Fourth Sunday in Lent

March 10                    NOTES FOR REFLECTION             Fourth Sunday in Lent

Texts:  Joshua 5:9-12; 2 Corinthians 5:16-21; Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

[Note: This Sunday is also designated Mothering Sunday, for which a different set of readings are given in the Lectionary.  I must confess that if I ever knew why it is called Mothering Sunday, I have long since forgotten.  Whatever the reason, I doubt it could possibly justify a change of readings from the wonderful set we have been given for this Fourth Sunday in Lent.  This Sunday is also called Refreshment Sunday, which makes more sense to me, and does not require a different set of readings.]

Theme: Multiple options today, including simply "Refreshment Sunday".  More subtly, what about taking a lead from the first lesson and going for "A Place of our Own"?  Our second lesson might suggest something like "Made New in Christ", or "Reconciled to Reconcile", or even "Ambassadors for Christ".  As for the gospel!  "Welcome Home", or "Coming to our Senses", or even "It's Party Time", though the latter might be going too far for the Season of Lent.

Background.  Believe it or not, there was a time (some decades ago) when I developed a serious interest in running, and even set myself the goal of running a marathon.  Of course, this involved rather more reading about running than actual running – after all, as the Scriptures tell us, it's important to get expert advice before rushing into such a big venture as this: Luke 14:28-32.  So I was very pleased to come across a book by a man recounting the story of his first (and probably last) New York marathon.  (No, I wasn't aiming quite that high: I set my sights on the Upper Hutt marathon.)  The book had a lot about his months of training, including very helpful schedules, dietary advice, and even a whole chapter about the choice of clothing, including the all-important footwear.  But what has stuck in my memory is his account of what happened at the 20-mile mark.

There was a drinks station there, one of many along the way where runners could grab a tumbler of water to drink and/or pour over their heads, according to their most urgent needs at the time.  The author had not bothered at the earlier stations; he was concentrating on maintaining his rhythm, was going well, and didn't want to risk interrupting the flow.  Had he read as many books on how to run a marathon as I had by then he would have known that he was doing the wrong thing.  By the 20-mile mark his body was in rebellion.  He suddenly felt it was all too much.  He saw a big sign saying cheerfully, "GOOD JOB!  ONLY 6 MILES TO GO!" and heard himself shouting abuse at it.  One of the attendants saw his distress, came over to him, and said very quietly, "Hey, Buddy, there's a whole lot of people waiting for you when you get there."

That's all he needed.  Far more than the water he gulped down, those words energised him.  The attendant may have been guessing, or he may have been referring to the crowd who give everyone a great shout as they finish.  But the author remembered that waiting for him when he got there would be his wife, their children, his parents and his sister.  The latter had spent 20 hours or so travelling from overseas to be there for him; their parents had flown across the USA.  They were just 6 miles away now, waiting for him.

His next clear memory was crossing the finishing line, and seeing his sister pushing through the crowd to get to him.  It was her who caught him as his legs finally gave way.  The final chapter was a real tear-jerker.  At the time, of course, the spiritual significance of the story passed me by.  But what a parable it is to help us experience more deeply the truth of the story of the Prodigal Son!  Through the tough times, when we are taken to the limits of our own strength, we should keep before us the vision of the One who is waiting for us when we get there.

It may even help us to grasp the importance of this little passage we have today from Joshua.  The Israelites have completed a journey far longer and more challenging than the New York marathon.  There were many times along the way when they felt like giving up, that it was all too much for them.  But they, too, have somehow got there and taken possession of their prize.  It's time for a celebratory meal.  Nor should we get caught up in judging all this through 21^st century eyes, focussing on the wrongs of land-grabs, and the rights of the indigenous people of Canaan.  To do that is not just political correctness, it is intellectual imperialism of the worst kind.  This is the Jews' story, and we have no right to re-write it.  Rather, we should receive it as a sacred gift to share, and to learn from it.

I suggest we read it as a story of spiritual growth.  Notice the emphasis in verses 11 and 12: they are no longer "hand-fed" with manna.  Now they eat the food produced by the land God has given them.  There is surely something here about maturing in their relationship with God.  Of course, the danger is that they will forget the grace of God, and assume that they are now providing for their own needs.  Hence the need for the ritual of remembrance in the Feast of the Passover; and hence the urgent exhortations we find, particularly in the Book of Deuteronomy, to remember the Lord your God as you enter this new life.

Which gets us to St Paul.  Among the books I am reading at the moment is Ursula King's fascinating biography of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin.  My eye was caught by this quote on the back cover from contemporary theologian and spiritual guide, Thomas Berry: "From the viewpoint of our present understanding of the universe it could be said that Teilhard is the most significant Christian theologian since St Paul."  That's quite a claim for Teilhard, but it's also quite a claim for St Paul: at least, it's quite a challenge for our usual understanding of St Paul's writings.  What is the immediate thing you think of when someone mentions his name?  His image of the Body of Christ, perhaps?  His black-and-white approach to all issues of faith?  His dramatic conversion?  Or perhaps his alleged misogyny?  How many of us immediately think of him as a prophet of conservation of the environment, the patron saint of  biological thinkers, the pioneer of Darwinian thinking?

 

Yet in many places in his writings, including today's passage, we can see what Thomas Berry might have had in mind in his comment on Teilhard.  [Romans 8 is the classic passage on this topic.]  So great is the effect of the Incarnation, in St Paul's eyes, that he sees a new creation.  At the very least, we might say that the evolution of humanity (and, through humanity, the whole creation) has reached a new stage of evolution.  As the first human being came into exstence through the infusion of spirit and matter (God breathed into the dust of the earth), so now the Spirit has re-entered the whole of creation.  All that blocked its flow previously has gone, swept away by Christ's saving death: the death-dealing Flood has been replaced by the Life-giving inundation of the Spirit. 

That's surely at least a bit of what St Paul has in mind with the deceptively simple idea of reconciliation between God and humanity.  And it doesn't stop there, of course: we are called to carry it on, to be proponents of the invitation to be reconciled to God, so that more and more people may hear and become aware of this new way of life, this new creation.  We are, in St Paul's telling phrase, to become Christ's "Ambassadors".

Joshua.  The final stain of slavery and captivity has been removed.  The long and bitter struggles of the wilderness years are over.  A new generation of leaders has emerged to replace the old guard.  They have at last entered into the Promised Land.  It has yielded their first season of crops.  It is time to stop, reflect on all that has been, to celebrate, and to prepare for the new future that now lies open to them.  That involves new challenges, including spiritual ones, but they are now embarked on a whole new stage of their development as people of faith.

Taking It Personally.

·         Reflect on the story of the New York marathon runner.  What insights does that story give you into this passage from Joshua?

·         Have you ever broken in a new garden?  Can you recall the satisfaction of getting your first crop from it?

·         What might this story say to an early immigrant to this country, or perhaps a recent refugee, who has undergone great difficulties to reach this land and started to build a new life here?

·         Ponder the distinction between the daily supply of manna from heaven and the produce from the land.  Reflect on the present state of your relationship with God in the light of that distinction. 

 

Corinthians.  St Paul begins with a leap from the local to the cosmic.  There was a time when we regarded people from "a worldly point of view".  There is a huge amount in that phrase!  At the very least it means, simply as men and women, good bad, and ugly, some like us, some not so much, some we like, some we will go to any length to avoid.  But that's not how we see people today. Today we see people in two groups, those who are "in Christ" and those who are not.  The first group are already part of the new creation; they have already left behind all that previously enslaved humanity and held it back from a full, life-giving relationship with God.  The other group have not yet had their eyes open to this new reality.  Through Christ those who are open to him have already been reconciled to God, and have been given the mission to reach out to others, on God's behalf, to beg those others to be reconciled to God. 

 

Taking It Personally.

 

• It's time for another bathroom mirror challenge.  In the privacy of your bathroom look yourself straight in the eye and say, "I am a new creation.  Thanks be to God."  Keep repeating these words until you believe them.  Let them continue to echo in your mind as you go about your daily business.
• Are you now, or have you been in the past, estranged from any member of your family or someone else you once knew well?  Call that situation to mind as you ponder the whole concept of reconciliation in this passage.
• By reconciliation, does St Paul really mean forgiveness, or is that something different?
• Think about the role of an "ambassador".  An ambassador belongs to and represents someone else; lives in a society but is a citizen of another place; is told what to say and follows an agenda laid down by someone else.  What does all that mean in term of our mission and ministry as Christians?

 

Luke.  This story is so well known, it hardly needs any more commentary from me.  Perhaps the thing I should draw attention to is the first 3 verses of chapter 15: Jesus tells this story, not to encourage those of us who sometimes feel we have strayed or lost the plot in some way, and are unsure if we can come back.  He tells it to deflate those self-righteous religious experts who disapprove of the company he is keeping.  So it's very much in keeping with those other stories about people judging others instead of themselves.  The elder brother is in that group, of course, and is the real villain of the piece.  The fact that we often feel some (secret) sympathy for him shows why the story is particularly helpful in this Season of Lent, a time of Self-Examination and Special Devotion.  But notice how the story is about free-will: the father does not attempt to stop the prodigal son leaving, does not try to track him down and drag him home.  He waits, and waits, until the son comes to his senses and comes back of his own free will.  Then the party begins in earnest.

 

Taking It Personally.  Do just that.  Read the story slowly and prayerfully, asking the Spirit to lead you deeper into the truth of the story.  Use it for a careful period of self-examination.  Finish with a time of special devotion.