3rd Sunday of Lent
Fr. Philip Neri Powell,
OP
Our Lady of the Rosary,
NOLA
Men
do not like to stop and ask directions. Husbands, fathers, brothers –
all men would rather wander lost in the wilds than stop at a 7-11 and
ask the clerk how to get to where they are going. It's probably a
primal fear of showing weakness during the hunt, a fear of admitting
that our testosterone-enhanced ability to sense true north is
defective. Given enough time, the Man assures his Woman, the Right
Way will be revealed, and he will follow it to the promised
destination. For her to nag him about stopping for directions, he
insists, is a sign of mistrust, an admission that she doesn't trust
him. But even scarier than the prospect of asking for directions is
the possibility of having to turn around and start over. Turning
around means that his inability to find the way has been made worse
by a mistake, a mistake that can only be fixed with a new beginning.
As sensible as this sounds, you must remember that turning around and
starting over raises the chances that the worst possible outcome
might come to pass: he gets lost again. Isn't it better to
wander lost, endure a little embarrassment, and eventually find the
way than it is to start over and risk losing the path all over again?
Jesus answers, “No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will
perish.” Turn around and start over. If you are lost, it is better
to go home and set out again.
Why
is repentance hard? Most of us would say that actually giving up our
favorite sin is the most difficult part. But before we can give up
our favored sin, we have to admit that this sin is a sin, a
deliberate act of disobedience against God – otherwise, there is no
good reason to give it up! We know that lying, stealing, cheating on
a spouse is wrong, but we can be quick to rationalize the sin if it
has a “good outcome.” It was small lie to help a friend. I stole
from a greedy insurance company. My spouse really doesn't care if I
cheat. If the harm caused by our sin is less than the imagined good
that results from it, we might consider it wrong but not Really
Wrong. This sort of moral reasoning makes sense in a world where we
measure good and bad as a delicate balance between pleasure and pain,
harm and help. If more people are helped than harmed then we judge an
act good. If not, we say our actions were bad. In this world, our
goal is to cause more pleasure than pain. Starting over makes no
sense because any pain we might cause is easily balanced by causing
an equal amount of pleasure. Steal from the insurance company and
give the money to a charity. Cheat on a spouse and then volunteer to
cook dinner for a month. The idea of true repentance never enters the
equation because there is no Right Way from which we might stray.
In
a world where there are no objective moral standards, no gods to
offend, no eternal consequences for good or a bad behavior, weighing
harm against help is undoubtedly an excellent method of moral
reasoning. For Christians, no such world exists. Our world, the world
created by a loving Father, redeemed by His Son, and infused with the
Holy Spirit, is a world of objective moral law and eternal
consequences. And there is most certainly a god to offend. For us,
the reality of sin and necessity of repentance is as real as trees,
rocks, and the air we breath. There is no escaping the possibility,
if not the probability, that we will get lost on the Way, that we
will falter in the work we have vowed to complete. If sin looms large
in the Christian heart so does the opportunity for repentance and the
assurance of forgiveness. There is no shame in admitting defeat,
turning around, doing penance, and making a fresh start. Even so, we
are sometimes inclined to resist the call to repentance and persist
in failure. Like the husband, brother, father who will not admit that
he is lost and refuses to ask for directions, we stubbornly hold out
hope that we will find the Way on our own. This is a lonely,
frustrating, and ultimately futile means of finding our way back to
God.
When
Jesus is told about the Galileans murdered by Pilate, he asks the
crowd, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this
way they were greater sinners than all other Galileans? By no means!
. .Or those eighteen people who were killed when the tower at Siloam
fell on them – do you think they were more guilty than everyone
else who lived in Jerusalem? By no means!” Then he makes his point:
“But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they
did!” So, we're to think that b/c these people failed to repent,
God allowed them to be murdered by Pilate and crushed by a tower? No.
Jesus point is that they died suddenly, unprepared. Who imagines
being killed in a riot or flattened by a collapsing building? Death
comes for us all. . .so, turn around and get back to God. It's better
to admit defeat in your stubborn refusal to ask for directions than
it is to find yourself dead and unrepentant.
Fortunately
for us, while we live, God waits for us to return. Our Father is
patient. Death is not. Jesus bears this truth out in the parable of
the barren fig tree. Ordered to chop down the tree that bears no
fruit, the good Gardener asks the Owner for a reprieve. Give me and
the tree one more tree to bear fruit. I'll cultivate the ground,
fertilize it, and take care of it. If – in one year – it bears no
fruit, then I will chop it down. The natural end of the barren fig
tree is postponed by the intervention of the Good Gardener. He looks
at the poor tree and sees hope. Hope for a harvest brought about
through his loving-care. So Christ – our Good Gardener – sees us.
We are given the years, days, months we have left to bear good fruit.
If – in the end – we fail to produce, fail to repent and return
to God, we go into death the way we went through life: without
God. As I said,
fortunately for us, while we live, He waits for us to return. Three
weeks into Lent, are you bearing the good fruit of repentance? Are
you going out into the world and being Christ wherever you find
yourself? Are you fasting, praying, sharing your talents and
treasures with those who need them most? Are you bearing witness to
and giving God thanks for His great mercy? Don't let yourself fall to
the Gardener's ax b/c you failed to bear good fruit. Don't be too
stubborn to turn around and come home again. It is better to admit
defeat in your pride than it is to find yourself dead and
unrepentant.
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