Thoughts on Today’s Lessons for Sunday, March 3, 2013.

First Reading: Exodus 3:1-15
Scripture offers scores of images and metaphors to help us visualize the idea of a God who is beyond our imagining. Still, the idea of God appearing to Moses in a burning bush might seem a little strange to our modern ears. But hear God’s message to Moses, foreshadowing God’s covenant with the people: God brought us out of slavery. God will be with us. God’s assertion to Moses, “I am who I am,” may also be translated from ancient Hebrew as “I will be what I will be,” a promise that carries down through the ages.

Psalm 63
We began the penitential season of Lent by recalling the 40 days that Jesus spent in the desert, defying temptation and preparing for his ministry on earth. Today’s Psalm finds the Psalmist in a similar place, seeking God with thirsty soul in a dry and weary land where there is no water. Through prayer, the poet’s hunger is satisfied. Upheld by God’s strong hand, he sings for joy under the shadow of God’s wings.

Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 10:1-13
Paul, teaching the people of Corinth in a time when early Christians were still working out their relationship with Judaism, recalls Old Testament stories in which Israelites were struck down for failing to keep God’s ways. Paul holds up the Israelites as bad examples for the early Christians, who may have felt that God was testing them through hard times. Be faithful, Paul urges, and know that when hard times test us, God will provide us strength through our faith.

Gospel: Luke 13:1-9
Do bad things happen to people because they sin? No, responds Jesus. Bad things can happen to anyone. That is the way of the world. As God taught Job, so speaks Jesus: God does not punish sin with suffering. The world is more complicated than that. But, Jesus goes on, repentance brings forgiveness and eternal life. And, like the gardener who defers cutting down the barren fig tree in favor of nurturing it a little more, we have hope for forgiveness and another chance.

Thoughts on Today’s Lessons for Sunday, Feb. 24, 2013.

First Reading: Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18
Last week’s reading about God’s covenant in Deuteronomy was easy to understand: Give God thanks with the first fruits of the harvest, not just what’s left over after we have feasted. Be good to our neighbors, and to the poor. Today’s covenant from Genesis is a little harder to wrap our modern minds around, with its talk of sacrificing livestock and poultry! But let’s look past the Bronze Age temple practices to find what endures: God’s promise stays with us always, even when the darkness seems deep and terrifying.

Psalm 27
Today’s Psalm continues the message that the Exodus covenant offers: Even when we feel under attack, beset with dangers and real-life fears, we place our confidence in God and ask for God’s protection. Bad things sometimes happen to good people. That is the way of our lives. But we look for God’s goodness in everyday life, and trust that God will be with us in bad times and good.

Second Reading: Philippians 3:17 – 4:1
The Philippians, too, were worrying about earthly fears and persecution by their enemies, but Paul reassures them with pastoral advice that might recall the Psalmist’s wisdom: Look to God, through Christ, for our salvation. Stand firm in our faith and find meaning in our lives by making every effort to live as Christ would have us live.

Gospel: Luke 13:31-35
It is Lent, and we are reminded of crafty King Herod as we follow Jesus toward Jerusalem and his death on the cross, a death that must come before resurrection and its promise. But then, in the middle of this dark and foreboding passage, there is a magical image that we should not overlook: Jesus describes himself as a mother hen protecting her brood under her wings! Not the strong, ruddy Good Shepherd guarding his flock, but a nurturing, feminine image that’s just as loving yet very different. How does it feel to think of Jesus as a source of gentle motherly love? Try reflecting on this as you hear the Gospel today.

Thoughts on Today’s Lessons for Sunday, Feb. 17, 2013.

First Reading: Deuteronomy 26:1-11
This ancient harvest prayer, offering a tithe of the first fruits of harvest in gratitude for God’s abundance, outlines God’s covenant with the people, a covenant that comes down to us in the Gospel: We are called to love God and our neighbor and to care for the stranger, the poor, the weak and the afflicted. As a Lenten practice, we might consider expressing our penitence and hope in acts of kindness and in community service.

Psalm 91
At first glance today’s psalm seems to offer us simple reassurance: When we are in trouble, if we trust in God, God will protect us. But as abundant as God’s love may be, the Psalmist sings of a covenant, an agreement between God and God’s people: We’re expected to love God, to put our trust in God, to make God our refuge and dwelling-place. Be aware, too, that God will be with us when we encounter lions and serpents, but we will still encounter them!

Second Reading: Romans 10:8b-13
Paul’s pastoral advice to the Romans mirrors today’s other readings. As the Psalmist advises us to trust in God to gain protection, Paul calls on us to accept Jesus and the Resurrection in order to be saved. The Old Testament reading reminds us that our spiritual ancestors were foreigners, and Paul reminds us that there is no Jew or Greek, no insider or outsider in the God of all.

Gospel: Luke 4:1-13
Jesus fasted in the desert for 40 days, a Gospel message with echoes in the 40 days of Lent. Fresh from his encounter with John the Baptist in the Jordan, Jesus meets temptation while fasting in the wilderness. Satan tempts him, first with food, then with visions of power and glory, if only he would turn from God. But Jesus stands firm, and, in the very next verses after these, goes straight to the synagogue to proclaim good news to the poor, release to the captives, sight to the blind and freedom to the oppressed. Let’s remember Jesus’ call as we live into the 40 days of Lent.