Third Sunday of Lent

Isaish 55.1-9; 1 Corinthians 10.1-13; Luke 13.1-9

We continue our journey through Lent with our ongoing theme of Repentance, of Turning the Heart to God. And I'd like to start by quoting part of the Old Testament reading set for today from Isaiah chapter 55 because it's in this context that we can view what we've read this morning from the epistle and the gospel. These are the words:

"Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near; let the wicked forsake their way, and the unrighteous their thoughts; let them return to the Lord, that he may have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." If you wondered where I got the title for my sermon blog from, well now you know. But I've not read that out simply to let you know that. As I said, they really set the context for the other two readings and not just for those but for the theme of Repentance. And that context is of course the almighty and ineffable God.

On the first Sunday of Lent we thought about doubt. Last Sunday we contrasted that, by thinking about belief. And between these two poles we might think that we are being pulled to and fro, first towards one then towards the other. The Christian life often feels like that. And in very practical terms as we try to live out God's commandments it seems that sometimes we feel quite successful and at others, quite the opposite. And so you can so that our attempts at repentance sometimes feel successful and at other times, we find ourselves quite caught up with the passions raging inside us and fall foul of the commandments in one way or another. Certainly it's a hard job to continually do what Jesus commands which is to love God and our neighbour as ourselves, all the time. If you are like me you wake up in the morning full of good intentions but even before you've got to the bathroom or put the kettle on, you've 'missed the mark' to some degree. And from then onwards it's like you just can't stop yourself, you've got caught up once again in the momentum of those passions and you end the day just like you ended it the day before at odds in some way with someone about something, even if it's just somebody on tv whose opinion you don't share.

We could then tend towards despair at never being able to live in accordance with the commandments, and readily run away with the idea that living the life long journey of repentance is really a waste of time. It's then that we need to look closely at what we are being told today in the readings. First of all we have to put to one side our own human logic, to put aside our human reason. God doesn't think like us, God doesn't reason like us. And it's not just a slight difference, the range of difference between God and us is like as the heavens are higher than the earth. Of course, take a ride into the heavens and you never stop the outward or upward journey. So God's way is infinitely different to ours. Jesus make the comparison when he says things like "You have heard that it was said an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, but I say to you love your enemies, pray for those who hate you, do good to those who spitefully use you". One is the human way, the other is God's way, and they are totally different.

So God's way is different to the human way. St. Paul says in his first letter to the Corinthians that we have to watch that we don't keep falling back into the human will once we've set off on the journey of repentance, to doing God's will. All the time we'll meet trials and temptations just like the people of God in the wilderness did. But they are there now as an example to us of the ways we might be tested and how not to succumb. But also that God is there in it with us and that more than that He won't give us a testing that is to big for us. He says that "God is faithful, and He will not let you be tested beyond your strength". It's sometime hard to believe, when we are tired from being tested and tired from trying that there never will come a test that is beyond us. Sometimes we are so pushed that we believe the next thing that comes along will be the one that finally pushes us over the edge. I believe that it's true that nobody in a right state of mind, with the right support available is ever tested beyond endurance. But, as I said, sometimes when it's us being tested it's hard to believe that. And it's then that we need to remember St. Paul's encouragement, from last week, to 'stand firm'.

And we can look at it from God's side as well, which I believe the gospel reading helps us to do. The parable of the fig tree shows us that God always gives us that extra opportunity and extra support and encouragement. God is, whether it seems so or not, on our side. Long years can go by without us seeing or feeling any different no matter how hard we try to do God's will. We don't seem to be bearing the fruit of the Spirit, to our own satisfaction at any rate. But the parable today tells us not to give up because what we are praying for and working towards, might just be around the corner, not this year, but next. It's for God to know, whose ways are not our ways and whose thoughts are not our thoughts.

So repentance can be a difficult process, a long process that doesn't seem to bear fruit. But the promise is that it will bear fruit because it's God to whom we are turning and He is there in the process with us, His grace going before us and His Spirit working within us, and so we do it in His time, at His pace. And the glory and the mystery are present together in the turning, a turning that is only complete when we meet with God face to face in His heavenly Kingdom. Until then we thank Him for His continuing forgiveness and stand firm in the assurance of His love.