Tuesday of the Third Week of Lent
We’re now in the very middle of Lent. We find ourselves in the middle of the desert, where it is not possible to turn back but reaching the end seems so far away. For those of us who gave something up, perhaps it’s getting really hard now: We crave the food we gave up or the TV show we let go for a time. But one of the beautiful things about Scripture, especially in the Old Testament, is the way in which it present honest human emotions. My students, many of whom were raised in Catholic schools, are often surprised to read passages in Scripture that show raw human emotions. They expect the Bible to contain only stilted and precious language. But so much of it is about the human response to both God and the troubles of the world. Today’s readings are meant to sustain us in the middle of our Lenten journeys.
In today’s first reading from the Book of Daniel, Azariah gives a powerful speech that can speak to the “middle of the desert.” He begs God for mercy, saying that the community does not even have leaders or prophets to appeal for their sake. He also says that they don’t have sacrifices to give, which is a pretty big deal for the Israelites. Much of their communication with God was based on ritual sacrifices, so much so that the prophets were always reminding people that the sacrifices were not substitutes for offering their own hearts to God. So how is the community to ask for God’s mercy now, without the ritual sacrifices of their tradition? Azariah proposes an idea: “with contrite heart and humble spirit,” they will offer themselves to God and ask that the Lord receive them as he would the ritual sacrifices.
In today’s gospel reading, Jesus tells a parable that further explains what it means to approach God with contrite hearts and humble spirits. Jesus begins by saying that we are required to forgive not just seven times but “seventy-seven times.” In the Old Testament and in the Jewish tradition, the number seven is a symbol for perfection and eternity. Therefore, Jesus is basically saying that the requirement to forgive one another has no limit. In his parable of the wicked servant, Jesus demonstrates that our own forgiveness from God is tied to our willingness to forgive one another. This is what it means to approach God with a contrite heart and humble spirit: We are meant to see in others our own propensity to sin, and in recognizing our own need for forgiveness, to extend forgiveness to those around us. And it is especially now, in the middle of the desert, that we challenge ourselves to act with the same love and forgiveness we will soon find on the Cross.
- Katherine Schmidt