Third Sunday in Lent, Year C
Exodus 3:1-15Psalm 63:1-81 Corinthians 10:1-13Luke 13:1-9I have two daughters; one is four, the other one. I am not a particularly anxious father, but it doesn’t take much to recognize the fragility of life, the many dangers that threaten it. There are cars, there are electrical sockets, there are long flights of stairs; there are hard things and sharp corners, there are choking hazards everywhere. The world is full of dangers and part of the process of growing up is learning the habits to avoid them.
“Don’t put that in your mouth.” “Don’t put your finger in that socket.” “Look both ways before you cross the street.” “Watch for cars in the parking lot.”
We know these things; to avoid them feels instinctive…until we have children, until we realize much of our ability to avoid danger has been learned through teaching that ingrains these lessons in our bodies.
There are other dangers that even adults forget, whole peoples even. These dangers are subtle or incremental, but dangers all the same. Dangers like climate change and soil erosion, dangers for which our culture has not yet written a protective response in our bodies. Then there are dangers unlike any other dangers, ultimate dangers like God.
This theme of a dangerous God seems to be a thread in the lectionary this week and each lesson, in tern, offers some insight into how we should respond to such danger; how we should learn to move through the world in a way that respects God’s power.
Before we tease out these lessons we should first note that this danger, which the scripture again and again calls us to “fear,” does not mean that God is malicious. As the late Dallas Willard wrote, “God is not mean, but he is dangerous.”
[1] The analogy Willard offers is electricity. It is isn’t mean, but great consequences are in store for those who don’t respect its power.
So how should we respond to God’s
Our lesson from Exodus is the famous story of the burning bush. Moses encounters God and finds himself suddenly in a precarious place. Like a hiker running across a coiled snake, Moses is suddenly in danger. In this case, God offers Moses instruction on how to move safely in God’s presence: “Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” What would normally be protection—in this case sandals—must now be removed so as to move properly before the holy. In doing this Moses is brought to a place of greater care and vulnerability, a more human place where all of his senses are
When my 13-month-old daughter is walking in an uneven place I often remove her shoes and socks. I know she is safer when she can feel the ground with her feet. I think something like this is at work with this command to Moses. By removing his shoes he is able to walk more carefully before God’s power so that he can then receive some of that power in the mission God is imparting to
Psalm 63 offers another side of the dangerous encounter with God. Its message is one of hope in the face of danger, a reminder that the power of God is personal and God’s power is a refuge of mercy for those who move with care and dependence upon it. Here the Psalmist thirsts for God, his flesh faints for the divine power. Here we remember that God’s power, though it should be feared, is not malicious but is in fact full of a “loving-kindness [that] is better than life itself.”
Paul’s instructions in I Corinthians are of a different, but complementary sort. Paul is concerned that the Corinthian are taking it easy in grace and are not properly on guard against the dangers of idolatry, expressed here in food and sex. He calls on them to reflect on the history of the people of God as a way to keep themselves on guard.
And finally in our Gospel lesson we find Jesus, also offering a warning concerning the dangers that are out to ensnare us. His message is one that every Boy Scout learns as the key to survival in the wilderness: Be Prepared! There are many evils that may beset us in life, many ways in which we might die either from martyrdom or accident, but the key is to prepare ourselves for death—to keep ourselves ready for what may come and in right relationship to the only power that really matters.
This lent is a time for us to learn how to learn that habits of holiness, ways in which we train our bodies to live in relationship with the power of God which is dangerous beyond measure, but ready to do us good beyond measure if we only “fear the Lord.”
[1] Willard, Dallas.
Renovation of the Heart: Putting on the Character of Christ (Colorado Springs, CO: Navpress, 2002) 51