Readings:
Sermon:
How’s Lent going for you? Are you managing to stick to whatever you aimed to do, or not do, for these 40 days? It can be a bit like a New Year’s Resolution…another opportunity to be better at something we think isn’t quite as it should be in our life. But in Lent the focus of that improvement is a spiritual one – it’s about coming closer to God…deepening our relationship with God.
Today’s Gospel reading from St Luke begins with two references to events that caused the deaths of a number of people. One caused by the actions of a human – Pilate – and the other a natural event – the collapse of a tower. Jesus uses these two events to highlight that how someone dies is not important in the grand scheme of things.
He is trying to address a misunderstanding of many of the Jews around him that dying a violent or painful death did not happen because of something they had done wrong in their lives. Deaths like this did not just happen to those who were more sinful than others…they happened to everyone alike. No-one was more deserving of death than anyone else.
These deaths were physical events – they happened to the body. Jesus speaks to those around him of how to avoid spiritual death. It is a matter of turning…or re-turning to God. The word Jesus uses is repent…’Unless you repent, you will perish’, he says.
It feels like quite threatening language…but it got the people’s attention and so he goes on to tell a story, a parable.
The fig tree in the vineyard has been growing for a while and it still isn’t producing fruit. The owner wants to chop it down, but the gardener convinces the owner to allow him to encourage fruit for 1 more year. The owner relents but with a warning.
The message is a warning to the people that if they don’t ‘produce fruit’, that is if they don’t turn to Christ and follow the new way of love then they risk being cut down – they risk separation from God. But there is hope – God is always willing to tend his people - and that is everyone - to give them food just as the gardener put manure around the fig tree. God’s love is always there to nourish us.
And the first step to producing fruit is to turn to Christ.
We can do this at any time by repenting.
Repenting is about recognising things in our lives that go against loving God and loving our neighbours. It’s about identifying thoughts and actions that are selfish or greedy.
In church services there is very often a time when, as a group of Christians, we repent together. It can be called Confession or Prayers of Penitence….which is just another word for being repentant.
These prayers generally follow a pattern:
We recall our sins
We say sorry
We say we are turning back (repenting)
We ask for forgiveness
We ask for help to do better
We declare a willingness to serve God
Each time we say this it reminds us of the steps we need to take to turn fully to Christ, to love God and be ready to produce fruit.
During Lent a different type of prayer is used. One of the ideas behind this is that the whole season is about reflecting on our lives and how we can do better, so we simply keep asking for God’s mercy. Some simple words are use and repeated:
Lord have mercy; Lord have mercy
Christ have mercy; Christ have mercy
Lord have mercy; Lord have mercy
Whichever sort of prayer is used, the priest will say a prayer of absolution. These are words of forgiveness which reflect the ever-present forgiveness that God has for us. This is the love that God showed us, and continues to show us, through Jesus. By repenting and turning to God we then recognise and feel that love…this is what is known as God’s Grace. It is pure love that is forgiving.
When Jesus was speaking to the people, he was saying that everyone needs to repent, everyone has done something, or had some thought, against God or against neighbour.
But there is hope – always. God’s love knows no bounds. By always returning to Christ, repenting of losing our focus - God’s Grace will become clear in our hearts and minds.
So, if your Lent challenge is going well…brilliant…keep going. But if you’re struggling to keep up your Lent, or if this is the first time you’ve thought about a focus for Lent…no problem – start again.
So let’s pray together those words
Lord have mercy; Lord have mercy
Christ have mercy; Christ have mercy
Lord have mercy; Lord have mercy
Amen
Questions:
- Can you include a time of reflection and repentance in your daily routine?
- How does knowing that God loves you unconditionally make you feel?