FR. OLMAN’S
HOMILY
March 11,
2007
This Sunday continues in
the Lenten tradition of presenting us with some of the most important passages
of the Old Testament. The revelation to
Moses and to other Old Testament figures is part of the gradual preparation for
the definitive revelation which Christ is to bring. Paul and Luke call for conversion, penance,
to receive this revelation.
Moses and the burning
bush is one of the best-known stories of the Old Testament. It tells of the call of Moses and the
revelation of God’s name.
Moses, driven out of Egypt for championing his own
people, is reduced from royal prince to a wandering shepherd. But God has other plans for him. The divine presence in a burning bush close
to the majestic granite rock of Sinai does not repel Moses; he is invited to
approach as a sign that God has something for him to do. Moses is not so enthusiastic about this
mammoth mission. How will he convince
the people about who sent him? God
instructs him: it is the God of their fathers who has heard their cries. They must invoke him with a new name. he is the God who exists without equal, the
one creator, clothed in the mystery of the heavens, controlling the storms and
seas.
In later Israelite
history, the divine name YAHWEH became so sacred that it was replaced by “my
Lord”. Hence the importance of the New
Testament pledge of faith in the risen Christ – Jesus is Lord.
The long question of idol
meats in the First Letter to the Corinthians allows Paul to unleash on many
problems. Paul fund no particular
difficulty in allowing the Corinthians to buy, from the public market, meat
previously used in pagan sacrifice.
After all, the pagan gods do not exist, so this meat is hardly
consecrated. But this is a different
matter from actually going along to the sacred meals of the pagans. Sharing in their religious meals would have
an idolatrous significance.
He warns them, using the
history of Israel an example, that
idolatry is a serious matter. The Old
Testament refers directly to us, says Paul.
The presence of God with the people (the cloud and the passing through
the sea), his gifts of food (the manna) and drink (water from the rock)
anticipate the risen Christ and his sacraments of baptism and Eucharist. Perhaps Paul is going further than this; he
sees Christ’s saving power even in the Old Testament. The warning is an encouragement ot
penance. We will have no advantage from
Christ and his sacraments if we still feel free to conduct ourselves as if he
achieved nothing.
As Jesus journeys toward
s Jerusalem, he gives many warnings of the
consequences of not siding with him. By
not accepting the salvation he brings, the people were stepping on to an ugly
spiral towards destruction. Jesus uses
two examples from current events. He did
not condemn those cruelly treated by Pontius Pilate or those crushed by a
falling tower, but used their tragedy as a warning of what people would
deliberately bring upon themselves if they persisted in resisting God’s plans.
The mission of Jesus is
not of indefinite duration. He has
preached for some time now and still the response is negative. Jesus was staying his Father’s hand, but
there is little time left.
Penance is the theme
which dominates in both Paul and Luke today, but we should beware of reducing
this important aspect of the Christian life to a question of whether or not we
give up sugar in our tea or cut down on our smoking. From a medical point of view these two things
may be very useful for many people, but they hare hardly what is meant by
Christian penance. What does penance
mean then? It means that personal turning back to god which is best described
as “conversion”.
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