Fourth Sunday of Lent

Lectionary: 33

One by one, trees collapse
into the creek below. 

Whoever is in Christ is a new creation:
the old things have passed away;
behold, new things have come.



There were a few scenes in the Mel Gibson movie, The Passion of the Christ, that I liked; especially, the moment when the suffering Lord says to Mary, "See, I make all things new." 

Lent and Easter are all about the renewal God effects in us. 

I am laboring through Tolstoy's Anna Karenina now. There is a scene early in the novel when Vronsky acts with unexpected kindness toward a stranger. It struck me that these random acts of kindness always have an aura of newness about them. They are surprising and promising, as if something wonderful is breaking into the history of humankind. Unfortunately, I am told, Tolstoy's novel does tend in that direction. 

Jesus finishes his parable of The Prodigal Son with that note of hopefulness. "We have to rejoice." 

I hear the father telling his sulking elder son, "True, we're not a good family, and I am not an ideal father. Your brother is an irresponsible wastrel and we'll have to find some way to contain the damage he does. But, Son, he is ours and we have to celebrate his homecoming. Our life and our world will never be perfect. If we wait until everything is right, we'll never have anything to celebrate."

In today's first reading, we hear God speak to Joshua, “Today I have removed the reproach of Egypt from you.” Will Israel be a perfect nation from now on? The divine historian knew better than that. But he could rejoice that God removes our guilt again and again. 

We carry within ourselves the seeds of sin and the promise of salvation. Jews and their spiritual descendants -- Christians and Muslims -- carry the guilt of Israel's infidelity. We endure the curse of David, whose heirs would always suffer violence. As Americans we will always suffer the history of racism against African-Americans and Native Americans, our xenophobia, and religious violence. The crimes of abortion, capital punishment, suicide, gun violence and drug abuse continue to plague us. 

Do these endemic evils mean we should never celebrate God's blessings? That we should not celebrate Easter or Christmas or the Sunday Mass? 

During Lent we remember our sins. The awareness of sin and guilt can be overwhelming. But even in the middle of Lent we hear, "Laetare!" Rejoice. 

A pool of water
opens to the sky above.

God is still Good, very Good, supremely Good. And our hope is as fresh as every random act of kindness.