Today in the Spirit: Lent 3C
The experience of worship in the third week of Lent is part and parcel of the experience of the whole season of Lent. Once again, we hear stories, prophecies, or songs of Israelites receiving God’s commands in the wilderness of Sinai or Palestinians listening to the words of the Son of God incarnate in Palestine, and the question remains the same: Why is there so little obedience?
In the assigned Gospel reading out of Luke 13:1-9(10-17) we receive Jesus’ warning to repent while there is still time. In the parable of the barren fig tree, the vinedresser, representing (I believe) Jesus, pleads with the vineyard owner (the Father God) for a little more time: “‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure. Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down’” (8-9). The inclusion of the optional reading of a crippled woman healed on the Sabbath proves the authority of the Son of God preaching on repentance.
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The appointed OT reading from Exodus 3:1-15 tells the story of God’s call to Moses at the burning bush on Mount Sinai. It is the revelation of God’s intention “to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey” (8). Good news! But we hear this reading in Lent, knowing full well that the people will rebel and make the journey far more calamitous than it needs to be.
We say or sing Psalm 103 or 103:1-12 in our worship in praise to a God who “does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities” (10). The call to praise is first to the individual “soul” and then to all the works of the LORD, even heavenly beings and “all places of his dominion” (22). In the center of the psalm is an extended reference to the OT reading we will have just heard on the call of Moses: “He showed his ways to Moses, his works to the children of Israel” (7, BCP New Coverdale).
The assigned NT reading from 1 Corinthians 10:1-13 gives us Paul’s reflections on repentance based on the failings of the Israelites in the wilderness. The teaching comes with a strong warning: “Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did (6). But in Christ there is for the church help from God over temptation that the Israelites did not have: “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it” (13).
The Collect for Lent 3 begins with the famous line from the opening paragraph of Augustine’s Confessions, “You have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.” From there follows the petition that, through the revelation of Jesus Christ, God would purify our “disordered affections” which oppose that holy restlessness built into us as image-bearers of God at creation.
The Collect
Heavenly Father, you have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you: Look with compassion upon the heartfelt desires of your servants, and purify our disordered affections, that we may behold your eternal glory in the face of Christ Jesus; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
I Have Come Down to Deliver Them (Exodus 3:1-15)
1 Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. 3 And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.” 4 When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” 5 Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” 6 And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. 7 Then the Lord said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, 8 and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 9 And now, behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. 10 Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.” 11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” 12 He said, “But I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”
Exodus 3:1-12
Notice how carefully the narration in this passage lays out a larger work of the LORD for the Israelite people as a whole and a more limited one for Moses. At the beginning of the dialogue we learn of God’s plans: “‘I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land’” (8). “Out” and “to.” Then comes the plans for Moses: “‘Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt’” (10). Just “out.” Moses will not reach the promised land himself; and in fact we know that neither he nor any of the Israelites who left Egypt, except for Joshua and Caleb, would ever do so (see Num. 14:29ff).
Devotionally, then, where do we locate ourselves among the people of God who have come out of the bondage of sin and into salvation and freedom? We are certainly among those who, like the Israelites coming out of Egypt, have been delivered from slavery to sin (Rom. 6). We have arrived at the place of the presence of God to “serve God on this mountain” (12), the “mountain” who is Christ (parallel to Paul’s teaching that “the Rock was Christ” in the the Epistle reading, 1 Cor. 10:12). Yet are we not also stuck with Moses on the east side of the Jordan, with a view of the land of milk and honey but unable to cross over in our mortal bodies? “Out” but not yet “to”? We experience abundance but not yet in its fullness; we are in a new place with God outside “Egypt” but still not home.
Today, in the Spirit, taking note in this Exodus reading of what God will do and what Moses will not, we pray for patience in our position on the far bank of the river. We see the great land as promised in scripture but are not yet able to touch it. We experience something of God’s blessing now but always hope for the “land flowing with milk and honey” to at last come under foot.
O My Soul…O My Soul (Psalm 103 or 103:1-12)
1 Praise the Lord, O my soul, *
and all that is within me, praise his holy Name.
2 Praise the Lord, O my soul, *
and forget not all his benefits:
3 Who forgives all your sin *
and heals all your infirmities,
4 Who saves your life from the pit *
and crowns you with mercy and loving-kindness,
5 Who satisfies you with good things, *
renewing your youth like an eagle’s.
6 The Lord executes righteousness and judgment *
for all those who are oppressed with wrong.
7 He showed his ways to Moses, *
his works to the children of Israel.
8 The Lord is full of compassion and mercy, *
long-suffering and of great goodness.
9 He will not always chide us, *
neither will he keep his anger for ever.
10 He has not dealt with us according to our sins, *
nor rewarded us according to our wickedness.
11 For as the heavens are high above the earth, *
so great is his mercy also toward those who fear him.
12 As far as the east is from the west, *
so far has he set our sins from us.19 The Lord has prepared his throne in heaven,
Psalm 103:1-12, 19-22 New Coverdale Psalter (BCP 2019)
and his kingdom rules over all.
20 O praise the Lord, you angels of his, you that excel in strength,
you that fulfill his commandment, and hearken unto the voice of his words.
21 O praise the Lord, all you his hosts,
you servants of his that do his pleasure.
22 O speak good of the Lord, all you works of his, in all places of his dominion;
praise the Lord, O my soul.
See how the psalmist begins by addressing, first, his own soul (“my” and “your,” 1-5), then Israel (“us,” 6-19), then the heavenly “hosts” (20-22a), and then, again, his “soul” (22b). What shall we make of this? One interpretation might be that YHWH himself is working his blessing, healing, in and then out–internally in the individual soul, then outwardly, locally and then cosmically. Think of our Lord’s pronouncement to the disciples: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8).
The single internal flame of God’s new life cannot possibly remain burning in the confines of the human heart but must go out to the whole universe. This psalm leaves us imagining what the effect must be of God igniting a personal flame within a multitude of individuals all at once and then generation after generation.
Devotionally, we might meditate on that final return of the psalmist to addressing his own “soul.” What shall we make of that final jump in again but a further progression of internal renewal that burns bigger and brighter than the first because of the outward thrust of the Spirit in the interim. Growing zeal in oneself shoots forth outwardly through service outwardly and returns again to where it started, but greater than before. This is perhaps a way of understanding John the Evangelist’s words in his Gospel prologue: “For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace” (Jn. 1:16). And, of course, Paul’s breathtaking prayer in Ephesians:
I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Eph. 3:16-19 (NIV)
Today, with the help of the Spirit in worship, recognizing the blessing of God in the psalmist in his heart, out to creation and back to himself, we crave his increasing zeal to build up souls everywhere.
Do Not Be Idolaters (1 Corinthians 10:1-13)
1 For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, 2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 and all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. 5 Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. 6 Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. 7 Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.” 8 We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. 9 We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, 10 nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer. 11 Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come. 12 Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. 13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.
1 Corinthians 10:1-13
Reading a few paragraphs before and after this passage, we discover Paul’s overarching concern in this section of the letter is creeping idolatry in the life of the Corinthian church. Earlier Paul complains of the blind confidence with which many members, who think they are strong, join pagan feasts and consume food sacrificed to idols (8:1-13). Later Paul makes a connection between that reckless behavior and idol worship actually entering their Christian meetings. He writes, “You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?” (10:21-22). The Israelites in the desert also permitted a creeping idolatry into their life and worship, and YHWH did not let it go quietly.
One of the many “disordered affections” (Collect) Lent asks to turn over to the Lord is our tendency to compartmentalize the sacred and the secular too much and too loosely. We may think the small bits of sinful behavior we allow ourselves to be exposed to are not affecting us; but, Paul says, it might and often does. We may think we are strong in the Lord, and we may judge our consciences to be clear when we join the world’s revelries, but the “demons” are stronger than we are in the flesh, slowly corroding our zeal for Jesus. In our passage, the point is we need to repent of our haphazard addition of worldliness to our lifestyles, or we will find God, as the example of the ancient Israelites shows us, is not opposed to forcing the issue.
Today, Holy Spirit, I resolve to take the warnings the apostle gives in this passage, to refrain from thinking too highly of my maturity in the Lord, to avoid the pitfalls of God’s people in the past and to take “the way of escape” from temptation instead of casually falling into evil.
Until I Dig Around It (Luke 13:1-9[10-17])
1 There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2 And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? 3 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. 4 Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? 5 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” 6 And he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. 7 And he said to the vinedresser, ‘Look, for three years now I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground?’ 8 And he answered him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure. 9 Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’”
Luke 13:31-35
In the face of what many might consider shameless overinterpretation, I will state my belief that the dialogue between the vineyard owner and the vineyard worker in the parable of the fig tree (7-9) represents “conversation” in the fellowship between God the Father and God the Son; and that the proposed plan of the caretaker points to the saving ministry of Jesus Christ in the world. Going down that road, should we take the exchange as an argument inside the Godhead?
If so, it is not much of one. We hear only one statement each from each character; and in the end, we find no decision made or any outcome given to the story at all. Instead, all we are left with is the tension in the minds of the participants between exercising punishment for the tree now or waiting until later to see if it is necessary. This tension can be seen in this entire section of Luke’s Gospel (12:1-13:8), and really in the whole Bible.
For us as Christians, the aim of this passage is that we hear the urgent call to repent—not tomorrow but now—yielding every part of ourselves to the healing ministry of Jesus Christ. In our sin, we are the fruitless tree: the dead roots, the diseased trunks and the dead leaves are part of us. The message is that, while we can, we must refuse to withhold any damaged part of us from the Father’s Caretaker, that he might touch and renew us. Jesus has fertilized us by his appearance, watered us by his blood, stood us up by his resurrection and pointed us to the light of the sun by his ascension into the skies. For us it is to greet the Vinedresser coming to us every day in the year of grace, admit our sorry state, and plead with the psalmist:
Turn again, O God of hosts!
Ps. 80:14-18
Look down from heaven, and see;
have regard for this vine,
the stock that your right hand planted,
and for the son whom you made strong for yourself.
They have burned it with fire; they have cut it down;
may they perish at the rebuke of your face!
But let your hand be on the man of your right hand,
the son of man whom you have made strong for yourself!
Then we shall not turn back from you;
give us life, and we will call upon your name!
Today, Holy Spirit, in this parable I am reminded yet again that the only currency I have worth anything in your kingdom is my repentance from sin. Take my sorrow, and my desire for you, and “dig around” as deep as you need to go.
Today in the Spirit
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