also just and demanding, and hence they must be free from sexual sins and idolatry. Today’s Gospel explains how God disciplines His people, invites them to repent of their sins, to renew their lives and to produce the fruits of the Holy Spirit. Citing two tragic events, Jesus exhorts the Jews to repent and reform their lives. With the parable of the barren fig tree, he also warns them that the merciful God will not put up with them indefinitely. Although God patiently waits for sinners to repent, giving them grace to do so, He will not wait forever. Time may run out; therefore, timely repentance is necessary. Hence, a Lent missed is a year lost from the spiritual life.
Life Messages: 1) We need to live lives of repentance, because (a) we never know when we will meet a tragedy of our own. Let us turn to Christ, acknowledge our faults and failings and receive from him mercy, forgiveness and the promise of eternal life. There is no better way to take these words of Jesus to heart than to go to sacramental confession, and there is no better time to go to confession than during Lent. (b) repentance helps us in life and in death. It helps us to live as forgiven people, and helps us to face death without fear. 2) We need to be fruitful trees in God’s orchard. Lent is an ideal time “to dig around and manure” the tree of our life so that it may bring forth fruits of repentance, reconciliation, forgiveness and sensitivity to the feelings of others. 3) We need to make the best use of the “second chance” God gives us. Our merciful Father always gives us a second chance. During Lent, we, too, are given another chance to repent and return to our Heavenly Father’s love.
LENT III SUNDAY: Ex 3:1-8a, 13-15; I Cor 10:1-6, 10-12; Lk 13:1-9
Anecdote 1: Natural tragedies: We have experienced devastating natural tragedies as earthquakes in Haiti and Chile in 2010 and as Hurricane Katrina in the U.S. in 2005. The earthquake in Chile occurred at 3:34 AM on February 27th; it measured 8.8 on the Richter scale, killed 279 people, damaged 500,000 homes in six cities and caused 8.5’ tsunami flooding nearby islands and coastal areas. The earthquake in Haiti occurred at 4:PM on January 12th. It was less strong but more devastating than the one in Chile, killing 230,000 people, injuring 300,000 and leaving a million people homeless as it destroyed 250,000 and 30,000 . Hurricane Katrina occurring in late August, 2005, was the and the greatest natural disaster in the history of the United States. At least 1,836 people lost their lives in the actual hurricane and in the subsequent floods. The storm caused severe destruction along the Gulf Coast from central Florida to Texas, much of it due to the . The most severe occurred in , . Flood waters inundated 80% of the city and covered large tracts of neighboring , remaining in place for weeks. Hurricane Katrina caused damages totaling $100 billion, outstripping by many times the damage caused by in 1992 (Adapted from Wikipedia). Citing two tragic local incidents in today’s Gospel, Jesus exhorts the Jews to repent of their sins and reform their lives so that they may not face the greatest human tragedy of eternal damnation. Such natural tragedies also show us our human limitations demonstrated in our inability to understand why a merciful God allows such tragic events to occur. Are they His means of disciplining His children?
#2: One more chance: Just before Christmas in 1985, we were shocked by an air crash in Newfoundland, Canada. That crash killed more than 200 American soldiers on their way home for the Christmas holidays. A few months later in 1986, we were stunned again by another national tragedy when the space shuttle Challenger exploded only 74 seconds after lift-off. Seven astronauts were killed in that catastrophe. Today’s Gospel gives us two examples of shocking disasters that occurred in Christ’s lifetime. One of the incidents was the ruthless murder of some Galileans while they were in the middle of their Temple sacrifices. The victims were probably political agitators and this was Pilate’s way of silencing them. The other incident was a construction accident which occurred near the Temple during the building of a water aqueduct. Apparently this building project was hated by the Jews because Temple funds were appropriated by Pilate to finance it. These two incidents are brought up because the Jews of Jesus’ day presumed that those who were killed were being punished by God for their sins. But Jesus denies this. Instead, he asserts that what really destroys life is our unwillingness to repent and change our lives. Jesus says, not once, but twice by way of emphasis: “Unless you repent, you will perish as they did.” (Albert Cylwicki in His Word Resounds).
#3: Joy of being forgiven: In his memoirs, Mahatma Gandhi, the father of the Indian nation, humbly and frankly acknowledges that, when he was fifteen, he stole a little piece of gold from his brother. A few days later, he felt very guilty and decided to come clean by confessing to his father. So he took a paper, admitted his fault, sincerely asked his father for forgiveness and promised never to repeat the offence. Taking that note to the bedroom of his father, the young Gandhi found him ill in bed. Very timidly he handed the note to his father without saying a word. His father sat up in bed and began reading the note. As he read it, the senior Gandhi was so deeply moved by the honesty, sincerity and courage of his son that tears began to stream from his eyes. This so touched the son that he burst into tears as well. Instinctively both father and son wrapped their arms around each other and wordlessly shared their mutual admiration and joy. This notable experience made such an impact on Gandhi that years later he would say, “Only the person who has experienced this kind of forgiving love can know what it is.” – This precisely is what happened when the repentant prodigal son returned home. Such is God’s merciful forgiveness and benevolent love for all who resolutely turn over a new leaf, especially during this Lenten season. (James Valladares in Your Words O Lord, are Spirit and They Are Life; quoted by Fr. Botelho).
Introduction: All three of today’s readings speak of God’s mercy and compassion in disciplining his children and in giving them a second chance in spite of their repeated sins. Although God’s love for us is constant and consistent, He will not save us without our co-operation. That is why He invites us during Lent to repent of our sins and to renew our lives by producing fruits of love, compassion, forgiveness, and faithful service. The first reading tells us how God shows His mercy to His chosen people by choosing Moses as their leader and liberator. The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (v. 6) reveals Himself to Moses from the burning bush and assures Moses of His Divine presence with His people and of His awareness of their sufferings in Egypt. He declares His intention of using Moses as the leader who will rescue His enslaved people. Then He renews the promise He made to the patriarchs (v 8), to give them a “land flowing with milk and honey.” The Psalmist reminds us of God’s mercy: “He pardons all your iniquities; He heals all your ills. He redeems your life from destruction; He crowns you with kindness and compassion” (Psalm 103: 3-4). The second reading warns us that our merciful God is also a disciplining God. Paul reminds the Christians of Corinth that they must learn from the sad experience of the Israelites who were punished for their sins by a merciful but just God. The merciful and gracious God is also just and demanding, and, hence, they must be free from sexual sins and idolatry. Today’s Gospel explains how God disciplines His people, invites them to repent of their sins, to renew their lives and to produce the fruits of the Holy Spirit. Citing two tragic events, Jesus exhorts the Jews to repent and reform their lives. With the parable of the barren fig tree, he also warns them that the merciful God will not put up with them indefinitely. Although God patiently waits for sinners to repent, giving them grace to do so, He will not wait forever. Time may run out; therefore, timely repentance is necessary. Hence, a Lent missed is a year lost from the spiritual life.
The first reading: Ex. 3:1-8, 13-15: This reading explains how God, speaking from a burning bush, called Moses to leave the tending of his father-in-law’s flock for a challenging role as liberator of God’s Chosen People. He was to free them from their enslavement by Egyptian rulers who were systematically persecuting and exterminating them. The reading contains the call of Moses, the greatest Jewish liberator and law-bringer, and the explanation of God’s proper name: Yahweh. God not only trusts Moses enough to share His Name with him, but He also explains what it means. “I am who AM,” Yahweh proclaims. “This is what you shall tell the Israelites: I AM sent me to you.” YHWH (without vowels, as it is written in Hebrew), means “I am Who am” (St. Jerome, Vulgate) or “I am He Who is” (Septuagint) or “I am Who cause to be” (modern Bible scholars). God also insists He is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Israel’s ancestors, in order to prepare the freed slaves to reclaim their noble heritage. This reading is appropriate for Lent, because it begins the story that will reach its climax so dramatically on Holy Saturday with the reading which explains how Moses finally led the Israelites out of Egypt. Though God’s salvation is always available, only those willing to change their core lives ever notice it. Repentance is the first step in our redemption. That is why Jesus gives the strong warning in today’s Gospel, “If you do not repent, you will all perish.” We are called to abandon our false gods of money, power and pleasure and return to the one God, who “secures justice and the rights of all the oppressed.”
The second reading: I Cor. 10:1-6, 10-12: The second reading is Paul’s commentary on today’s first reading. Paul warns the Christians of Corinth that they must avoid overconfidence and learn from the experience of the Israelites, so as not to repeat their mistakes. Referring to the golden calf episode and the judgment that befell the Israelites in the wilderness (10:7-11), Paul offers words of admonition (10:12), assurance (10:13) and warning that God’s mercy has its limits. The Israelites, led by Moses, passed miraculously through the sea as they escaped from Egypt. God led them across the desert by means of a cloud and gave them water from the rock when they were thirsty and delicious manna as their staple food. Despite all these wonders, however, many were still faithless. Therefore, God let them die in the desert without reaching the Promised Land. Paul sternly warns the Corinthians that they are in the same danger, “Therefore, whoever thinks he is standing secure should take care lest he fall.” Paul exhorts his converts to be faithful and not to presume that membership in the Christian community automatically saves them. Later in his epistle Paul speaks of repentance, using the Greek word metanoia, which means “a decision which changes the direction of a person’s life or behavior.”
Exegesis: 1) Tragedy of Divine warning