March 6, 2016

4th Sunday of Lent C Joshua 5: 9-12; 2 Corinthians 5: 17-21; Luke 15: 1-3, 11-31 We need to be reconciled to God. Over and over again this is the message that kept on returning to me as I reflected on today’s Readings. We need to be reconciled to God We read in Joshua how the Israelites, after forty years of wandering in the desert, have finally arrived at God’s destination. They have crossed the Jordan River and entered the Promised Land. No one who was born during these years had been circumcised so God orders them to do this so they are safe. Egypt was a land that could never satisfy their spiritual needs, the Promised Land will. They no longer need to be nourished by the Manna, now they have God’s covenant with Mose “I will be your God, you will be my people. I reflect on how I am doing this Lent in being a part of God’s people? Do I realize the responsibility that is involved? Do I realize that this is not a part-time job; it’s 24/7? Am I aware that I cannot do this on my own? Do I realize that Jesus told each of us that He sends the Holy Spirit upon us to be with us and to help us over ALL the stumbling blocks that we encounter? These stumbling blocks are external or internal even including the viciousness of the devil’s attacks. So the question is, ‘Do I ask for help?’ Or do I figure that that I’m a big boy now, I can do it on my own. This is exactly the constant temptation that these new Israelites faced in the Promised Land…and they had a great record of failure in this. Can I learn from this and LISTEN to the Prophets and especially Jesus? The bottom line point is that, We need to be reconciled to God. Paul is telling the Corinthians that they and each one of us is a ‘new creation.’ We know about the story of our ancestors in faith and how God developed them into His people. We know most especially that Jesus came for each of us. He came from the Father to tell us that we are loved all the time and at every moment and it doesn’t depend on how we are: good or bad, tolerant or intolerant, helpful or selfish, caring or jealous…it doesn’t matter, God just plain loves us. Paul tells the Corinthians that we are united to Christ by the gift of faith and baptism. We are new persons. Our lives are transformed and we see everything from God’s viewpoint. Now do I walk around with this being visible? Is my life transformed or only the part that I want others to see? Do I look at things that happen in my life from God’s viewpoint? Can people see God’s love in me? Can they see it all the time? This is why we have this season of Lent…it’s a time to take our spiritual and moral compass and see that we need to ask God’s help for so that we can get back on the right direction. The last sentence in Paul’s letter is talking about Christ, it says, ““We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake He made Him to be sin who did not know sin, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” There is an interesting translation of this in the Way Bible that says, For God took the sinless Christ and poured into Him our sins. Then, in exchange, He poured God’s goodness into us.” Again I reflect on how much do people who come to me, those who observe me see Christ in me? Do they see Christ’s goodness in me? Then I reflect, as often as possible, perhaps each day in my review of the day, why didn’t they…why did I hold my goodness/love back? What do I need from the Spirit in helping me be more of Christ? The powerful Gospel of the Prodigal Son is one of my favorites. Many years ago I came across Rembrandt’s painting of the ‘The Return of the Prodigal Son’ which today is located in The Hermitage in St Petersburg, Russia. Later on I read Fr. Henri Nouwen’s book, The Return of the Prodigal Son, A story of Homecoming. I have read and re-read this book many times and have given many copies away. It is about how We need to be reconciled to God. The Story really is about God’s love. It is so interesting when we examine Luke’s account that the emphasis throughout focuses on the extreme behavior of the father who is totally committed to do whatever it takes to get both his sons back. He loves each that much, He loves me that much. It is interesting that we call this son the ‘Prodigal Son’ yet this word is not found anywhere in the New Testament. The Son is really lost, in fact both sons and I look at myself…wow…I have been lost so many times…this story is about me. The father ‘runs’ to the son…what really rich person anywhere in time have I seen ‘run’. Just another point on how much the Father loves….How much the Father loves me. The father never mentions repentance, and the son gets no opportunity at all of offer any…he’s home…that’s all that counts. The ‘stuck-up…’poor me’ older son’ felt that he deserved the father’s love…he has earned it. How often that thought comes to my mind, ‘Look at all I have done for God…shouldn’t I get this prayer answered?’ Do I ever take time and look at God’s love for me all the time in every crazy situation of my life? And exactly how grateful have I been? It just seems that the bottom line of Jesus’ story is that His father is just too loving and too accepting. This is the Father that Jesus came to tell you and me about…isn’t that the greatest thing we’ve heard today? And we are in constant need of affirming and loving this God who is always in our lives. We need to be reconciled to God. I would like to conclude this reflection with a few quotes from Fr. Nouwen’s last chapter, Epilogue: Living the Painting. —“When I saw the Rembrandt poster for the first time in the fall of 1983, all my attention was drawn to the hands of the old father pressing his returning boy to his chest. I saw forgiveness, reconciliation, healing; I also saw safety, rest, being at home. I was so deeply touched by this image of the life-giving embrace of father and son because everything in me yearned to be received in the way the prodigal son was received. That encounter turned out to be the beginning of my own return. — There is not only the light-filled reconciliation between the father and the younger son, but also the dark, resentful distance of the elder son. There is repentance, but also anger. There is communion, but also alienation. There is the warm glow of healing, but also the coolness of the critical eye, there is the offer of mercy, but also the enormous resistance against receiving it. It didn’t take long before I encountered the elder son in me. —And still, after a long life as son, I know for sure that the true call is to become a father who only blesses in endless compassion, asking no questions, always giving and forgiving, never expecting anything in return. —When, fours years ago, I went to Saint Petersburg to see Rembrandt’s The Return of the Prodigal Son, I had little idea how much I would have to live what I then saw. I stand with awe at the place where Rembrandt brought me He led me from the kneeling, disheveled young son to the standing, bent-over old father, from the place of being blessed to the place of blessing. As I look at my own aging hands, I know that they have been given to me to stretch out toward all who suffer, to rest upon the shoulders of all who come, and to offer the blessing that emerges from the immensity of God’s love.” And I know that We need to be reconciled to God.