Shikrot Mpwi - Sunday Synopsis
with Fr. Justine J. Dyikuk
Third Sunday of Lent Year C – March 23,
2019.
Reading: Ex 3:1-8,13-15; Responsorial Psalm
102:1-4,6-8,11;
1 Cor. 10:1-6,10-12 & Gospel Luke 13:1-9.
Theme: Produce or Perish!
Introduction
Friends in Christ, as we continue our Traditional
Lenten observances of prayer, fasting and almsgiving, our liturgy charges us to
assess our lives on the expected good deeds we are supposed to produce as
Christians. Based on the parable of the fig tree in today’s gospel, our
liturgical reflection titled, “Produce or Perish,” shall take us through the background
and summary of the readings, pastoral lessons, homiletic quotes
to remember and the conclusion.
Background
& Summary of the Readings
The first reading (Ex
3:1-8,13-15) reveals how Moses encountered God in the burning bush when he went
to look after the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law and priest of Midian. It
tells how God called from the burning bush and ordered him to come nearer yet take
off his shoes for the place he was standing on is a holy ground. It further
discloses how God reveals himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. We
are told that Moses covered his because he was afraid to look at God.
Thereafter, the Lord told
him that he has seen the miserable condition of the people of Israel in Egypt.
He maintained that he would deliver them from their slave-masters and lead them
to the land of Canaanites, flowing with milk and honey. Disclosing himself as
“I Am who I Am,” the Lord noted that his name shall be invoked for all
generations to come.
In the second reading (1 Cor.
10:1-6,10-12), St. Paul takes the Corinthians memory lane to reveal how their
fathers were guided by a cloud to pass through the red sea. He tells how they
ate spiritual food and drank spiritual drink from the rock. He discloses that
that rock is Christ. He noted that regrettably, despite all the Lord did for
them, they failed to please him which lead to their corpses littering the
desert.
He emphasized that all this
happened to serve as a warning to Christians who have allowed lust for
forbidden things to take the better of their lives. He further cautioned those
who always complain to take these things that the scripture talks about as a
warning. Using the end time to draw his audience closer to Christ, he said,
those who think they are safe ought to beware of falling.
The Gospel (Luke 13:1-9) presents
the response of Jesus to the people who felt that the Galileans whose blood
Pilate mingled with their sacrifices suffered because of their sins. He
maintained that it wasn’t the case and called on his audience who are supposedly
Pharisees to repent or perish. Using the example of the 18 people on whom the
tower at Siloam fell and killed, Jesus insisted that they were not guiltier
than others. Again, he told them to repent. He used the opportunity to tell the
parable of the fig tree which was due for cutting because for 3 years, it
didn’t give fruit to the owner. But the man looking after it pleaded for just
one more year to be given so that he might manure it and if it does not
produce, it should be cut down.
Pastoral Lessons
1. The Holy Ground that
Moses took off his shoes in the first reading stands for the Church in
contemporary times which is the sanctuary that produces citizens of heaven in
this would who distinguish themselves as the salt of the earth and the light of
the world (Cf. Matthew 5:13 &
John 8:12).
2. By revealing himself as the God of Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob, God wanted to teach us that his name should be invoked for all
generations to come.
