Holy Cross Monastery, West Park, NY
Br. Lary Pearce, OHC
RCL - Lent 3 C - Sunday 07 March 2010
Exodus 3:1-15
1 Corinthians 10:1-13
Luke 13:1-9
Dig It and Dung It
The mention of figs and fig trees brings happy memories to me. My maternal grandmother had a large fig tree behind her house in coastal South Carolina. My mother knew what to do with figs. Most years she would buy several dishpans full of figs, put them in glass jars, and seal the jars. That was how she made fig preserves, which she would serve with hot biscuits and spicy sausages for breakfast.
Today’s gospel is not about a happy childhood memory. Rather, it is a stern warning to amend one’s life while there is time. Jesus’ mention of the tower of Siloam reminds me of other towers. There is the Tower of Babel which humans built in a sinfully proud attempt to reach heaven and making themselves the equals of God. God frustrated that project by confusing human language and dividing the human race linguistically.
Another tower is the world trade center with its two towers. If the people who died on 9/11 had known they were going to die would they have amended their ways. Am I any better than the people who died in collapse of those buildings? I think not. Things happen and I certainly am not competent to judge other people. Even Jesus deferred judgment to his father. That being the case I know that my duty is not to condemn other people. My duty is to comfort, to succor, and to love.
The recent earthquake in Haiti devastated that already poverty stricken country. Some folks, including a well known evangelist, Pat Robinson, think that the Haitians got what they deserved. He said the Haitians made a pact with the Devil during their war of liberation from the French. To pursue this line of thought a little further, were the people of New Orleans any more wicked than the people of New York City?
Another example that brings the problem even closer to home is, were the monks of Holy Cross Monastery holier than the monks of Mt Calvary Monastery, when their monastery burned a couple of years ago? I doubt it.
If I knew the day on which I am going to die, how would I change my life? I can’t honestly say that I would go to Church more or take communion more often. Rather, I think I would hope to think kinder, gentler thoughts toward my brothers, toward our guests, toward everyone with whom I come in contact. Also, I would spend more time in meditation.
I am under sentence of death. That is the human condition. Still, I know that Jesus died and showed the way through death to eternal life. Still like the fig tree I have some time before I die, and, unlike the fig tree I can cultivate my spiritual life, and, by God’s grace, prepare not for my death, but for eternal life. God loves each human being immeasurably, and he does respect the free will of every human so that they can accept or reject God’s love. I pray that I will have the wisdom to accept God’s love.
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