Third Sunday of Lent
The bulk of today’s second reading from the First Letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians, and of today’s Gospel reading form St. Luke’s Gospel, serve as a warning to the people, and as a warning to us. When we read them in the light of today’s first reading from the Book of Exodus, however, we glimpse the hope that is there as well. I want to briefly discuss the warning, and then focus on the hope.
The warning is pretty clear, even from the first reading, if we read the first reading in its later context of the history of Israel, which the reading from First Corinthians underscores. In our first reading for today, we see God’s promise of liberation. God will rescue His people from slavery in Egypt and bring them into the Promised Land. But if we remember the history of Israel after God liberates them through the exodus, but before they are brought into the Promised Land, we see Israel grumbling, murmuring against God, in the desert wilderness. The Wilderness period is a time of testing and purification, and the people rebel against God. St. Paul reminds us in the second reading for today that the people of Israel “were all under the cloud” and all passed through the red sea (10:1-2), which he identifies as their baptism.
And yet because of their infidelity to God, they were struck down (10:5). The Israelites “all ate the same spiritual food” (manna, the bread from heaven), and they “all drank the same spiritual drink” (water from the rock) (10:3-4). But they were still struck down (10:5). St. Paul then tells us, “Theses things happened as an example for us, so that we might not desire evil things” (10:6). The implication is that though we too were baptized, though we too eat spiritual food and drink spiritual drink (the Eucharist), we too could be struck down. And the message from Jesus to His audience is similarly of warning. In His message from today’s Gospel reading, Jesus compares the corruption of the Roman Empire (Pilate) with the corruption of some of the Jewish religious leaders of the day (Jerusalem). The implications are clear: we must repent of evil and turn back to God. We must not sin as our ancestors did.
The message of hope comes out already in the first reading, where God promises to free the people from slavery and bring them into the Promised Land. And we know that despite the people’s sins in the wilderness, despite their infidelity, the people were still brought into the Promised Land. The Prophets of the Old Testament interpret the later exiles as punishments for the sins of the people, and yet we know that the Babylonian exile ended, and the people were brought back into the Promised Land. With Jesus, we find the reunification of Israel, and hope for an even more complete reunification in the future, and the inclusion of the nations, with the hope for an even more complete inclusion in the future.
We are currently in the Lenten season, our liturgical wilderness period. The season of Lent brings with it many challenges, but the promise of hope remains. Keep strong, repent of evil, do good, and turn back to God. We will enter the Promised Season of Easter where we rejoice in the Lord’s resurrection, and in the abundant gifts of baptism and the Eucharist. The grace of the Sacraments is not, as St. Paul reminds us, license to do wickedness, but rather is the promised hope of a means of returning home to the Promised Land. Within any given day, the Eucharist is a foretaste of our return home. Within every week, Sunday is that same foretaste. But within the liturgical year, the long Easter Season is that hope stitched firmly into the fabric of the liturgical calendar. Let’s persevere with the knowledge of this hope during the rest of this our pilgrimage through the wilderness. Because God will rescue us.
Jeff Morrow