Third Sunday in Lent Year C 20th March 2022
Lectionary Readings: Isaiah 55 v1-9; Psalm 63 v1-8; 1 Corinthians 10 v1-13; Luke 13 v1-9.
Repentance.
The Collins dictionary of The Bible defines repentance as follows:
Alongside faith in Christ, repentance towards God was an essential requirement for people who wanted to know God for themselves (Mark 1:15; Acts 20:21). Repentance included two main elements. The first was a complete change of direction in life (Luke 15:17-20) and involved a turning away from a life of sin and a turning towards God (Acts 3:19). The second was a genuine sense of sorrow and remorse for sin (Luke 18:13). Repentance is both a human activity and a gift from God. When it is associated with faith the former is emphasized, but the latter comes to the fore in the context of God’s gift of forgiveness (Acts 5:31).
The passage from the Old Testament relates to the second prophet ‘Isaiah’ who was active during the period of exile in Babylon. He was addressing exiles who had become despondent and were beginning to doubt that God cared for them.
Isaiah says, Turn to the Lord! He can still be found. Call out to God! He is near. Give up your crooked ways and your evil thoughts. Isaiah was of the belief that the Jews had been punished with exile in Babylon because they and their ancestors had turned away from God and worshipped ‘idols’ instead.
In the passage from Luke’s gospel, Jesus is helping the people with their thinking about the consequences of sin. Pilate had recently ordered the killing of Jewish worshippers and some people were of the opinion that the victims, or their parents had sinned against God and their killing was a consequence of their sin. Jesus was opposed to this crooked thinking. Jesus responded, “Do you think that these people were worse sinners than everyone else in Galilee just because of what happened to them? Not at all! But you can be sure that if you don’t turn back to God, every one you will also be killed. What about the eighteen people who died when the tower of Siloam fell on them? Do you think they were worse than than everyone else in Jerusalem? Not at all! But you can be sure that if you don’t turn back to God, everyone of you will also die”. (Luke 13 v2-5).
Jesus was explaining that tragedies happen, not as a consequence of the victims’ sin, but because sometimes, people happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. The death of the listeners was going to be as a consequence of following the ways of man, (in a violent revolt against the Romans, AD 66-70), rather than the ways of God, (the way of non violent protest).
Today’s gospel reading continues with the story Jesus told about the unproductive fig tree, in which the gardener begs the owner for one last chance to encourage the tree to bear fruit. (Fig tree= the people of Jerusalem?, the gardener = Jesus?, and the owner = God?)
Jesus refers to sin in the context of our relationship with God. If we are in a close relationship with God, we are more likely to do the right thing, bearing fruit in terms of acts of love for others, that builds up the kingdom of God. If we are distant from God, we are more likely to serve our own interests, thwarting God’s purposes and delaying the establishment of his kingdom here on earth.
“Return to the Lord your God. He will be merciful and forgive your sins”. (Isaiah 55 v7).
(Thereby restoring the penitent believer to a close relationship with God).
Isaiah’s advice and reassurance is relevant to people of every generation.
Bible quotations are taken from the Contemporary English Version.