The Ways of the Lord

Old and New

Fourth Sunday of Lent - March 14, 2010

Reading I: Jos 5:9a, 10-12
Responsorial Psalm: Ps 34: 2-3, 4-5, 6-7
Reading II: 2 Cor 5:17-21
Gospel: Lk 15:1-3, 11-32

Fifth Sunday of Lent - March 21, 2010

Reading I: Is 43:16-21
Responsorial Psalm: Ps 126:1-2, 2-3, 4-5, 6
Reading II: Phil 3:8-14
Gospel: Jn 8:1-11


I would be at serious risk of biting off way more than I could chew if I were to attempt to cover the readings from both this past Sunday and today.  In the interests of keeping things manageable here, I will omit (with some regret) any direct reference to the Gospel readings.  Both of them expound very beautifully upon the reality of forgiveness, and I would encourage everyone to give each reading its due.  I happen to know of a few excellent resources for reflection on these Gospels which I promise to reference here in an update in the near future.

This post will concentrate on the first readings, because I think they lay out a very important background to the message of the Gospel readings.  It may be easy to miss that fact.  Perhaps I should speak for myself: when I read the first reading from this past Sunday, I had no idea what it had to do with the subsequent readings.  Okay, so the Israelites celebrated the Passover.  Yes, I understand that the Passover is central to Jewish life.  But why are we reading about this particular Passover--what makes this one so important?

Taking another look at the broader context of this event gives us some valuable clues.  Our reading begins with the Lord declaring to Joshua: "Today I have removed the reproach of Egypt from you."  This "reproach of Egypt" refers to the mocking words Pharaoh levels against the Israelites (see Exodus 14:3) and, implicitly, against the Lord God.  These words are fulfilled in the form of a curse the Lord pronounces, as a punishment for disobedience, against the very generation of Israelites whom he released from captivity in Egypt.  But just prior to today's reading, we see the next generation of Israelites receiving the ritual sign of circumcision.  In other words, this generation is taking up anew the same covenant their parents had taken in the desert.  They are a new beginning, a second chance for God's plan of salvation through his people Israel.  This new beginning receives its ritual or "sacramental" fulfillment in the Passover meal.  In this meal, a new generation of Israelites witnesses and receives the graces "today" (in reality, in the sacramental sense) of the Lord's great deed of salvation--liberation from Egypt--which their parents before them had also witnessed and of which they too had received the benefits (in reality, in the historical sense).

We also hear, after this narration of the Passover meal, that God ceased to provide the manna, the "bread from heaven" the Lord had provided to Israel in the desert.  This makes a certain amount of sense: they no longer needed the manna, for now they had plenty to eat.  God had begun to provide for them "the yield of the land of Canaan".  But here again, I ask: what makes this detail important?

It seems to me that all of the elements of this very brief reading which we have been considering begin to paint a picture of God's characteristic ways of dealing with Israel.  There are two points I would like to make here on the Biblical "character" of God.  First, God saves.  He liberates his people from captivity; through the covenant, he initiates a life-giving relationship with them; he provides them with food; he forgives and releases them from the full consequences of their unwise behavior.

Second, the form taken by God's salvation varies depending upon historical circumstances.  During their slavery in Egypt, God sent them spokespersons and champions in the persons of Moses and Aaron, and he battled against their oppressors in miraculous ways.  While Israel wandered in the desert, and even after their disobedience, God continued to sustain them by providing quail and manna for their food.  Once they reach the land of Canaan, the manna ceases, and Israel eats of the fruit of the earth: but this is no less God's providence for them.  This differentiated pattern of salvation, to which the letter to the Hebrews alludes, continues throughout the history of Israel.  Sometimes the manner of God's saving work will change precisely because of the behavior of the people, even when this behavior is defiant.  The first book of Samuel portrays as an act of disobedience the people's demand that they be given a king, rather than be satisfied with the judges whom God appointed to fight for his people as the need arose.  God used the occasion afforded him by this sin to open yet another chapter in the story of salvation.  The monarchy of Israel became an instrument of God for the protection and good governance of his people, to the point that God even sent his Spirit upon David and attached special blessings to his rule and the rule of his descendants.

The first reading for this Sunday recaps this same Biblical pattern while augmenting it sharply.  As in last Sunday's reading, we are reminded of God's great act of emancipation on behalf of Israel.  But this time, God dramatically downplays this pivotal event--the event that formed Israel as a nation--in comparison with what is to come:

Remember not the events of the past,
the things of long ago consider not;
see, I am doing something new!

At some point in the near future--better still: this very day, for those who have eyes to see it--God is about to trump all the expectations of his people with something utterly mind-blowing.  God is declaring himself the God of the unexpected, the God of new beginnings, who overcomes oppressive situations of doubt and despair before breakfast.  A striking message, as much to its most likely historical audience--the people of Israel in exile, still under the rule of the Babylonians who conquered them, with no end in sight--as it is to our own unstable, war-torn, anxiety-ridden world, struggling to emancipate itself from the seemingly relentless momentum of its often gruesome history.

The Scriptures do not present us with a God eager to prove to human beings that he exists.  Rather, we meet in the Bible a God bent on saving human beings from the forces that enslave them, stripping them of their humanity.  And although the history of humankind seems all too often to push against the great efforts of human beings to secure their own dignity, even with crushing force, God shows himself capable of working through this very history to initiate ever new acts of salvation.  Christians believe that God confirms his commitment to humanity, first revealed to the Israelites, in a definitive way by revealing himself in Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit.  Those who would be Christ's ambassadors ought not, therefore, expect to be freed from the conditions of their human nature and their human history, including the suffering this will entail.  Yet God offers to them a special liberty that works within these conditions, so that they might be free to announce his praises with joy.