Wednesday of the Third Week of Lent
I’m thinking about relationships as I pray today’s readings. I am in covenant relationship with God through Jesus Christ, and I have many kinds of relationships with other people. God teaches me through God’s word how I am to relate to God and how I am to behave within this covenant relationship. My relationships with other people should reflect who I am in my relationship with God. It should be obvious to others that I belong to God and that I seek to make the Kingdom of Heaven a reality here on earth. I pray today that my life is a testimony to the power and presence of God. I invite you into this prayer with me.
In our first reading, Moses reminds the people of Israel that they are a unique and chosen people. God chose them to inherit the promises of God and to occupy the Promised Land. God revealed to them through the Law how they were to live as God’s chosen people. God revealed the depth of unconditional love to them through God’s covenants and promises. All this points toward Jesus Christ and his fulfillment of the Law and the prophets in his saving work on the Cross and his glorious Resurrection and Ascension.
God called Israel and God calls us to follow God’s commands and teachings in order that we might bear witness to the greatness of our God and demonstrate to others what a relationship with God can be like for them. Moses told the people that as they followed God’s commandments, their lives would be an example to the nations around them. We teach and preach the Gospel through our lives, don’t we? How effectively am I doing that?
In both the first reading and the Gospel, I see a basic message: as the People of God, we are called by God to behave in certain ways. If we follow God’s ways, we reflect the love of God and demonstrate what it’s like to be in relationship with God. That’s attractive to other people. We help to usher in the Kingdom of Heaven when the People of God act like the People of God. We bring others to Jesus when we play our part as the People of God.
As our very lives teach and preach the Gospel, we’re also called to share our testimony. The first reading exhorts us not to forget what we’ve seen – I take that to be the activity of God in our lives. We are to live the Gospel and share our testimony with our children and our children’s children. For those of us who are parents and grandparents, we have a unique opportunity today to think about what our lives reflect. People are watching! As our children and grandchildren relate to us, is our relationship with Jesus evident? Are we helping to usher them into the Kingdom of Heaven? Are they drawing closer to God because of our influence? Are we bold enough to share with them the ways that we see God at work in our lives and in the world around us? Conversely, am I behaving in ways that are contrary to God’s word and God’s ways? What am I teaching my children and grandchildren when they see my disobedience? Jesus’ strong words in today’s Gospel invite us to repentance as well as call us higher toward the Gospel ideal. People are watching! Let us pray today for the graces we need to order our lives according to God’s word and to have boldness to share our testimony with others.
Elizabeth Wells