3rd Week of Lent

FOLLOWING JESUS THROUGH LENT

Mar 7 Sunday

3^rd Sunday of Lent C

Luke 13: 1-9.

It was just about this time that some people arrived and told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with that of their sacrifices. At this he said to them, 2 'Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than any others, that this should have happened to them? 3 They were not, I tell you. No; but unless you repent you will all perish as they did. 4 Or those eighteen on whom the tower at Siloam fell, killing them all? Do you suppose that they were more guilty than all the other people living in Jerusalem? 5 They were not, I tell you. No; but unless you repent you will all perish as they did.' 6 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. 7 He said to his vinedresser, "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?" 8 "Sir," the man replied, "leave it one more year and give me time to dig round it and manure it: 9 it may bear fruit next year; if not, then you can cut it down." '

 

Seize the Opportunity

            We human beings are unique in creation. We have the power to think and the power to decide. I can choose how I act. I am responsible for my life. The sad fact is that many surrender this gift. They become addicted to different substances, alcohol, drugs or tobacco etc or to harmful and evil habits of lust, hatred, and abuse etc. By doing so, they lose to some extent the greatness of being human. All of us can and do use this gift wrongly on occasions. We call this sin.

            God is a God of love and compassion. He knows of what we are made and understands our weakness. He knows how easy it is for us to make the wrong choice and deceived by our feelings indulge the desires of our heart. Yet though a loving and forgiving God he is also a demanding God. The gift of free choice is not to be taken lightly. Life is not a game that we fold up when it is over and then forget. The choices we make now have consequences that last forever. Life is a one off opportunity.

            Today Jesus likens it to a fig tree God has planted in the vineyard of creation. You are that tree. He comes to taste the fruit. He has come for three years but finds nothing. There comes a time when the gardener feels the tree is just occupying space. It may as well be cut down. What is the point of a fig tree that never bears fruit? He tells his man, ‘cut it down’ but Jesus pleads for us: ‘let us give it some more time. We will give it special treatment, special manure and by next year things may be different. It may bear fruit. If not, then we’ll cut it down.’ You and I have to bear fruit otherwise in the end ‘we will be cut down’.

            But what is the fruit and how can we produce it? Changing the metaphor, the person who is sick needs to go to the doctor and allow the doctor to heal him. Likewise we must come to Jesus. There is only one way for us ‘to bear fruit’, to grow as a human being, and that is to meet Jesus. It is not enough to say prayers or even read the Scriptures. We must meet the Jesus we read of in the Scripture. He will cure all our sicknesses and give the nourishment to produce abundant fruit. This is none other than the Holy Spirit. We will then produce the acceptable fruits of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, humility goodness and self-control.

            Is the Holy Spirit producing these fruits in you? If so, how can he produce more? If not, what are you going to do? Lent is the day of opportunity.

Father may I be part of the Vine and bear abundant fruit.

Mar 8 Mon:   3rd Lenten Wk Jn 4: 5-42.

Jesus had to pass through Samaria. ⁵ On the way he came to the Samaritan town called Sychar near the land that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. ⁶ Jacob's well was there and Jesus, tired by the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour. ⁷ When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, 'Give me something to drink.' ⁸ His disciples had gone into the town to buy food. ⁹ The Samaritan woman said to him, 'You are a Jew. How is it that you ask me, a Samaritan, for something to drink?' -- Jews, of course, do not associate with Samaritans. ¹⁰ Jesus replied to her: If you only knew what God is offering and who it is that is saying to you, 'Give me something to drink,' you would have been the one to ask, and he would have given you living water. ¹¹ 'You have no bucket, sir,' she answered, 'and the well is deep: how do you get this living water? ¹² Are you a greater man than our father Jacob, who gave us this well and drank from it himself with his sons and his cattle?' ¹³ Jesus replied: Whoever drinks this water will be thirsty again; ¹⁴ but no one who drinks the water that I shall give will ever be thirsty again: the water that I shall give will become a spring of water within, welling up for eternal life. ¹⁵ 'Sir,' said the woman, 'give me some of that water, so that I may never be thirsty or come here again to draw water.' ¹⁶ 'Go and call your husband,' said Jesus to her, 'and come back here.' ¹⁷ The woman answered, 'I have no husband.' Jesus said to her, 'You are right to say, "I have no husband"; ¹⁸ for although you have had five, the one you now have is not your husband. You spoke the truth there.' ¹⁹ 'I see you are a prophet, sir,' said the woman. ²⁰ 'Our fathers worshipped on this mountain, though you say that Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.' ²¹ Jesus said: Believe me, woman, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. ²² You worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know; for salvation comes from the Jews. ²³ But the hour is coming -- indeed is already here -- when true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth: that is the kind of worshipper the Father seeks. ²⁴ God is spirit, and those who worship must worship in spirit and truth. ²⁵ The woman said to him, 'I know that Messiah -- that is, Christ -- is coming; and when he comes he will explain everything.' ²⁶ Jesus said, 'That is who I am, I who speak to you.' ²⁷ At this point his disciples returned and were surprised to find him speaking to a woman, though none of them asked, 'What do you want from her?' or, 'What are you talking to her about?' ²⁸ The woman put down her water jar and hurried back to the town to tell the people, ²⁹ 'Come and see a man who has told me everything I have done; could this be the Christ?' ³⁰ This brought people out of the town and they made their way towards him. ³¹ Meanwhile, the disciples were urging him, 'Rabbi, do have something to eat'; ³² but he said, 'I have food to eat that you do not know about.' ³³ So the disciples said to one another, 'Has someone brought him food?' ³⁴ But Jesus said: My food is to do the will of the one who sent me, and to complete his work. ³⁵ Do you not have a saying: Four months and then the harvest? Well, I tell you, look around you, look at the fields; already they are white, ready for harvest! ³⁶ Already the reaper is being paid his wages, already he is bringing in the grain for eternal life, so that sower and reaper can rejoice together. ³⁷ For here the proverb holds true: one sows, another reaps; ³⁸ I sent you to reap a harvest you have not laboured for. Others have laboured for it; and you have come into the rewards of their labour. ³⁹ Many Samaritans of that town believed in him on the strength of the woman's words of testimony, 'He told me everything I have done.' ⁴⁰ So, when the Samaritans came up to him, they begged him to stay with them. He stayed for two days, and ⁴¹ many more came to believe on the strength of the words he spoke to them; ⁴² and they said to the woman, 'Now we believe no longer because of what you told us; we have heard him ourselves and we know that he is indeed the Saviour of the world.'

Jesus sits by the well waiting for the woman. The woman’s life had not been happy. She had had five husbands and was living with someone else. She had the good fortune to meet Jesus by the well. It was a meeting that changed her life. From sadness, darkness and misery she was changed into joy, light and happiness. Notice how she runs back to the village, how she speaks to the other villagers with enthusiasm and brings them to Jesus to have the same experience she has had. Anyone who opens themselves to Jesus will receive the water of life which is the Holy Spirit. Immediately the fruits of the Holy Spirit are experienced. Furthermore they becomes springs of water for others too. The more time you spend listening to Him the greater your experience of his presence and the more others will benefit.

Mar 9 Tue:     3rd Lenten Wk  Mt 18: 21-35

Peter went up to Jesus and said, 'Lord, how often must I forgive my brother if he wrongs me? As often as seven times?' ²² Jesus answered, 'Not seven, I tell you, but seventy-seven times. ²³ 'And so the kingdom of Heaven may be compared to a king who decided to settle his accounts with his servants. ²⁴ When the reckoning began, they brought him a man who owed ten thousand talents; ²⁵ he had no means of paying, so his master gave orders that he should be sold, together with his wife and children and all his possessions, to meet the debt. ²⁶ At this, the servant threw himself down at his master's feet, with the words, "Be patient with me and I will pay the whole sum." ²⁷ And the servant's master felt so sorry for him that he let him go and cancelled the debt. ²⁸ Now as this servant went out, he happened to meet a fellow-servant who owed him one hundred denarii; and he seized him by the throat and began to throttle him, saying, "Pay what you owe me." ²⁹ His fellow-servant fell at his feet and appealed to him, saying, "Be patient with me and I will pay you." ³⁰ But the other would not agree; on the contrary, he had him thrown into prison till he should pay the debt. ³¹ His fellow-servants were deeply distressed when they saw what had happened, and they went to their master and reported the whole affair to him. ³² Then the master sent for the man and said to him, "You wicked servant, I cancelled all that debt of yours when you appealed to me. ³³ Were you not bound, then, to have pity on your fellow-servant just as I had pity on you?" ³⁴ And in his anger the master handed him over to the torturers till he should pay all his debt. ³⁵ And that is how my heavenly Father will deal with you unless you each forgive your brother from your heart.'

There is going to be a judgement because we are free. We have to give an account of the use of our freedom. The Father loves each one but he will judge with justice. He will put down the mighty from their seats. He will send the rich away empty. In this world the poor and the weak do not receive justice. The Father will see that they do. He has to judge according to our deeds done freely. We are all sinners and can only survive by the mercy of the Father. He will be merciful with the  merciful. If you want to be treated with mercy, then be merciful yourself. The more the Holy Spirit is with you the more you can forgive others.

Mar 10 Wed: 3rd Lenten Wk Mt 5: 17-19

Jesus said to his disciples, Do not imagine that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I have come not to abolish but to complete them. ¹⁸ In truth I tell you, till heaven and earth disappear, not one dot, not one little stroke, is to disappear from the Law until all its purpose is achieved. ¹⁹ Therefore, anyone who infringes even one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be considered the least in the kingdom of Heaven; but the person who keeps them and teaches them will be considered great in the kingdom of Heaven.

God revealed Himself slowly. The Old Testament understanding of God is incomplete. The way the prophets and inspired writers understood Him was incomplete. Their expression was coloured by their understanding. The Old Testament looks towards its fulfilment which is Jesus the Son of God. In him we find the completion. Without him the Old Testament has no direction. We can understand the Old Testament only in Jesus and he brings the imperfect revelation to perfection. Our relationship with Jesus takes the place of a Book.  Even the words of the New Testament only come to life in our relationship with Jesus. The Word of God is not in a book on a printed page. The Word of God is a Person and we fulfil every one of his wishes and teach others to do the same. This is to be great in the Kingdom of heaven.

Mar 11 Thu:   3rd Lenten.Wk  Lk 11: 14-23.

Jesus was driving out a devil and it was dumb; and it happened that when the devil had gone out the dumb man spoke, and the people were amazed. ¹⁵ But some of them said, 'It is through Beelzebul, the prince of devils, that he drives devils out.' ¹⁶ Others asked him, as a test, for a sign from heaven; ¹⁷ but, knowing what they were thinking, he said to them, 'Any kingdom which is divided against itself is heading for ruin, and house collapses against house. ¹⁸ So, too, with Satan: if he is divided against himself, how can his kingdom last? - since you claim that it is through Beelzebul that I drive devils out. ¹⁹ Now if it is through Beelzebul that I drive devils out, through whom do your own sons drive them out? They shall be your judges, then. ²⁰ But if it is through the finger of God that I drive devils out, then the kingdom of God has indeed caught you unawares. ²¹ So long as a strong man fully armed guards his own home, his goods are undisturbed; ²² but when someone stronger than himself attacks and defeats him, the stronger man takes away all the weapons he relied on and shares out his spoil. ²³ 'Anyone who is not with me is against me; and anyone who does not gather in with me throws away.

Jesus  was liberating a man who was being tormented by what the evangelist calls an unclean spirit. He was in misery and in chains. Jesus restores him to perfect composure. He is now human again and fully in possession of his mind and faculties. The people are amazed but it is not faith in Jesus. They don’t realise who Jesus is and believe. On the other hand some of them said Jesus himself had the power of Satan in him and so did this. Their hearts were hardened and their minds were closed. They deliberately refused to accept Jesus but were his enemies. But what of us?  Are we like the crowds? Do we go through the ritual of religion without really believing? To believe is to want Jesus, to accept his invitation to enter into a personal relationship through prayer and his Word.

 Mar 12 Fri:    3rd Lenten.Wk  Mk 12: 28-34

One of the scribes who had listened to them debating appreciated that Jesus had given a good answer and put a further question to him, 'Which is the first of all the commandments?' ²⁹ Jesus replied, 'This is the first: Listen, Israel, the Lord our God is the one, only Lord, ³⁰ and you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength. ³¹ The second is this: You must love your neighbour as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.' ³² The scribe said to him, 'Well spoken, Master; what you have said is true, that he is one and there is no other. ³³ To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and strength, and to love your neighbour as yourself, this is far more important than any burnt offering or sacrifice.' ³⁴ Jesus, seeing how wisely he had spoken, said, 'You are not far from the kingdom of God.' And after that no one dared to question him any more.

We only have one life and it passes quickly. We should not waste our time. God has given us life and everything we have. The most important thing we must do is to know him and love hm. We do this by knowing and loving Jesus, the visible likeness of the invisible God (Col :15). We must make this the task of our life. We show our love by obeying him. He expresses his will in the Scriptures and through the Church but also through the inspirations of our heart. We must always consciously listen to his commands for us. Since God cannot be seen He wants us to love our neighbour whom we can see. We must see our neighbour as someone precious in the eyes of God and so in ours. We must always strive for our neighbour’s true development. This is to love one’s neighbour.  

Mar 13 Sat:    3rd Lenten Wk  Lk 18: 9-14

He spoke the following parable to some people who prided themselves on being upright and despised everyone else, ¹⁰ 'Two men went up to the Temple to pray, one a Pharisee, the other a tax collector. ¹¹ The Pharisee stood there and said this prayer to himself, "I thank you, God, that I am not grasping, unjust, adulterous like everyone else, and particularly that I am not like this tax collector here. ¹² I fast twice a week; I pay tithes on all I get." ¹³ The tax collector stood some distance away, not daring even to raise his eyes to heaven; but he beat his breast and said, "God, be merciful to me, a sinner." ¹⁴ This man, I tell you, went home again justified; the other did not. For everyone who raises himself up will be humbled, but anyone who humbles himself will be raised up.'

The Pharisee had done so much and indeed the tax collector had done so little. Jesus shocks us by his conclusion. The Pharisee with all his good works went home unjustified. What was his mistake? His prayer was sincere and he thanked God. He judged the whole of mankind and put himself first in virtue – I am not like the rest of mankind. He judged the tax collector putting making himself superior in virtue to him. God must applaud him because he has ‘earned the reward’. But we came from nothing and everything we have is from God. We cannot earn anything. We can only be humbly grateful for everything God has given us, which is everything we have. The tax collector realises that he is dependent on God’s grace and mercy. He recognizes his abuse of God’s grace and asks for mercy. Where do you fit in?