Third Sunday of Lent (C), March 11, 2007
Ex 3:1-8a, 13-15; Ps 103:1-4, 6-8, 11; 1 Cor 10:1-6, 10-12; Lk 13:1-9
In the Beginning, There Was Mercy
The season of Lent is a time of repentance and turning away from sinful ways, as the gospel passage reminds us today. But the first reading today is a strong invitation to reflect on the fact that repentance is not only turning away from something bad. It is turning to that which is good. Our Lenten repentance and conversion can be turning to the merciful love of God for us and to compassionate care for each other.
The reading from Exodus tells us of God’s appearance to Moses in the burning bush on Mt. Horeb or Sinai. This is one of the most important passages in the entire Bible, for it establishes the identity of the people of Israel by disclosing the identity of their God.
Moses sees a flaming bush that is not being burned. As he comes closer, he hears the voice of God. He is told to remove his shoes, since he is standing on holy ground (a custom still followed today when Muslims enter a mosque). Needless to say, Moses is afraid. It can be dangerous to be in the presence of the all-powerful creator of the entire universe. So we are told that “Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.” Is this sort of fear of God the reason we are called to repentance during Lent? Are we are afraid that if we don’t change our ways the all-powerful God will make us pay a price?
That is certainly not the whole story about God in this reading. The passage goes on present some truly startling disclosures that show that God is really quite different from the one Moses feared. At the time of this event, the people of Israel were enslaved in Egypt, forced into hard labor by Pharaoh. God tells Moses: I have witnessed my people’s affliction. I hear their cry and know their suffering; I will come down to rescue them and to lead them out of a land of slavery to a land flowing with milk and honey. Israel’s God is not a disengaged monarch, but a loving parent who has compassion on his suffering children and enters their world to bring them freedom and justice.
In fact, the outstanding characteristic of the God who appears to Moses in the bush is mercy. Mercy is a special form of love, the kind of love that one has for a person who is suffering. It is a love that shares the struggles of those who struggle and experiences the pain of those who are in need. Mercy is com-passion, sharing in the distress of those who are in any way afflicted. This is the way God relates to the people of Israel enslaved in Egypt: I know their suffering and have come down to rescue them.
The Jesuit theologian in El Salvador, Jon Sobrino, has said that this story tells us that mercy is the most characteristic quality of the God revealed by the entire Bible. God’s appearance to Moses in the bush is the beginning of the story of the people of Israel. So Sobrino can declare, “In the beginning, there was mercy.” God calls Israel into existence as a people by hearing their cries, knowing their suffering, and leading them into freedom in the land flowing with milk and honey. St. John’s gospel tells us that “God is love,” but because God’s love reaches to people who are suffering, we can say “God is mercy.”
This is the God we are asked to turn to during Lent. The God of compassion and mercy invites us to let God’s great mercy and compassion touch our hearts. Are we struggling? Are our lives hurt by suffering or affliction? We are invited to trust that God is with us, sharing our needs and struggles. Are our dear ones facing hardship? Is our world is wounded by war and injustice? We are invited to trust that God shares the pain of these hardships and wounds and is working to overcome them. We are invited, as the responsorial psalm says, to trust that God is “kind and merciful,” abounding in “kindness and compassion.”
We are also called to share that mercy with each other, trying to lift the burdens from each other’s shoulders and set free the oppressed. Being repentant means turning to the God whose mercy to us can make us truly compassionate to each other. Faith in this God of mercy can make us people of mercy. It can make the Christian community a community of compassion. Really turning to this God can make us people who help heal the wounds of our struggling world. Let us pray that we can move forward on this path during the weeks of Lent.
David Hollenbach, S.J. St. Ignatius Church March 11, 2007