FIRST READING: Exodus 3:14; 13-15. 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. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush; and he looked, and Lo, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. And Moses said, “I will turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.” When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here am I.” Then he said, “Do not come near; put off your shoes from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” 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. Then the Lord said, “I have seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters; I know their sufferings, 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. Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” God said to Moses, “I Am who I Am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘I Am has sent me to you.”‘ God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you’, this is my name for ever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.”
SECOND READING: 1 Corinthians 10: 1-6; 10-12. I want you to know, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same supernatural food and all drank the same supernatural drink. For they drank from the supernatural Rock which followed them, and the Rock was Christ. Nevertheless with most of them God was not pleased; for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things are warnings for us, not to desire evil as they did. We must not grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer. Now these things happened to them as a warning, but they were written down for our instruction, upon whom the end of the ages has come. Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.
GOSPEL: Luke 13:1-9. There were some present at that very time who told him of the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And, he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered thus? I tell you, No; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen upon whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, No; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.” 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. And he said to the vinedresser, ‘Lo, these three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down; why should I use up the ground?’ And he answered him, ‘Let it alone, sir, this year also, till I dig about it and put on manure. And if it bears fruit next year, well and good, but if not, you can cut it down’.”
____________________
Sin has a personal aspect and a political (structural) aspect. The essence of the Easter story, which will be celebrated in a few weeks, is freedom from the bondage of sin in both its aspects. Very often, however, it is only the former aspect which is focused upon, almost completely overlooking the latter aspect. Both are important. Both must be taken into account. The Exodus story, begun by Moses’ deliverance and flight from Egypt, returns to his calling. This is the story on which the Easter story is bases and mirrored. It is not a mere spiritual story, something which only has to do with spiritual (personal) conversion; it is also a narrative with real and concrete consequences, a narrative of a people which was physically tormented and freed from slavery and bondage. The Exodus story reminds us that the spiritual bondage which plagues us personally has social and political implications, sometimes very serious ones. The freedom brought to us by Jesus implies a personal healing as much as a commitment to redress social and political oppressive structures.
The apostle Paul cautions the Corinthians not to stand idle before the world and its cruelty. He warns that the ones who feel self-righteous in their presumed personal freedom are not justified if they overlook their social and political responsibilities. ‘Anyone who thinks that he stands,’ he admonishes, ‘take heed lest he fall.’
Jesus insists that we are all in the same boat. He points out that self-justification is a dangerous snare which damages its bearer as much as it distorts reality. Internal conversion (the overcoming the personal dimension of sin) is indicated by outward commitments (to overcome the social and political dimension of sin). Whoever separates the two excludes oneself from Jesus’ notion of conversion, justification and salvation.
No comments:
Post a Comment