{"id":694,"date":"2019-05-10T11:34:23","date_gmt":"2019-05-10T11:34:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/?p=694"},"modified":"2019-05-10T11:55:54","modified_gmt":"2019-05-10T11:55:54","slug":"24-march-2019-c-third-sunday-of-lent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/?p=694","title":{"rendered":"24 March 2019 (C) Third Sunday of Lent"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A. The Bible as Guide in Life and\nLiturgy (Sunday Readings)<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

B. Reflection & Dialogue<\/em>: <\/strong>God is love, but he cannot condone wrongdoing<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A. The Bible as Guide in Life and\nLiturgy (Sunday Readings)<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

First Reading<\/em> (Exodus\n3:1-8, 13-14). The Lord said to Moses: \u201cI\nam who I am\u201d. <\/em>Because his life was in danger, Moses fled from Egypt to the land of Midian,\nand married a daughter of Jethro, a priest of Midian. As Moses was looking\nafter Jethro\u2019s sheep, he came one day to the sacred mountain, called Horeb in\none biblical tradition, Sinai in another. There he had an encounter with God\nwhich is central to the entire biblical tradition. First we are told that it\nwas \u201cthe angel of the Lord\u201d that appeared to Moses. In the Pentateuch mention\nis occasionally made of \u201cthe angel of the Lord\u201d when it is clear that it God\nhimself who is intended, and it is obvious that this is the case here. In the\nBible God is often mentioned as manifesting himself to mortals in fire or in\nthe flame of fire. Why a burning bush is mentioned in this instance is not\nclear. Here Moses is called by God to a mission, as prophets will later be.\nRemoving one\u2019s shoes at a sacred place is a custom attested among Jews, Muslims\nand Buddhists. God revealed himself to Moses as the God of the patriarchs\n(Fathers) Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, but never made known his name to them. He\nmade a promise to Abraham about his numerous descendants and the possession of\nthe Promised Land, and is now about to fulfil that promise, as he has seen\ntheir sufferings in Egypt.\nWhen asked by Moses to reveal his name to him, the name that God gives himself\nis \u201cI am who I am\u201d, in Hebrew \u201cEhyeh\u201d<\/em>,\nfrom which the word Yahweh, the name of the God of Israel comes. Ehyeh<\/em> in Hebrew means \u201cI am\u201d or \u201cI will\nbe\u201d. The fundamental meaning of this divine name, then, is that God is there\neternally, in the past, present and future, present not in any abstract sense\nbut actively with his people, with humanity, bringing enlightenment with regard\nto his own nature, to the individual\u2019s human nature, to humanity on its origin\nand destiny, to bring life and bring it abundantly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Responsorial Psalm <\/em>(Psalm\n102 [103]). The Lord is compassion and\nlove.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Second Reading<\/em>(1 Corinthians 10:1-6, 10-12).The\nlife of the people under Moses was written down to be a lesson for us. <\/em>Paul\nspoke repeatedly to the young Church at Corinth\non the numerous gifts conferred on them by Christ and his Spirit. They were\nrichly endowed by divine gifts in many ways, But this community also had its\nweaknesses, and certain practices which were at variance with belief and\nbehaviour proper to followers of Christ. Even the celebration of the Eucharist\nwas not beyond serious reproach, as Paul will tell them later in this same\nletter. One weakness may have been that they concentrated so much on divine\nlove and the free gifts given them by God that they had tended to forget their own\nshortcomings and sins, and the other basic Christian truth that God punishes\nsuch failures. They seem to have had a keen awareness that they, in some sense,\nwere the new Israel, and had\na good knowledge of the biblical history of Israel,\nparticularly of the Egyptian bondage, the crossing of the Red\n Sea, the desert wanderings and the gifts of water and the manna. These\nlatter were types of Christian baptism and the Eucharist. The desert\nwanderings, however, had another side, that of Israel\u2019s sins, its \u201cmurmurings\u201d,\ncomplaints, against Moses and against God, sins of idolatry and sexual\nexcesses. The Bible also recounted how the people who so sinned were punished\nseverely by God. Paul recounts this history, using a Christian terminology: the\nIsraelites were baptized into Moses and the cloud. Using a Jewish tradition, rather\nthan the biblical text, Paul speaks of a well (dispensing water) following them\nin the wilderness, and interprets it of Christ. Paul reminds the Corinthians,\nand all of us, that this Old Testament account has a message for all of us. God\nstill punishes sins and failings. Christians should be aware of all this, and\nof human weakness and the temptation to self reliance. \u201cThose who think they\nare safe must be careful that they do not fall\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gospel <\/em>(Luke 13:1-9).\nUnless you repent you will all likewise\nperish. <\/em>This passage of Luke\u2019s Gospel has been chosen to remind us of two\nof the messages of Lent: Christ\u2019s call to repentance and also God\u2019s patience\nand longsuffering. The first part is built around two rumours then current on\nGalilee concerning deaths in Jerusalem,\neither through Pilate\u2019s malice or through accident. Arising out of a belief\nthat tragedy was connected with personal sin, questions arose as to whether\nthese were greater sinners than others, Jesus implicitly replies in the\nnegative, but calls for the need of repentance for all. Some readers may note\nthat the first group is mentioned as being possibly \u201cmore sinners that others\u201d,\nthe latter \u201cmore guilty\u201d. The word behind \u201cguilty\u201d here in the Aramaic language\nspoken by Jesus would have been \u201cdebtors\u201d, which in this context simply means\n\u201csinners\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            The meaning\nof the parable in the second part of this reading is quite clear: God calls for\nrepentance but is patient with sinners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

B. Reflection & Dialogue with\nQuestions of the Day<\/strong><\/em>: <\/strong>God is love, but he\ncannot condone wrongdoing<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That God is love is beyond doubt. As the response in the\nResponsorial Psalm in today\u2019s Mass says: \u201cThe Lord is compassion and love\u201d. The\nevidence of both the Old and the New Testaments bear abundant witness to God\u2019s\nlove for the human race, for each individual. From the New Testament we need\nmention only the Paul\u2019s letters and the fourth Gospel. In public discourse\ntoday the love and mercy of Jesus are often contrasted with what is perceived\nas the harsh, unbending attitude of the official, institutional, Catholic\nChurch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            However, if\nwe are to properly assess both the Old and New Testaments we need to reflect on\nthe purpose of the revelation of the One who said \u201cI am who I am\u201d as he\nrevealed himself to Moses in the Old Testament, and of Jesus the Alpha and the\nOmega, the Beginning and the End, in the New. In the covenant with Moses God\ngave commandments and precepts to be followed. Jesus came to bring life to the\nindividual and the human race, and to give life abundantly. But central to\nJesus\u2019 preaching of the kingdom is: \u201cRepent and believe in the Gospel, in the\nGood News\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            These are\nsome truths that merit reflection in these our days of cultural and moral\nrevolution. The message of Lent holds good for all times. It calls on believers\nto repent and return to Gospel values. Gospel values can scarcely be\nappreciated without contact with the living Christ, living among us, in particular\nin the Eucharist. Paul\u2019s words still ring true for us all: \u201cThose who think\nthey are safe must be careful that they do not fall\u201d. And while God remains\nlove itself, we still have lessons to learn from early Israel in the desert, when many of\nthem failed to please God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alternative Readings<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The following readings\nfrom Year A of the Three Year Cycle may be used as alternative readings.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A. The bible<\/em> as Guide in Life and Liturgy (Sunday Readings)<\/em><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

B.\nReflection & Dialogue: <\/em><\/strong>Christian hope brings certainty. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A. <\/strong> The Bible as\nGuide in Life and Liturgy (Sunday Readings).\n<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

First Reading<\/em> (Exodus 13:3-7). Give\nus water to drink<\/em>. In its biblical context this event took place at\nRephidim, the last stop of the people of Israel\nin the desert before Mount Sinai. There was no\nwater for the people to drink and they quarreled with Moses. The theme of this\nreading, and indeed of many places in the Pentateuch, is the \u201cmurmuring\u201d, the\nquarreling, the complaining, of the people in the desert. The occasion for\ntheir complaint on this occasion was the lack of water. God promises that he\nwould work a miracle for them at the rock at Horeb (another name for Sinai).\nThis reading contains a promise of such a miracle of abundant water. As such\nthis reading fits well with the gospel reading today in which Jesus promises a\nspring of living water, welling up to eternal life, for those who believe in\nhim. This episode of the miracle from the rock is narrated again in Numbers\n20:1-13, where the water is said to have come abundantly from the rock. In the\nPentateuch there are a number of references to water and a rock with Israel\nduring the desert wanderings. From these a Jewish tradition originated saying\nthat a rock-shaped well followed the Israelites during their journeying, to\ngive them water. Paul refers to this tradition (1 Corinthians 10:4). That rock\nwas a symbol of Christ. Two symbolic place-names are given for the site of this\nmiracle of water from the rock \u2013 Massah and Meribah, in Hebrew meaning\nrespectively \u201ctrial\u201d and \u201ccontention\u201d. The people tried, tempted God, and\nquarreled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Responsorial\nPsalm <\/em>(Psalm\n94[95]). O that today you would listen to\nhis voice: \u201cHarden not your hearts\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second\nReading <\/em>(Romans\n5:1-2, 5-8). The love of God has been\npoured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit which has been given us. <\/em>This\nreading has many profound messages for us. To begin with, we are reminded of\nthe fundamental truth that we are justified, made friends of God, through faith\nin Jesus Christ, through grace, not through our own good works. That friendship\nwith God brings peace, the peace which Jesus promised, peace of soul that is\nnot something human but is the activity of the Holy Spirit in both body and\nsouls. Paul was very strongly opposed to any human boasting of one\u2019s actions as\nmeriting favour with God. Salvation comes through divine grace, not through\nhuman actions. However, he reminds us today, there is something we can boast\nabout and that is looking forward to God\u2019s glory, to the glory in store for us.\nThat glory is already within believers in an incipient way through\njustification and grace, through baptism and the Christian life. This hope is\nquite distinct from what is humanly called hope. It is sure, certain; it does\nnot deceive, because it is a gift of God that brings certainty. This hope and\nthe certainty that goes with it is linked to the love of God and of Jesus for\nus, love shown in the death of Jesus for sinful humanity, for each one of us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Gospel <\/em>(John 4:5-42). A spring of water\nwelling up to eternal life. <\/em>This is a rather lengthy reading containing\ndifferent themes. Central themes are the Samaritan woman, the well and water.\nIn Jesus\u2019 day there was deep enmity between Jews and the Samaritans, who were\nregarded by the Jews as heretics and not part of the Jewish people at all. This\ndivision seems to have had very old roots. There was enmity between the\nNorthern Kingdom, Israel,\nwith Samaria as its centre, and the southern kingdom of Judah. When the citizens of the Northern Kingdom were exiled in 720 BC pagans were\nbrought in to replace them, and afterwards the population was a mixed one of\nIsraelites and pagans. The Samaritans, however, regarded themselves as part of\nthe family of the patriarch Jacob, and were awaiting the advent of a messiah,\nwhose nature and mission remain unclear. A noted well in the area was connected\nwith the patriarch Jacob. In the evangelist John\u2019s writing, the episodes in\nthis reading function at two levels \u2013 this earthly one, and at a spiritual\nlevel, to which the earthly ones point. Thus, the water from the well is a\nsymbol of the water that Jesus will give his followers, welling up to eternal\nlife, that is the gift of the Holy Spirit. The Samaritans worshipped at their\nown sacred site and the Jews at their Temple in Jerusalem, which led\nJesus to speak of the coming age when both these would be irrelevant, and God would\nbe worshipped in Spirit and in truth. His own hunger gives Jesus an opportunity\nto speak of his intense desire, his hunger, to complete the work the Father had\ngiven him, with the sowing of the Gospel seed and the ensuing harvest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

B.\nReflection & Dialogue<\/em><\/strong>: Christian hope brings certainty.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A common\nfeature of the world in which we live is doubt in matters relating to faith,\ndoubt about elements of moral teaching, about truths of faith, even at times\nabout the very existence of God. An assertion of a certain philosophy,\nprevalent today, is that there is no certainty on anything. All we can have is speculation,\nguesswork, rather than certainty, opinions that vary from age to age.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            An atmosphere of this sort adds to\nthe difficulties on religious observance. Such doubt on fundamental matters is\ncompletely contrary to the teaching of the faith in matters relating to truths\nconcerning this life and the life to come. Christian faith is thus described in\nthe Epistle to the Hebrews (11:1): \u201cFaith is the assurance of things hoped for,\nthe conviction of things unseen\u201d (NRSV). Two of the terms used there call for our\nreflection: assurance, conviction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            The assurance and conviction spoken\nof in this verse are not psychological attitudes of souls rooted in the human\nmind or soul. They refer instead to the divine, theological, virtue of hope, a\ngift from God that gives conviction which is beyond that which human nature can\nprovide. This assurance and certainty bring with them a peace of soul, the\npeace which Jesus has granted to believers, and a peace that no one can take\nfrom them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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