Third Sunday of Lent

In the seminary, there are areas of concentration, or majors, just like in regular college and graduate school: Moral Theology, Pastoral Theology, Systematic Theology, and Scripture are the main ones … but there are a few others. And as an FYI, I concentrated my studies for both my Masters of Divinity and my Masters of Arts in Theology in Sacred Scripture. I give you that information so that perhaps you’ll understand where I’m coming from a little bit better and why I like sharing with you some of the things I’ve learned.

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Entrance Antiphon: Ps 25 (24):15-16 – “My eyes are always on the Lord, for He rescues my feet from the snare. Turn to me and have mercy on me, for I am alone and poor.”

First Reading: Ex 3:1-8a, 13-15 – “‘I AM’ sent me to you.”

Responsorial Psalm: Ps 103:1-2, 3-4, 6-7, 8, 11 – “The Lord is kind and merciful.”

Second Reading: 1 Cor 10:1-6, 10-12 – “The life of the people with Moses in the desert was written down as a warning to us.”

Verse Before the Gospel: Mt 4:17 – “Repent, says the Lord; the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Gospel: Lk 13:1-9 –“If you do not repent, you will perish as they did.”

Communion Antiphon: Jn 4:13-14 – “For anyone who drinks it, says the Lord, the water I shall give will become in him a spring welling up to eternal life.”

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Midrash is an ancient Hebrew way of interpreting biblical stories. It fills in many gaps left in biblical narratives such as events and personalities that are only hinted at. This bit of midrash I am about to tell you is about today’s First Reading as told by Rabbi Marc Gellman in a children’s book entitled Does God Have a Big Toe? It goes something like this. When God set out to pick someone to lead the children of Israel to the Promised Land, the most important quality God was looking for was patience. So God set out to create a patience test. God caused a bush to start burning in the desert where some shepherds were pasturing their flocks. A few shepherds passed by and didn’t even notice that a bush was burning. Bushes on fire are not that special, so nobody took the time to sit long enough to watch the miracle happen until Moses came along. Moses watched and watched and saw that the leaves were burned off and the bush’s branches were black, but the bush did not burn up. It continued to burn and the fire never went out. And Moses was the only one who waited long enough to notice. He tried to get the other shepherds to watch with him, but they all had better things to do. Moses also had better things to do, and God wanted him to know that. I think we know the story of the burning bush well enough to know that he was about to find out what those better things were.

Patience and tolerance are the core message of this weekend’s readings. Patience is a gift of the Holy Spirit. It is one of the gifts we all received at Baptism, so each of us possesses it to some degree. The question is whether or not we exercise it. Patient people are those who can bear trials and pains with calmness and composure. If you remember the stories of the Israelite people and Egypt and the Exodus, you’ll remember all of the stuff that Moses had to endure as he led the Israelites back to the Promised Land. Patient people are like Moses in that they are able to put up with delays and disgruntled people, bide their time, and wait for the right moment. If you think about it, patience requires a certain humility and flexibility. Patient people are more flexible with time than impatient people.

Impatient people live in only one time frame – their own. They want things done when they want them done, and they expect the rest of the world to comply with their schedule. If they have to wait in line while the person ahead of them is slow to pay their bill or is engaged in conversation, or if something like the Mass takes a little longer than they thought it would or they wanted … they get upset because their schedule is disrupted.

Patient people are able to flow back and forth between different time frames. They know that waiting in line for a few extra minutes while someone may be slow invites patient people to momentarily set aside their own schedule and enter into the schedule of someone else with needs other than theirs. This weekend’s readings call us to ask ourselves, how patient am I? Am I able to step out of my own time frame and enter … with compassion … the time frame of someone else?

The virtue of tolerance is very much related to the virtue of patience. Tolerance calls us to not jump to conclusions, but rather to be able to live graciously with loose ends, ambiguity, and diversity. Tolerance calls for second chances. Jesus appreciated the ambiguities of life. He often urged His disciples to keep an open mind and not to jump to conclusions, especially in this weekend’s Gospel with the parable of the non-productive fig tree. After the tree hasn’t produced in three years, the owner orders the gardener to cut down the tree. The gardener, however, pleads with the owner to let him dig around the tree and fertilize it, hoping that the tree might produce the next year. The gardener is asking the owner to give the tree a second chance, to be patient, to be tolerant, and to be merciful. In this parable, Jesus is saying … don’t judge too hastily … don’t give up too soon … exercise a little tolerance. With a little more care and concern, perhaps even the barren might bear fruit.

And maybe you also noticed that the parable of the fig tree has no ending. We don’t know what ultimately happened to the tree. The same is true of each one of us and our spiritual journeys. God has given us life and sent us into the world with a script to follow. That script is the Word of God … the Bible … also known as Sacred Scripture. God has also given us a Director to guide us. And I think we all know who that is. Young people might especially know who this Director is as they wear those wristbands or other pieces of jewelry with WWJD on them. What would Jesus do in this given situation? His actions always …  and ultimately … show us the way. He is our Director and Guide. How our individual stories are eventually lived out depends entirely on how we respond to what God has given us. Remember … a merciful, patient, and tolerant God has spared us many times. The question remains. Will we be fruitless or will we give back to God useful and productive lives spent in furthering the work of Christ’s mission on earth? And so, as we continue our journey through Lent, with another four weeks to go, there is still plenty of time to consider where we fit in the scheme of things, to determine if we need to change, and to take the necessary steps. Take some time to reflect on those things because only you can answer that.

In the first part of this weekend’s Gospel, Jesus emphasizes repentance, so I’ll remind you of the word I learned in one of my Scripture courses and talked about on Ash Wednesday. Remember as the minister put the ashes on your head, he or she said “Repent … or Turn away from sin … and be faithful to the Gospel.” As I said during my homily on Ash Wednesday, the Hebrew word that expresses that sentiment is “shub.” To shub is to make a 180 and turn back towards God. Remember, there’s still plenty of time during this Lent to make that happen. Today and this week, ask yourselves this: Which direction are you headed?

As we prepare to celebrate the Liturgy of the Eucharist, we should resolve to live the message of this weekend’s readings to be patient and tolerant with ourselves and others and to do that 180 and to turn back to God.