By the Rev’d Lucy Nguyen
Season: Third Sunday of Lent
Readings: Isaiah 5:1-9 | 1 Corinthians 10:1-3 | Luke 13:1-9
We’re about 19 days into our 40-day journey to the Jerusalem. How’s it going? Is it something you think about most days or perhaps not. I mean does LENT have your attention?
Our Biblical writers this morning would very much like to have our attention! Indeed, the two passages from the second or New Testament are “dire warnings” about the people’s behaviour.
Pauls shakes it up for the folks by saying – I hate to burst your bubble – but you do realise that your ancestors despite being baptised, despite eating the spiritual food and drinking the spiritual drink were still struck down… And so, the same for you now in Corinth. Baptism and Holy Communion are not “get of jail free” cards, they do not excuse or justify actions which do not bear the fruits of love of caring one for another.
Spiritual practices are important but not a magic shield. Doing spiritual practices doesn’t release you from the care of others, your good behaviour is not a reason to ignore or dismiss the trials of others with the thought “oh they’re slack, they deserve whatever they get”. (1)
Life is tough and it is tough for everyone, and I’d like to clarify a common misinterpretation of 1 Cor 10:13. First Corinthians 10:13 does not say that these temptations or tests come from God. Such an interpretation undermines the goodness and faithfulness of God. When the passage says God will not let you be tested beyond your strength, this does not mean that God is responsible for those tests, nor does it mean that if someone succumbs to hardships, they are not beloved by God. (2)
In Paul’s theology, when Christ died on the cross, God provided a way for resurrection through Christ’s faith in God’s love and justice (Romans 3:22). This is not the same as God providing a magical way down from the cross or God keeping the Roman guards from testing Jesus beyond his human strength. Similarly, Christians are not called to passively remain in suffering or hardship, but to faithfully look for the ways out that God will provide. God is faithful and will remain faithful in the midst of our temptations and our suffering, providing new life through radical love. Christians are called to do the same: to love others into
new life. (2)
Luke tells of the story of Jesus challenging the crowd by asking them if the folks who were killed by Pilate worse sinners than other Galileans? Jesus counters this common misconception that people who suffered were being punished by God for the sins of the parents and that the righteous would be rewarded. Something akin to Prosperity Theology. If I’m rich I’m right and God is supporting me not you who are poor. Wrong!
“No, I tell you,” Jesus said strongly repudiating this common belief. Jesus in challenging the idea that God is the immediate cause of every event, reminds us, and those early listeners, of the gift and challenge which is “human freedom” (1).
We have choice in how we respond…
Surprisingly perhaps, it is our Old or First Testament reading which offers us the most positive perspective of this week’s readings… Isaiah calls out to us like a seller in the marketplace – or perhaps like one of our own from the congregation, “Ho!” – Have I got a deal for you!
Listen so that you may have life! Turn back to God, (and we recall that to turn back is to repent), turn from that which faces you away from God toward that which is good, which is God.
Lent is a particular season for us to remember and practice together. It’s not easy, I know. It takes practice and more practice and faith and hope and grace all those wonderful words which are more than words they are seeds we plant and gifts we reap to share with others. They are the rhythm of our days and nights. And sometimes we get lost, we become isolated, we feel sorry for ourselves, we feel tired or afraid… you name what it might be for yourself at times. In those times we are struggling to remember God… And this is true for everyone.
Remember our readings – We cannot judge a book from its cover. And we rarely know the fullness of someone else’s story. Whether they’re hear every Sunday or perhaps have yet to arrive. We’re on this journey of remembering together… And so, I’ll close with this passage for today…
“REMEMBERING
On my bed I will remember you, and through the night watches I will meditate on you. (Psalm 63:6) According to a Hebrew myth, an angel comes down from heaven when a child is born, takes the child under his wing, and recites the Torah. At the end of the recitation, the angel places a finger on the upper lip of the child, creating the indentation that each human being possesses there and says, ‘Forget.’ The child, then, journeys through life trying to remember.
This is the story of each of our lives. We forget God, and like the prodigal sons and daughters, we go off and seek our own way… We search for God in the far country while God waits for us at home, observes Meister Eckhart. At some point, perhaps in midlife, we wake up to the presence of Something More and attempt to find our way home…
The search for truth that occurs when we wake up and remember that God lives at the centre of our being changes our perceptions of prayer. Instead of praying at given times and taking a vacation from God during other activities, we see prayer as ongoing attentiveness or mindfulness. In that sense prayer is an attitude, a way of living. Rather than creating a corner of our life with our selves and our goals as the center, we choose to make God central.” (3)
“Ho!”
You are loved, just as you are!
Turn to God in all things.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
References
- Keeping Holy Time – Studying the Revised Common Lectionary Year C. Edited (2003) by Douglas E. Wingeier pg 129.
- https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/third-sunday-in-lent-3/commentary-on1-corinthians-101-13-6
- Resources for Preaching and Worship Year C. Compiled by Jannah Ward and Jennifer Wild. © 2003. pg 107. Wayne
Simsic, Prayer without Ceasing: Mindfulness of God in Daily Life (Winona, Minn.: St Mary’s Press, 2000), pp. 19-20. (3