3rd Sunday in Lent, Year C
Exodus 3:1-8a, 13-15
1 Corinthians 10:1-6, 10-12
Luke 13:1-9
March 3, 2013
“Some people told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with the blood of their sacrifices”. We don’t know any more than this about what happened here but the people are understandably concerned and bring that concern to Jesus. They might have been wondering why God allowed this. The thought in that day was that bad things happened to those who sinned. So, since God did not save these people they must have sinned.
Jesus knows this is what they might think. He asks them if they think these people must have been greater sinners than everyone else. He tells them it is not so. One might suggest their deaths were because of human conflicts. But Jesus uses it as an opportunity to call the people to repent, telling the people that if they do not repent, they too will perish.
If we do not repent, we perish in Hell.
Then Jesus speaks of the eighteen people who died in Siloam, asking the people if they think those people must have been great sinners. He tells them no. For all we know it was a simple accident or a structural failure of the tower. But again he calls them to repent.
Why is Jesus calling them to repent now?
Sometimes we seem to think we are going to live forever. We know we haven’t been perfect, that we have sinned, but we think there is plenty of time to repent tomorrow. When we are young, we think we are going to live a long time.
Jesus is trying to help the people realize there might not be a tomorrow. We could die in an accident today.
So we need to repent today.
What does it mean to repent?
Sometimes, we just think we need to confess our sins and get on with life. Repentance is more than just confessing our sins. It means having a real desire to change our behavior.
God knows we are not perfect. That’s why he gives us the gift of the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Think of the Act of Contrition we say after we confess our sins. There are various versions out there but there are two points common in them. First, that we are sorry for our sins. And secondly, that we resolve to sin no more.
It isn’t easy to change. Sometimes it happens instantly and sometimes it takes years. The good news is that when it takes us years, as long as we really try, God will forgive us over and over. Our God is a god of infinite chances.
Jesus knew the people needed to repent. That’s why he takes the people’s question about the blood shed by Pilate and turns it into a teaching moment, an example and warning of what might happen to us.
Sometimes we think death is something that only comes to the elderly. We might think that as long as we believe in Jesus nothing bad can happen to us. Remember, I already mentioned that the people in Jesus’ time on Earth thought that when bad things happen it meant you must have sinned.
Well, sometimes bad things happen. When they do, we might ask, “Why me?”
Sometimes they happen because of choices we make. Sometimes, they happen because of choices other people make. Sometimes they just seem to happen (like natural disasters).
When bad things happen (or as Moses wrote “affliction”), we cry out to God. That’s what the Israelites did as slaves to Egypt. God heard their cry.
Hearing their cry, he sent Moses to lead them out of Egypt to lead them to “a land flowing with milk and honey.” We might say why not me?
Why aren’t my prayers being answered?
Sometimes we say we aren’t asking for the right thing. Sometimes we say God will answer in his time. Remember the Israelites prayers were not answered immediately. Even when they were led out of Egypt, they spent forty years in the desert.
We don’t know why some bad things happen but we do know we have a God who is all-powerful and all-knowing. When Moses asked God his name, he responded first “I am who I am” and then said his name is “I AM.”
It doesn’t seem like much of an answer.
I can say myself ‘I am who I am’ but it isn’t the same when God says it. God is great. God is more than we can imagine. God is one who we can trust in.
Do bad things happen to us? Yes.
Should we pray that bad things don’t happen? Yes.
Should we ask God to rescue us from our afflictions? Yes. (God doesn’t want us to suffer).
Should we trust in God to provide? Yes. Remember the ‘land flowing with milk and honey?”
It’s called Heaven and it’s there for all who believe in Jesus.
Let us not just say we believe but live like we believe.