The Call to Repentance

Gospel: Luke 11: 29-32

We seek a sign, just as the people of Jesus' day did.  We get the same answer: no sign will be given to us except the sign of Jonah.  We misinterpret this sentence.  We believe it refers to Jonah being in the whale for three days, just as Jesus would be in the belly of the earth for three days, only to rise again.  But this is false.  Jesus makes it clear that the sign of Jonah is much more uncomfortable for us than we would like to admit or accept.

Jonah is called by God to to the Gentile city of Nineveh to invite them to repentance.  Jonah reluctantly does so, and to his chagrin the people do repent, at a time when Israel was ignoring and even killing prophets who brought them the same invitation.  Jesus too came to invite us to repentance, and as in Jonah's day those who accepted the invitation were somewhat surprising, while those who did not accept the invitation were allegedly self-righteous and religious.  

The invitation to repentance is extended to us in our day.  We are invited to do so through works of mercy for others - to the hungry and thirsty; to the naked and homeless; to the sick and imprisoned; to the immgrant, refugee, and migrant.  And, by and large, we find similar patterns of acceptance and rejection of this invitation.  The self-righteous religious spurn the invitation while others take up the message of Jesus and carry it out in their lives.  Lent is our time to make this choice. 

Competitive Prayer

Gospel: Matthew 6: 7-15

The Olympic games are over for now, but the religious competitions continue uninterrupted as before.  In the category of competitive prayer, there is the individual and team competitions.  Individual pastors duel one another in spontaneous prayer, being judged on length, eloquence, and cadence.  The team category ranks liturgical prayer with similar criteria along with the age and origin of said prayers, the older and more traditional being in favor.  

Jesus is well aware of such games.  He saw them in his own day with the rattling of lengthy prayers, the public wearing of religious finery to impress, and the utter insincerity of it all.  So Jesus gives us a prayer, not that it might be formulaic, but one that is designed to teach us brevity, humility, and authenticity in our prayer to God.  That we have endlessly parsed the words of the prayer utterly misses the point as to what Jesus means for us to do.  

Lent is about the task of prayer, not in lengthening the prayers but that our prayers be more sincere, humble, and authentic.  Our discipline of Lent is once again returning to the Gospels in order to imitate the Lord Jesus in his prayer, in his deeds of love and mercy to others which in themselves are our most authentic prayer and offering to God.  It is in these deeds of love for others that we express our love for God, our sacrifice of praise.   

The Final Exam

Gospel: Matthew 25: 31-46

Consider the criteria Jesus provides for the final judgment of the entire world, and notice what it is not about:  it is not a test of knowledge.  It is not the recitation of a credal formula.  It is not about belonging to a particular group or sect, nor about one's liturgical preferences.  It is not about sexuality or the wearing of particular religious garb.  It isn't even about belief in God or not, let alone one's conception or ideas about God.

The final judgment, in short, is not about anything that religion concerns itself with most of the time.  It is rather about mercy extended to other people.  It is about providing food and drink to the hungry and thirsty; providing shelter to the homeless; giving clothing to the naked; providing care to those who are sick and imprisoned; providing welcome and love to strangers in our midst - the immigrant, refugee, and migrant.  That's it - that's the final exam.  

Recently a church building was dedicated wherein the congregation spent more than $1 million to build a choir loft with no access at all; it was simply decorative. It is an apt metaphor for modern religion. We can continue to go about the business of the pseudo-religious life of vicarious activities that have no real meaning or purpose except that they are easy and satisfy our egos.  Or we can set about the task of real religion which is the care of others and the extension of mercy in the world.