March 20, 2022 – Third Sunday in Lent

Accepting that everything we have and everything we are is ultimately a gift of God’s grace, and the serious need for ongoing repentance – not to avoid punishment – but to embrace God’ love for us.

Let us pray.  Holy and merciful God, we give you thanks for your presence in this time and place, and within each one of us here and those gathered across this province. Help us now to open our minds, our hearts, and our whole lives to receive the gift of your living Word for us this day, and may the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our strength and our redeemer.  Amen.

I want to begin this morning by looking at the very first sentence of the Collect Prayer.  We prayed, “Father of mercy, alone we have no power in ourselves to help ourselves.”  Alone, we have no power in ourselves to help ourselves.  Is that true for you? Do you believe that statement? For we hard-working, wise-investing, self-made women and men, it’s not an easy pill to swallow is it – if in fact we do agree to swallow it! Because, ultimately, it means that everything that we have, everything we are, is ‘gift’, and therefore we live and thrive by God’s grace. (grace being a free and unmerited gift.)

Now, we might initially protest and say, “Well I’ve worked hard to achieve – I’ve made wise moral decisions, I’ve tried to help other people – doesn’t that count for anything?”  Well – yes it does.  It means that you’ve been a good steward of the gifts and abilities that God has provided you.  But it doesn’t change the statement in the Collect – “alone we have no power in ourselves to help ourselves.” - only what ultimately came as a gift from God. So that’s one reality that we have to come to terms with as we move through this sermon.

The second one St. Paul expresses earlier in the First Letter to the church in Corinth - in chapter 4. Paul states, “It is a vey small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. I do not even judge myself. I am not aware of anything against myself.” He seems pretty self-confident on his own righteousness – his own goodness. But then he adds, “But I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me.” So Paul is asserting this truth: just because we are not aware of wrongdoing or sin in our lives does not mean that we are actually guiltless. Only God can make that determination.  That’s the second thing.

The third reality is stated in the last part of today’s First Reading. I also quoted it in my sermon last Sunday. It was these words, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” In other words, we cannot fully understand God or God’s purposes, or even who God knows us to be.

So there’s our starting point in reflecting on our lives: no power in and of ourselves to help ourselves; we can’t assume that we can fully judge ourselves, only God can; and we can’t fully understand God or God’s ways or how God sees us. If we begin by accepting those realities then God’s Word for us today begins to make sense. So let’s start with the Gospel Reading. Jesus begins by debunking a bit of bad theology that was common in his day and, unfortunately, is still common among some today. He says these words, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? No, I tell you.” And then he says again, “Of those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them—do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem? No, I tell you.” In other words, he’s trying to debunk this idea that when people do bad things God judges them negatively and they suffer the consequences. In other words – “they had it coming to them.” Or the corollary that we like to count on if things are going well for us – “I must be a good and righteous person.” Jesus completely unhooks the apparently direct relationship between doing bad things and receiving divine punishment. But then, in both of those instances in today’s Gospel he adds these words, “Unless you repent you will all perish as they did.”

Jesus is emphatic about making changes when and while the opportunity presents itself. So he uses that word ‘repent’, and without a doubt it is a key word both in John the Baptist’s preaching, and in Jesus’ preaching about the Kingdom of God.  The etymology of the word ‘repent’ goes back into the Latin and Old French – the ‘pent’ part comes form a root word that means ‘regret’ and adding the ‘re’ prefix in front of it gives it more intensity and strength. It carries with it a sense of ‘backing away from’ – ‘turning away from.’  So repentance, though, is more than just regret.  This might be a good definition of it: “To repent is to regret so deeply as to change the mind or course of conduct as a result and develop new mental and spiritual habits.”

So Jesus makes sure that we know that this is serious stuff in our lives, and the little parable about the fig tree drives the point home.  The owner of the vineyard is ready to give up on the fruitless tree. The gardener convinces him to hold off – give it another chance. The point is – we are the fig tree. We may be completely oblivious to our lack of fruitfulness to God. Now back to Jesus’ main exhortation – the need to repent – to examine and pay attention to parts of our lives that run contrary to life in the Kingdom of God.

In the Second Reading, a portion of Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, he makes the same point. Using the example of the ancient people of God and their relationship with God after the Exodus out of their slavery in Egypt, and he uses passing them through the Red Sea as analogous to our baptism; and having God provide food and drink for them in the wilderness as analogous to our Eucharistic meal.  And then Paul admonishes the Corinthians – don’t become complacent just because we’re baptized and just because we partake of the Eucharist. He says these words, “So if you think you are standing, watch out that you do not fall. No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and God will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it.” Our lives of Christian discipleship with God are dynamic – ever-changing, ever-developing – continuing repentance and gifts of grace are part of those lives to follow Christ more closely. And in this pattern God’s will and desire for each one of us is always reformative – redemptive – to restore us to God’s loving will for us. 

This is so lovingly and emphatically stated in this First Reading from Isaiah.  The prophet is impressing on the dejected, exiled people of Israel this truth. He begins with the word “Ho”, which isn’t exactly like our slang word “Yo” - but a little bit. It’s to get your attention, “Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you that have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labour for that which does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear, and come to me; listen, so that you may live.” This is the God who calls us to repentance so that the love of God can sustain us. We’re not called to repent in order to escape a vengeful God. We are called to repentance so that we can live in and enjoy the real life of God’s Kingdom – of God’s reign.

Then we, too, will know the true joy of life that the Psalmist expresses in today’s psalm: “For your loving kindness is better than life itself, my lips shall give you praise. For you have been my helper and under the shadow of your wings I will rejoice. My soul clings to you; your right hand holds me fast.”

Amen.