A Lectio Divina Approach to the Sunday Liturgy

 

BREAKING THE BREAD OF THE WORD (# 16)

Third Sunday of Lent, Year C – March 14, 2004

 

“The Ultimate Chance”

 

BIBLE READINGS

Ex 3:1-8a, 13-15 // I Cor 10:1-6, 10-12 // Lk 13:1-9

 

 

I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS

 

            In an article by Jerry Davis in GUIDEPOSTS magazine (February 2004), he tells us about a remarkable journey that led him on the right path. He was kicked out of school repeatedly as a teenager. One sleepless, cold evening in February 1963, while living on charity at the Salvation Army in Kentucky where he sought refuge, something clicked in his mind, as if everything had suddenly been put in focus for his 19-year-old eyes. Jerry narrated: “Somebody had to be looking out for me. Somebody who wouldn’t let me push him away no matter how hard I tried. In fact, the farther I ran from God, the closer he seemed to pull me. I slipped out of bed and knelt in a patch of moonlight. Lord, I prayed, the words finally coming. Thank you for your patience. Thank you for your love. I don’t know what’s good for me. Please, I need your guidance.” The runaway college dropout found work at a Kentucky hospital and enrolled at a nearby college. That was the beginning of a long road that led to graduate school and a Ph.D. Today he is the president of a college in Missouri – the College of the Ozarks. Indeed, Jerry Davis has given us a testimony of what it means to be given another chance and what it takes to respond to that chance. His was a beautiful story of a positive response to the patient mercy of God.

 

            This Sunday’s reading (Lk 13:1-9) underlines the Christian call to metanoia, which means conversion, repentance, and inner change, and heartens us with the reality of God’s patient mercy. In this account, Jesus resounded the call for decision and conversion by referring to two contemporary disasters (Lk 13:1-5) and by narrating the parable of the barren fig tree (Lk 13:6-9). The first disaster was the Galilean massacre. Notorious for his harsh rule and insensitivity to Jewish religious beliefs, Pilate had caused the death of some Galileans while they were offering sacrifice, probably in the Jerusalem temple during the Passover. The other disaster involved what was probably a construction accident at the Siloam reservoir in Jerusalem. Jesus articulated the questions that lurked in the minds of the people who usually associated disaster with punishment for sin. Jesus said to them: “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were greater sinners than all other Galileans?” (Lk 13:2). Jesus replied to his hypothetical question: “By no means!” (Lk 13:3). Regarding those who died at the tower of Siloam, Jesus asked: “Do you think they were more guilty than everyone else who lived in Jerusalem?” (Lk 13:4). The answer of Jesus to this question is the same: “By no means!” (Lk 13:5). And his admonition derived from each of the disaster events is remarkably the same: “But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did!” (Lk 13:3,5).

 

            Jesus dispels the popular belief that links disaster with punishment for sin (cf. Job 4:7-9; Jn 9:2). Indeed, in the present age, good fortune and disaster are no indication of a person’s spiritual state. In the judgment to come, however, those who have been evil will certainly experience the ultimate disaster, that is, complete alienation from the life-love of God. Jesus dismissed the popular speculations regarding the personal culpability of the victims of the Galilean massacre and the Siloam accident by stressing the universal need for repentance. Unless all repent and respond positively to the Gospel, all will suffer the greater disaster of being alienated from God. Aelred Rosser comments about the Gospel passage proclaimed in today’s Sunday Assembly during Lent: “This reading is a powerful reminder of what we are concerned with during this season of Lent. Jesus’ words here are some of the strongest: Conversion of life through penance is an ongoing necessity if we wish to be disciples.”

 

            The last section of the Gospel reading is Jesus’ parable of the barren fig tree which received a reprieve, or stay, from the impending punishment by the vineyard owner in response to the gardener’s compassionate plea: “Sir, leave it for this year also, and I shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it; it may bear fruit in the future. If not you can cut it down” (Lk 13:8-9). According to the biblical scholar, Samuel Oyin Abogunrin: “While the story appears to give the tree another chance at producing the fruit expected of it, one cannot help but note that the length of time of the tree’s fruitless activity parallels Jesus’ three-year ministry during which humankind was offered the opportunity for repentance. The parable reminds us of the long-suffering of God but it also implicitly warns that those who persist in their sinful refusal to repent will suffer and eventually be cut down.” Robert Karris remarks: “On the one hand, this is a parable of compassion, which produces comfort in the disciple who stumbles along the Christian way. On the other hand, it is a parable of crisis, which should light a fire under procrastinators and other unproductive disciples.” The authors of The Days of the Lord, vol. 2, reinforce this idea: “God does not tire, does not lose patience … ever. For it may bear fruit in the future. But he is powerless before those who refuse to yield to the unceasing calls of his kind solicitude and grace.”

 

            In the context of the Father’s saving plan, Jesus Christ, his beloved Son and Servant, is another chance - the ultimate chance. Aelred Rosser asserts: “Jesus himself is the final opportunity, the culmination of God’s long history of opportunities. Don’t miss it! Now is the time of salvation. Now is the tine for the Church to renew itself and continue the cycle inward, towards deeper and deeper conversion, and outward, toward greater and greater productiveness.” The Christian community is being challenged to respond positively to this magnanimous offer of grace. As privileged recipients of God’s magnanimous love we need to embrace with our whole mind, heart and will the ultimate chance of salvation and the means of reconciliation with our Father in heaven: Jesus Christ – the true and faithful gardener of God’s vineyard.

 

 II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF HEART

 

  1. Do we respond positively and creatively to Christ’ call to conversion and apostolic fruitfulness?

 

  1. How do we react to the local and universal disasters that impinge upon our senses day after day through the mass media?

 

  1. How does the parable of the barren fig tree narrated in this Sunday’s Gospel passage affect our lives and call us to conversion and renewal?

 

 

 

III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD

 

Leader: Father of mercy and goodness,

you have revealed to us your patient mercy

by offering us the ultimate chance of conversion and renewal,

Jesus Christ, your beloved Son,

who loved us unto death on the cross.

He suffered for us

and irrigated the barren deserts of our hearts

with the blood of his sacrifice

in order to bring forth a rich harvest

of love, holiness, truth and healing.

Help us not to resist your gracious offer

of forgiveness and love.

Do not allow us to be barren fig trees

destined for cutting down, alienation and ultimate destruction.

In our Lenten journey of penance and sanctification

to the beauty and fruitfulness of Easter glory,

help us to be grateful

for giving us “one more chance”

        the “ultimate chance” that renews all things and transforms us,

Jesus Savior, our Lord and Master, who lives forever and ever.

 

Assembly: Amen.

 

 

 

IV. INTERIORIZATION OF THE WORD

 

            The following is the bread of the living Word that will nourish us throughout the week. Please memorize it.

 

            “If you do not repent, you will all perish as they did.” (Lk 13:4,5)

V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION

 

  1. ACTION PLAN:  Pray to the Lord for the gift of repentance and sincere conversion from sin, and for the gift of spiritual renewal.

 

  1. ACTION PLAN: Pray for prisoners, especially those who have received the death penalty, and for all those who minister to their care.

 

 

 

 

 

Prepared by Sr. Mary Margaret Tapang  PDDM

 

 

 

 

SISTER DISCIPLES OF THE DIVINE MASTER

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