Third Sunday in Lent – Year C (RCL) 2010
Isaiah 55: 1 – 9; Psalm 63: 1 – 8; 1 Corinthians 10: 1 – 13; Luke 13: 1 – 9
St. Stephen’s Episcopal Parish, Portland, OR
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Isaiah 55: 1 – 9; Psalm 63: 1 – 8; 1 Corinthians 10: 1 – 13; Luke 13: 1 – 9
St. Stephen’s Episcopal Parish, Portland, OR
Sunday, March 7, 2010
WE ARE ALL SINNERS IN YOUR SIGHT
Let us pray: We come before you this day O God seeking your forgiveness in light of our sinfulness. In this Lenten journey we look to find mercy in your judgment – we seek to repent and return to your way. Keep us mindful of your call to consider our failings in your sight that we might be filled with the knowledge of your desire for mercy and not sacrifice; for you are generous o Lover of souls and we are blessed by your mercy. Help us to examine all of our sins and repent of them that we might be reunited in your Easter joy. Amen.
(SUNG) THIS IS HOLY GROUND, WE'RE STANDING ON HOLY GROUND
FOR OUR GOD IS PRESENT, AND WHERE GOD IS IS HOLY
THIS IS HOLY GROUND, WE'RE STANDING ON HOLY GROUND
FOR OUR GOD IS PRESENT, AND WHERE GOD IS IS HOLY.
Today’s passage from second Isaiah is an invitation to abundant life extended to all Israel in preparation for the divine salvation soon to be realized. The prophet calls God’s people to return from their exile and to “incline your ear, and come to me, listen so that you may live. I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David.” Here the prophet recalls for God’s people one of the four major covenantal relationships which Yahweh has offered; the first being the one with Noah, the second with Abraham and the third with Moses. It is this fourth Davidic covenant that will yoke the new covenant with the Christ to the ancient ones of God’s chosen people. It is in this call to a renewed relationship with God that promises of repentance and return to the Lord are first offered to us. “Let the wicked forsake their way, and the unrighteous their thoughts, let them return to the Lord, that he may have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.” Israel’s deliverance by the hand of Yahweh, however, seems to be contingent on the one thing of which she was unable to do in those days just prior to her exile – to turn to God with all of their hearts and to repent of their sinfulness. Only then would God be able to pardon and show them mercy. Now is that time, declares the prophet. A door is open and God is near and inviting the Israelites to return. God will allow himself to be found; and is drawing near to restore Israel. Now is the time to return to God and expect restoration.
Israel did, as we do today, struggle with her understanding of a God who might restore them after all of their failings at faithfulness in the past. The prophet, however, insists that God does not decide on such things in the same way that human beings do. God’s ways are higher than human ways. At the heart of Israel’s theology is a struggle between belief in God as a judge who rules by divine law, and belief in God as creature of compassion and mercy, who routinely violates the demands of divine justice in order to have mercy on a wayward humanity. It’s not logical for a God of justice to waive the judgment which humans so richly deserve. No human judge would set aside our laws in such a generous fashion. However, God is God and can do as God pleases. God does not desire or need our understanding of divine judgment and mercy in order to act as She chooses.
(SUNG) THIS IS HOLY GROUND, WE'RE STANDING ON HOLY GROUND
FOR OUR GOD IS PRESENT, AND WHERE GOD IS IS HOLY
THIS IS HOLY GROUND, WE'RE STANDING ON HOLY GROUND
FOR OUR GOD IS PRESENT, AND WHERE GOD IS IS HOLY.
As we move deeper into our Lenten reflections our readings from the Author of Luke/Acts account of the Gospel narrative become more and more focused on repentance and renewal of our relationship to God through Christ. This is the case in the text which we read today from the 13th Chapter of that Gospel – where we encounter Jesus’ exchange with a group of people who recount a tragic incident of some Galileans who were massacred at the hands of Pontius Pilate in the holy place of the Temple. Picture if you will, law officers entering our sanctuary space at the insistence of our Governor, and spilling the blood of our members as it mingles with the blood of Christ poured out from our Chalice. That situation would, in some small way, reflect the horror of an occupied people who were at the mercy of a bloodthirsty barbarian who ruled their lives. We are not told who these people who recount this story to Jesus are – are they adversaries who wish to entrap or just simple folk who look to have answers about why bad things happen to good people? Jesus does not address this universal characteristic of humanity –i.e. our need to know how a just God can allow these tragedies to happen. Rather, we are told – Jesus asks if they believe that these Galileans suffered in this way because they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? No, Jesus assures them – they were not any worse, and unless all repent all will perish, as did those in this tragic circumstance. This is a tough message for them – and for us to hear! We want answers to our conundrum about a God who allows the rain to fall on the just and the unjust, and we get a scolding about our behavior and a warning to shape up! Then, lest we think it was Pilate’s evil intention which is being judged here, Jesus recounts the story of a seemingly random act of tragedy which occurred when the tower at the gate of Siloam fell and killed eighteen people – do they think that those eighteen were any worse offenders than all the others who were living in Jerusalem? Well, we get the point, don’t we? All of us are sinners in God’s sight – none of us gets to judge who is the worst sinner – since God expects repentance and return from all of us we are hardly able to judge each other, but oh how we love to!
The truth is this return and repent message doesn’t preach well to people who wish to question God’s seemingly random mercy, judgment and justice. It becomes much easier for us to demand answers as to why babies die of cancer and corporate profit stealing moguls live to ripe old age. That, you see, allows us to deflect the contemplation of our own sinfulness and how we will be called to account for that when we meet God face to face. How could we bear to do that if a God who allows the rain to fall both on the just and the unjust did not love us? How will we be able to feast at the heavenly banquet beside Mother Teresa and the perpetrators of the horrible death and destruction at the World Trade Center towers on September 11th, 2001?
(SUNG) THIS IS HOLY GROUND, WE'RE STANDING ON HOLY GROUND
FOR OUR GOD IS PRESENT, AND WHERE GOD IS IS HOLY
THIS IS HOLY GROUND, WE'RE STANDING ON HOLY GROUND
FOR OUR GOD IS PRESENT, AND WHERE GOD IS IS HOLY.
Today’s passage from second Isaiah is an invitation to abundant life extended to all Israel in preparation for the divine salvation soon to be realized. The prophet calls God’s people to return from their exile and to “incline your ear, and come to me, listen so that you may live. I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David.” Here the prophet recalls for God’s people one of the four major covenantal relationships which Yahweh has offered; the first being the one with Noah, the second with Abraham and the third with Moses. It is this fourth Davidic covenant that will yoke the new covenant with the Christ to the ancient ones of God’s chosen people. It is in this call to a renewed relationship with God that promises of repentance and return to the Lord are first offered to us. “Let the wicked forsake their way, and the unrighteous their thoughts, let them return to the Lord, that he may have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.” Israel’s deliverance by the hand of Yahweh, however, seems to be contingent on the one thing of which she was unable to do in those days just prior to her exile – to turn to God with all of their hearts and to repent of their sinfulness. Only then would God be able to pardon and show them mercy. Now is that time, declares the prophet. A door is open and God is near and inviting the Israelites to return. God will allow himself to be found; and is drawing near to restore Israel. Now is the time to return to God and expect restoration.
Israel did, as we do today, struggle with her understanding of a God who might restore them after all of their failings at faithfulness in the past. The prophet, however, insists that God does not decide on such things in the same way that human beings do. God’s ways are higher than human ways. At the heart of Israel’s theology is a struggle between belief in God as a judge who rules by divine law, and belief in God as creature of compassion and mercy, who routinely violates the demands of divine justice in order to have mercy on a wayward humanity. It’s not logical for a God of justice to waive the judgment which humans so richly deserve. No human judge would set aside our laws in such a generous fashion. However, God is God and can do as God pleases. God does not desire or need our understanding of divine judgment and mercy in order to act as She chooses.
(SUNG) THIS IS HOLY GROUND, WE'RE STANDING ON HOLY GROUND
FOR OUR GOD IS PRESENT, AND WHERE GOD IS IS HOLY
THIS IS HOLY GROUND, WE'RE STANDING ON HOLY GROUND
FOR OUR GOD IS PRESENT, AND WHERE GOD IS IS HOLY.
As we move deeper into our Lenten reflections our readings from the Author of Luke/Acts account of the Gospel narrative become more and more focused on repentance and renewal of our relationship to God through Christ. This is the case in the text which we read today from the 13th Chapter of that Gospel – where we encounter Jesus’ exchange with a group of people who recount a tragic incident of some Galileans who were massacred at the hands of Pontius Pilate in the holy place of the Temple. Picture if you will, law officers entering our sanctuary space at the insistence of our Governor, and spilling the blood of our members as it mingles with the blood of Christ poured out from our Chalice. That situation would, in some small way, reflect the horror of an occupied people who were at the mercy of a bloodthirsty barbarian who ruled their lives. We are not told who these people who recount this story to Jesus are – are they adversaries who wish to entrap or just simple folk who look to have answers about why bad things happen to good people? Jesus does not address this universal characteristic of humanity –i.e. our need to know how a just God can allow these tragedies to happen. Rather, we are told – Jesus asks if they believe that these Galileans suffered in this way because they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? No, Jesus assures them – they were not any worse, and unless all repent all will perish, as did those in this tragic circumstance. This is a tough message for them – and for us to hear! We want answers to our conundrum about a God who allows the rain to fall on the just and the unjust, and we get a scolding about our behavior and a warning to shape up! Then, lest we think it was Pilate’s evil intention which is being judged here, Jesus recounts the story of a seemingly random act of tragedy which occurred when the tower at the gate of Siloam fell and killed eighteen people – do they think that those eighteen were any worse offenders than all the others who were living in Jerusalem? Well, we get the point, don’t we? All of us are sinners in God’s sight – none of us gets to judge who is the worst sinner – since God expects repentance and return from all of us we are hardly able to judge each other, but oh how we love to!
The truth is this return and repent message doesn’t preach well to people who wish to question God’s seemingly random mercy, judgment and justice. It becomes much easier for us to demand answers as to why babies die of cancer and corporate profit stealing moguls live to ripe old age. That, you see, allows us to deflect the contemplation of our own sinfulness and how we will be called to account for that when we meet God face to face. How could we bear to do that if a God who allows the rain to fall both on the just and the unjust did not love us? How will we be able to feast at the heavenly banquet beside Mother Teresa and the perpetrators of the horrible death and destruction at the World Trade Center towers on September 11th, 2001?
(SUNG) THIS IS HOLY GROUND, WE'RE STANDING ON HOLY GROUND
FOR OUR GOD IS PRESENT, AND WHERE GOD IS IS HOLY
THIS IS HOLY GROUND, WE'RE STANDING ON HOLY GROUND
FOR OUR GOD IS PRESENT, AND WHERE GOD IS IS HOLY.
God is faithful, even when we are not. This is the message that is delivered again and again to God’s people throughout the history of our relationship with the divine. Again and again God’s calls us back to renew the convent – again and again God’s sends prophets and poets to warn us of the ways in which we fail each other and so the ways in which we fail our God. Our very God in the person of Jesus the Christ came to live among us and give us the benefit of the ultimate sacrifice offered on behalf of our sins and we fail even to acknowledge that ultimate gift when we fail to love that Christ in each other. Yet God offers again to take us back – to renew our covenant if we but only repent of the sins we have committed and return to the ways of righteousness and peace. In the parable story of the fig tree which fails to bear fruit, the owner returns not once, not twice but even a third year in anticipation of the expected harvest. At that last attempt he strikes out in anger and tells the gardener to cut the offending tree down, after all its only wasting the valuable resources of soil and water. One more time, one more year – says the gardener – let me work on it, toil with it and fertilize it and see if next year it will bear fruit; if not you can cut it down. We are not told in this parable example if the gardener was finally successful and the next year bore fruit for the owner of the vineyard – yet that is not the purpose of this lesson which Jesus coveys to them and to us. The lesson to be gained is in the patience and passion of the gardener who will dig around the roots, feed and nourish with manure and wait for growth and fruit to blossom from tender care and concern. Then, if all is as God’s intends it to be the tree will yield a healthy and fruitful harvest.
When we take the opportunity to examine our hearts, our lives and our consciences, and reflect on the ways we have sinned against each other and so sinned against God – we can ask for God’s mercy and forgiveness which we do not deserve, nor have we ever done enough to earn. Then, clear in our minds that our sin is through our own fault – but what we have done and by what we have left undone – we can seek forgiveness by grace, repent of our faults and return to the heart of our God who loves us beyond reason or understanding. If we resolve to spend time in reflection, repentance and returning in this Lenten season, we will experience the joy of an Easter moment filled with redemption, renewal and rebirth – and rejoicing will be great in heaven for this sinner who was lost and has been found and by the grace of God forgiven and reclaimed.
Amen.
When we take the opportunity to examine our hearts, our lives and our consciences, and reflect on the ways we have sinned against each other and so sinned against God – we can ask for God’s mercy and forgiveness which we do not deserve, nor have we ever done enough to earn. Then, clear in our minds that our sin is through our own fault – but what we have done and by what we have left undone – we can seek forgiveness by grace, repent of our faults and return to the heart of our God who loves us beyond reason or understanding. If we resolve to spend time in reflection, repentance and returning in this Lenten season, we will experience the joy of an Easter moment filled with redemption, renewal and rebirth – and rejoicing will be great in heaven for this sinner who was lost and has been found and by the grace of God forgiven and reclaimed.
Amen.
1 comment:
Welcome back to BlogLand, where our words never die! Nice to see these in print once again. Thanks for making the effort to get current.
The message yesterday elicited lotsa grins from me; can't wait to see it up here
DHH 15 March 2010
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