3 Lent, Year C
Sunday, February 24, 2013
St. Mark’s, Bay City
Exodus 3:1-15
Psalm 63:1-8
1 Corinthians 10:1-13
Luke 13:1-9
“Who
is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?” (Job 38:2) This was God’s response to Job’s supposed
friends who gave him easy answers to the questions of why Job had suffered. He had been bad, they said, therefore God had
punished him. Jesus was making a similar
point, likely in response to the people’s conversation. They were probably saying that the Galileans
whom Herod had killed deserved to die for being wicked, otherwise, God would
have protected them. At the heart of
such talk is fear that we might die suddenly like the supposed bad ones, and we
feel more secure, assuring ourselves that we’re good and so we’ll be ok, unlike
the bad ones.
Jesus
doesn’t let them have such easy answers.
“Do you think they were worse sinners than all others? No, but unless you repent, you will perish
just as they did.” (Luke 13:2-3 paraphrase, NURSIV) We’ve tried simplifying that answer too. We’re all going to die eventually, and some
faithful people still die suddenly, so obviously, Jesus meant that if you
repent, then you’ll be alright with God when you die (unlike the Galileans
Herod killed), or if you don’t repent, then obviously, you won’t be alright
with God when you die.
Then,
of course, we could really get into trouble, constantly wondering if we’re
repented recently enough. What if I mess
up, in some way and then die immediately before I have a chance for
repentance? We could end up worrying all
the time about when we’re going to die, hoping it doesn’t come immediately
after an impure thought.
I
don’t think a life of worry, fear, and anxiety is quite what Jesus had in mind
in the lesson he gave. Neither did Jesus
want us simply to dismiss his words, assuming they were meant for someone
else. The problem with overly simple
answers to lessons like the one Jesus gave in today’s reading is that such
simple answers tend to leave us either fine.
It’s those other people that need to repent. Then we find ourselves falling into the same
trap as Job’s friends or the people of Israel to whom Jesus was speaking in
today’s lesson.
“Do
you think they were worse sinners than all others? No, but unless you repent, you will perish
just as they did.” (Luke 13:2-3 paraphrase, NURSIV) Jesus wants us to listen to his words, to
take his words seriously, and to examine our lives. Where do we need repentance in our lives? What harmful habits do we keep which we would
be better off without? How are we living in ways which aren’t loving
toward God and other people? Are we who
we truly want to be? If we were to die
suddenly, would we be happy with who we are or who we have been?
Life’s
too short, to live it full of regret, wishing you’d cleaned up your act and
stopped harming yourself and others.
Life’s also too long to live in constant fear of God’s punishment. Remember, Jesus, who told us to repent and to
take seriously his call to examine our lives is the same man who told the
parable of the fig tree, asking for one more year to tend the tree and help it
grow. The Jesus who told us to repent
and to take seriously his call to examine our lives is the same man who loves
us so much that he became human for our sake.
He lived and died and was resurrected for our sake.
The
warnings and calls to repentance are made by one who loves us more that we can
imagine. Jesus loves us enough to call
us to repentance, that we might fully live a beautiful life of love and
service, loving God, loving other people, and loving ourselves. To love more deeply is the purpose of Jesus’
call to repentance. To live a beautiful
life is the purpose of Jesus’ call to repentance.
Jesus
came not to bind us with fear or self-righteousness. Jesus came to set us free, to give us freedom
from the darkness of the world, freedom from sin, freedom from fear, freedom
from our selfishness, freedom from the ways in which we bind ourselves to
darkness rather than light. Repent,
Jesus said, and be free. Take time to
examine you lives, turn them around where they’re going in harmful directions,
and live in the freedom Jesus gives to love God, to love Jesus, to love each
other. Life’s too short not to fully
love, and life’s too long to live bound by sin and darkness.
The Beauty
of Living
words and
music by Brad SullivanHis weary soul trying to make it through another day.
Tired of war, tired of fighting, time to go his own way.
Heads out to the open plains,
Refusing to live ‘neath another man’s thumb again.
Journeys on as he makes a play for freedom.
Oh freedom.
Chorus
‘Cause life’s to short to live with wasted
dreams,and too long to live in fear.
Step out in faith and love,
And keep your vision clear.
Darkness can drag you down, if you listen to its call
But the light of God and those you love will guide you when you fall,
And the beauty of livin’ will keep you going on.
The beauty of livin’ will keep you going on.
He steers clear of the law’s long arm,
Hauling good across the Texas plains,
And only fights with those who mean him harm.
Made friends along the way,
He’s got a partner he trusts and a hired gun he pays well enough
To keep him loyal, at least for one more day.
Heads to town for resupply,
His friends there ask “Are you ever going to settle down?”
“Join us here for a quiet life in town?”
He says, “Friends that just can’t be.”
“Your life, it’s not for me.”’
“Not while there’s prairie sky and freedom,
Oh freedom.”
Chorus
Amen.
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