Miserando atque eligendo

Transcription

1 Priests and Deacons THE GOD WHO CALLS Third Sunday of Lent: Year C in the Jubilee Year of Mercy by Joseph O Hanlon (OGF) Miserando atque eligendo Mercied and thus called On the Seventh Sunday of Easter in Year C the second reading is taken from the book of Revelation, verses and Verse 18 is omitted. The reading has a variety of voices but the overriding voice is that of Jesus, the Alpha and the Omega, the descendant of David, the bright morning star, and the One who, the text proclaims, invites all to come to the waters, to come to the water of life. Then the voice of John is heard, the voice of the one to whom the angel spoke all that is revealed in this apocalyptic revelation (1:1-2; 22:8). He issues a stern warning: I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book; if anyone adds to them, God will add to such a one the plagues described in this book. If anyone takes away the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away that person s share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book. Revelation 22:18 The compilers of the Lectionary omit this verse. Let s hope God shows them mercy but not much. A few plagues upon them might do some good. Why do we think we have a right to edit the Bible in a cut-and-paste exercise that often destroys the meaning of what St Francis of Assisi insisted on calling God s holy words? There ought to be a law. Page 1 of 5

2 Today s first reading, the responsorial psalm, and the second reading are distorted almost beyond redemption. The preacher does not have the time to put matters to rights but an awareness of the unedited text will clarify matters and, hopefully, make matters easier for the People of God to digest. THIRD SUNDAY OF LENT : THE YEAR OF LUKE First Reading Exodus 3:1-8 and Some Vocation stories in the Bible are quite short but none are brief. The Call of Isaiah takes up one chapter (6:1-13). Mary gets 12 verses. Moses, however, gets the most of two chapters (Exodus 3:1-4:17). But the elements of the Bible s call narratives are consistent. They all reveal the nature of the One who calls and the hesitant but committed response of the one who is called. Today s first reading reveals that to which Moses is called but how gloriously it reveals the caller, God, the Saviour of the people. The God who calls: The angel of the LORD The burning bush a way of saying God is present, that God is close to the pain of the people, for the flame of fire will signal the Presence leading by night the people to the land of promise Now the LORD saw him And God called to him I AM the God of your father, The God of Abraham, The God of Isaac, The God of Jacob God is repeated before the name of each patriarch, so that each hearer of the Word, Abraham, then Isaac, then Jacob must personally accept and affirm their experience of God. Page 2 of 5

3 I have seen the miserable state of my people I have heard I am aware of their sufferings I mean to deliver To bring them up out of that land To a land flowing with milk and honey ~ FOR ~ I AM WHO I AM The Hebrew (Ehyeh asher Ehyeh) is difficult to translate because of the way Hebrew verbs work. The earliest Christians who used exclusively the (Jewish) Greek Septuagint would, however, have been familiar with and accepted the translation as, Εγώ εἰμι ὁ ὤν Egō eimi ho ōn And western Christians, when Jerome s translation hit the streets of Rome (383/384 A.D.), adopted his Latin, Ego sum qui sum I am who I am But the phrase in Hebrew may mean I will Be what I will Be, indicating that God will always be Deliverer, Redeemer, Saviour, (see Exodus 6:2-9) and be all that is necessary to bring his people safely home. Or it may mean I am who I will be, that is, I am who I always will be, again the God who never changes and whose love is steadfast, whose mercy sure. It is a phrase that calls for constant meditation, not as an isolated text, but as revealed in a story of God s coming always to save. As the last sentence of today s excerpt explains, This is my name for all time; by this name I shall be invoked for all generations to come. See the I AM sayings in John s Gospel. And do not forget the neglected I AM sayings in Mark 6:50 Take heart! I AM ( Εγώ εἰμι). Do not be afraid. Mark 14:61: Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One? I AM ( Εγώ εἰμι). Page 3 of 5

4 Go and tell The command to Moses is this: Go and tell Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to let the Israelites depart from his land (Exodus 6:10). And all generations shall experience the presence of the I AM, forever saving, redeeming, and whose love endlessly issues in mercy when covenant is broken. Responsorial Psalm Psalm 102 (103) : 1-4; 6-8; 11. Psalm 103 (102 in Lectionary) echoes the Exodus story and the Book of Isaiah. It recalls the great acts of God in the past in order to give assurance in present distress and future darkness. This we must believe: He forgives all your sins He heals every ill He redeems your life He surrounds you with steadfast love and mercy. He does righteous deeds (that is, God acts in accordance with his being). When the Bible says God acts with justice, it does not refer to even-handed justice as meted out in our courts. It means God is being God, acting in accord with the divine nature, not human justice. That is why Psalm 103 explains what divine justice means: The LORD is compassion and love, Slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love. [The Lectionary translation rich in mercy. There is a long-time and convoluted mistranslation of hesed here, going back to the Jewish Septuagint and infecting Jerome s Latin (he has misericordia). The best translation of a word used exclusively of God is steadfast love, for this love is the only love that endures forever. See Psalm 136 in the NRSV. With all these definitive descriptions of God in our head, we come to GOSPEL Luke 13:1-9 Without any concern for continuity, the Lectionary jumps from Chapter 9 to 13:1-9. What we have today is the last two paragraphs of a long discourse on matters concerning the end time. This eschatological material is part of the education programme that Luke imaginatively presents in the framework of a journey to Jerusalem (9:51 to 19:10). As Jesus is on the way to Jerusalem he teaches about the WAY, and, of course, Luke calls Christians in Acts people of the Way. The pun is a Page 4 of 5

5 literary fiction but nonetheless powerful for that. Today we have the end of the sermon which began at 12:1. It is difficult to grasp what this extract is about without a detailed grasp of what has gone before. There are times when only God can be depended upon to come to the aid of the preacher. What runs through this sermon may help with today s Gospel. The little flock (12:32) are assured of the Father s good pleasure (12:32) and, therefore, as Mary was given courage by the angel ( Do not be afraid Luke 1:30), so all who align themselves with Jesus are encouraged: Do not be afraid! The God who is Father to Jesus is Father to those who follow the Son. Be watchful servants. Building bigger barns won t ward off judgment to come. Be dressed for action with your lamps lit. But, says Jesus at the end of his sermon, do not be afraid when you hear of fellow Galileans slaughtered by Herod Antipas or any other tyrant. Remember that God tends even the withered vines and will continue to do so, so that in the end they will produce good fruit. Do not, therefore, be afraid of judgment, for God will see you safely home. God, the God of Love and Mercy, is on our side. Remember St Paul s teaching: SO NEITHER THE ONE WHO PLANTS NOR THE ONE WHO WATERS IS ANYTHING BUT ONLY GOD GIVES THE GROWTH. (I Corinthians 3:7) With my best wishes for a prayerful Lent Joseph Page 5 of 5