Are you being
called to change during Lent?
When, in the Book of Exodus, Moses flees Egypt, he enters into his own personal exile. Far from his own people, he marries into a
Midianite family, seeking to live peacefully among them. But God wants to use Moses as his instrument: I have
come down to rescue my people from
the hands of the Egyptians… This is what you shall tell the Israelites, God
says. Moses, however, resists until
God offers him God’s name: I am who am, that is, I am who has
always been and is now and ever shall be, actively working throughout all of time,
for you and in you. God’s self-identification
challenges Moses to own Moses’ own heritage – I am the God of your fathers, God reminds him. Moses must now claim his identity as one who is to lead his
people to a land flowing with milk and
honey, a land where they will bless
the Lord with all their being, as
in Psalm 103, giving thanks for God for that reclaimed identity: all their past, all their hope for the
future, all their gratitude for what God is doing in their midst in the here
and now. It is as call to radical
transformation, first for Moses, and then for the people he will lead out of
Egypt.
In Luke’s Gospel,
Jesus likewise calls the people to radical transformation: if you do not repent, you will all perish! Using the parable of a fig tree, Jesus
reminds them that they must not be complacent about their position as baptized
people. The fig tree represents the
patience of God; like it, we are to bear fruit.
Years after Jesus’ death, the baptized Corinthians don’t seem to have
realized this lesson. Paul tells them
that they must choose active relationship with the Lord. It is not enough to be baptized into Moses and in the cloud and in the sea; they must take care not to fall, never allowing
themselves to become complacent but rather always looking for and embracing the
transformation Jesus calls them to.
The season of Lent
is not just a reminder to be good for a time; it is about our own radical
transformation, about growth and change, about embracing our full identity as
baptized Christians and acting upon it. We
are called to come alive with the Lord, to live with the Lord, doing what we ought
in order to live in relationship with the Lord.
Are we being called to change during Lent? Actually, we’re being called to so much more: we are called to open to the radical transformation
Jesus desires in us and invest our lives in an active relationship with him,
one that will bear fruit.
This post is based
on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.
Image source: www.wordclouds.com
No comments:
Post a Comment