Third Sunday of Lent Ex 3:1-8 & 13-15; 1 Cor 10:1-6 & 10-12; Lk 13:1-9 (Year C)
On this third Sunday of Lent the encounter of Moses with his Lord at the burning bush is the background for Lenten prayer and reflection. It demands that we consider a question that is frequently pushed to the back of our minds: could we, as sinners, stand with Moses in the presence of God?
Within its narrative setting, this encounter came at the least-expected moment. Moses, a fugitive, was going about his daily business as a shepherd when he was drawn to the burning bush. The first demand of this encounter was the humble confession of the gulf that stands between the sinner and God’s holiness: “Come no nearer, take off your shoes, for the place on which you stand is holy ground.”
If Lent is indeed a pilgrimage into the presence of God, then we must remove not only our shoes, but also every lingering self-deception that conceals our need for forgiveness. Such humility enabled Moses to be embraced by the God of mercy and compassion: “I have seen the miserable state of my people, I have heard their appeal. I mean to deliver them out of the hands of the Egyptians and bring them out of that land to a land where milk and honey flow.”
As the Lord revealed himself to Moses as saviour rather than judge, so, during Lent, does a loving Father reveal himself to the repentant sinner. He invites us, with his Son, to journey into his presence.
St Paul takes this encounter with God, and the subsequent Exodus, a step further: “I want to remind you brothers, how our fathers all passed through the sea. In spite of this, most of them failed to please God. And their corpses littered the desert.”
St Paul makes the blunt if unwelcome assertion that we cannot lay claim to the God of mercy and compassion unless we are willing to respond to his grace. We must give ourselves to a conscious change of heart that allows a loving Father to transform our lives.
Jesus used the parable of the fig tree to underline the same urgent summons to repentance: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard and he came looking for fruit on it but found none.”
The first reaction of the owner was to destroy the fruitless fig tree, but the keeper of the vineyard begged for more time: “Sir, leave it one more year and give me time to dig it round and manure it: it may bear fruit next year; if not, then you can cut it down.”
With the keeper of the vineyard, we must confess that we are the keepers of our souls, and act accordingly.
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