Wednesday, 27 March 2019

3rd Sunday of Lent Year C. By Tobe Eze


3rd Sunday of Lent Year C.

First Reading
Exodus 3:1-8a, 13-15
Second Reading
1 Corinthians 10:1-6, 10-12
Gospel
Luke 13:1-9
THEME: GO CLOSER.
There are many Igbo proverbs that explain this our team very well. Some of them are; Onye no mmadu nso n’ anu isi eze ya (someone who is closer to a person perceives the mouth odour of the person), oke no n’ ulo gwara nke no n’ agu n’ azu di na ngiga (a rat that resides in the house is the one that told the wild one that there is fish in the kitchen) and so many other.
The first reading is the story of the first personal encounter Moses had with God in the scene of the burning bush. He saw something very strange, instead of running away, he decided to go closer to understand and God called out to him. By going closer to God, he was chosen and sent by God to his people to redeem them from their suffering in the land of Egypt. Instead of running away from what we do not understand in our faith, we should go closer, ask questions and we shall understand.
Though God was very close to the people of Israel but they were misbehaving and that brought death to them. Moses went closer to God, he saw his glory and lived his life to please the Lord but some or majority of those he was with were not measuring up and that brought serious destruction to them in the desert and this is what the second reading is reminding us today that it does not end in coming closer to God but being able to remove our sandals for we are standing on a holy ground or land. Continue Reading........................

I was in a bus one day traveling, a girl was praying and preaching in the bus. At a point she said that it is only sin that is the cause of our both physical and spiritual death, both physical and spiritual poverty, that God did not create us to suffer (umu Chukwu adighi ata afufu). Someone interrupted her and asked her. Does it mean that every poor person is a worst sinner in the world, if really it is sin that brings about hardship? She could not answer the question very well for she knew it was not the case. This type of thing is what is presented to Jesus in the gospel today and he is telling us today that those who suffered in the gospel were not the worst sinners in the world. They were just victims of circumstances. The Jews wanted to tell Jesus and us that those that their blood was mingled with the blood of their sacrifice by Pilate were the worst persons ever existed. But Jesus being God knew all and gave them perfect answer to the question. This is also seen in our lives today in many ways. We try to beatify and canonize ourselves and condemn others in all thing. It is because he does not know how to make effort that is why he is poor, it is because she does not know how to take care of her children, that is why her child died, it is because he does know how to handle a woman, that is why his wife is controlling him, it is because she does not know how to take good care of her husband, that is why he has given in to drinking and womanizing, it is because she does not know how to get men, that is why she is still not married and many other thing we say to people who are unfortunate. Some of these may be true but not in all cases.  We do generalize it too much and make ourselves perfect and beyond mistake.

The period that we are going to use and say all those things above, we should use it to go closer to God just like Moses in the first reading. The second reading ended with these words “Therefore, whoever thinks he is standing secure should take care not to fall”. If you think you have made it in life and others are stupid, look at your down fall coming. The only solution is to go closer to God and you will see his glory, he will explain things to you as Jesus did in the Gospel and we will know that “I am” has spoken. THANKS AND HAPPY SUNDAY.

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