Third Sunday of Lent The first reading today about Moses is very interesting. It tells the story of the Burning Bush and how God speaking from that bush told Moses to rescue his people from slavery in Egypt and lead them into the Promised Land. At first sight Moses is the most unlikely of men to be chosen by God to liberate his people, he is after all a murderer on the run.
You might remember that Moses saw an Egyptian overseer hitting an Israelite and how this angered him so much that he attacked and killed him. To avoid detection he fled across the Red Sea to Midian and it was while he was there that he had his encounter with God in the Burning Bush on Mount Horeb. Not only was he a murderer but Moses had been found by Pharaoh’s daughter floating in the river and she had adopted him and brought him up in the royal palace. So this fugitive from justice had not even been brought up as an Israelite but rather as a member of the privileged class.
Nevertheless it is this unlikely fellow that God chooses to be the saviour of his people. This is something entirely typical of God’s way of doing things and ought to be a lesson to us all. It is often the most unlikely or unprepossessing people that God chooses to do his special work. Think of the boy David chosen to fight the mighty Goliath or the wavering Peter chosen to be the first leader of Christ’s Church on earth. As St Paul has told us, God frequently chooses the weak to confound the strong. Moses asks God what his name is so that he can give proper testimony to him. He is given the enigmatic reply, I am who I am.’ This might sound very puzzling but it is actually a very simple and accurate description of God’s essence. He is pure being. God simply is.
In other words God defines existence, it is him who brings everything that exists into being and so he is therefore the very author of being. We suddenly find ourselves in the region of philosophy and we find it difficult to find the necessary words to describe God. But this definition, I am who I am’ is probably the best we are going to get. We know the rest of the story. We recall the plagues of Egypt and the rescue of the Israelites through the Red Sea and their forty years journeying in the Desert of Sinai during which time they received the Ten Commandments.
We recall too how after all his struggles Moses died just within sight of the Promised Land. He was a mighty leader and lawgiver and is to this day regarded by the Jewish people as their greatest leader. We Christians also recognise his great qualities and acknowledge the decisive role he played in leaving the people from slavery to salvation in the Promised Land. We describe Jesus as the New Moses, the one who would lead God’s people from slavery to sin into the Promised Land of heaven. Moses is certainly a decisive figure in the great story of God’s interventions with mankind. We see many strong parallels between Moses and Jesus. To take one important example, at his intercession God sent manna in the desert to feed the people. We regard this as a wonderful foreshadowing of the Eucharist, the Bread of Heaven, one of the central mysteries of the Christian Faith. In the Gospel today there are two parts; the first is two items of news that were reported to Jesus and he interprets them both as examples which urge the people to repentance.
The story which follows is also about repentance. It tells of the fig tree which has failed to produce fruit. The owner tells the man who tends the vineyard to cut it down but the worker says that he will manure it and dig around it and only chop it down if it does not produce fruit the following year. Clearly the owner represents the Father and the tender of the vineyard is Christ who intercedes on our behalf to give us more time to repent of our sins. Repentance is, as we know, the purpose of Lent. The Church is constantly calling its people to repent and confess their sins but it does so with increasing urgency at this time of Lent. Here at St Joseph’s we are putting on extra confessions and holding special services of reconciliation to give people every opportunity to confess their sins and be reconciled with God.
We are all aware that we are sinners; we all know that we fall short and frequently fail to live up to the teaching of Christ. We recognise that we are far from perfect and that we often flout God’s laws. We know that we need God’s forgiveness. In this great season of Lent these things are brought home to us in a special way. As we prepare to celebrate the great feast of Easter we become ever more conscious of our failings and our great need for forgiveness. It is for this reason that in this time of Lent we resolve to take advantage of the Sacrament of Reconciliation. I urge you very strongly to use one or other of the many opportunities we have provided to celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Of course, I recognise that if you haven’t been to confession for a long time it might not be very easy to pluck up the necessary courage.
However, I would strongly recommend you to do so. The priest is no ogre, he is not there to judge or condemn. In fact the very opposite is the case; you will find the priest to be always very kind and understanding and ready to offer some helpful words of encouragement and advice. Pope Francis has declared 2016 to be a Year of Mercy. He wants everyone to experience the loving mercy of God as mediated through the Sacrament of Reconciliation. It is important to take the lead from our Holy Father and make use of this wonderful sacrament. The Church is the fountain of mercy for the world and its sacraments need to be made use of in order to spread holiness and healing in our world. Let us be like that fig tree and respond to a bit of digging around our roots and the application of fertiliser. Let us then flourish and bring forth abundant fruit and so take our rightful place in the world as redeemed children of God.