3rd Lenten Sunday

On the first Sunday in His humanity Jesus taught us how we can resist our daily temptations. Last Sunday we climbed the mountain with Him, and He revealed His divinity to us and His Father asked us to listen to Him. This Sunday Jesus speaks to us and gives us two important messages: God is patient with us and we must be converted.

For many of our contemporaries, this God does not exist and if God does exist, how can he allow so much violence, especially unjust oppression?  They share Moses' internal despire and their lack of understanding of the divine silence is understandable. The world would like to see a just, all-powerful God, with the characteristics of a dictatorship, a merciless judgement. Moses is going to discover a completely different God, a God who is patient, a God who suffers with his people, a God who acts in the face of the misery and suffering of his people. For this, He needs Moses, and today He needs us. We can respond to this divine call by saying, 'Who am I, Lord, to go and meet Pharaoh, the mighty man of this world? If we put all our trust in this God, we will discover, like Moses, the divine answer, a reassuring answer, "I will be with you. 

We are chosen, this fig tree, which the Lord planted on good ground, and today he is approaching to recover the fruit, which he has been waiting for. Totally discouraged and disappointed by our unfaithfulness and unbelief, God would like to act, in a concrete and definitive way. "Cut him off, what is the use of letting him exhaust the soil? The temptation is great and with the strength that is available, it is easy to make it disappear. Yet the story tells us another story, for we have a God who never desires the death of sinners, strongly desires that this fig tree bear fruit, in due season, like a tree planted on the shore. "Master, leave it for another year while I dig around it and put manure on it. Perhaps it will bear fruit in the future. If not, you will cut it down. If that fig tree refuses to bear fruit in due course, despite the time it has been given, the vinedresser himself will remove that plant, certainly in sorrow. It's a pity, everything has to start again, as it was before.

We must never forget our history, the history of salvation. Everything has a meaning in life, and all the events of life, pleasant or unpleasant, have something to tell us.  The God of our history is full of mercy. Yet He is also a God of justice and peace. The fig tree, like the vine, is a biblical image that explains the relationship God has established with his people. Our God is a merciful God, not a God of judgment. It is not good to put Him on trial. 

God comes to meet us in ordinary events, Moses finds himself alone in the desert, a well used place, he discovers an interesting and curious event. Taking a break, like the Good Samaritan, is necessary to better assimilate the grace that God gives us. In this pause, God sees our progress, and He comes to us and will call us, Moses, Moses and remind us of our history. "I am God of your Father." God all-other becomes very close. We must know how to live this strong, totally unexpected moment. This is the divine action.

God leaves Moses free that he assumes his responsibility, not alone , but with the strength of God. Let us go forward in this Lenten season in confidence. This God of our Father is with us. Let us not hesitate to start again, or even return to Egypt. A year is given and let us take advantage of it, Amen.