 "All in Good Time"
You will find Jennifer's reflections on the Third Sunday of Lent and the week to follow below.
The Third Sunday of Lent
~ March 24, 2019
One of the benefits of observing Lent is the reminder that it is in the ordinary, everyday movements of our lives that we will come to know Christ, if we are to know him at all. One of the most ordinary experiences of the human condition, being hungry and thirsty, is woven through three of our readings this week. If you've chosen a Lenten practice that includes fasting from some kind of food or drink, then you may be beginning to understand the poignancy of the question and the beauty of the answer repeated in Isaiah: “Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food” (Isaiah 55:2). How often do we find ourselves spending our money on junk food, or our time in junk entertainment, or our emotional energy on cheap, trivial, junk worries and conflicts, rather than on real, satisfying, nourishing bread? If we can say with the Psalmist that our soul really does long for God and that we have drunk from the rock that is Christ, we can be sure that we really will be satisfied, as with the richest of feasts.
This Week: In some traditions, March 25th (nine months before December 25th) is celebrated as the Feast of the Annunciation -- the day on which the Angel Gabriel came to Mary and told her that she would become the mother of the Christ child. It might seem strange to have this hint of Christmas in the midst of Lent, but it’s always good to be reminded that without the glorious mystery of the incarnation, (God embracing our human form, getting hungry and thirsty, being tempted and tried in every way) there would be no triumph of resurrection. It was Christ’s real, flesh and blood body, after all, that walked out of the tomb on Easter morning. Also, Mary’s simple, obedient and faithful response to the angel’s news, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word,” is the perfect theme for our own Lenten practices. Indeed Lord, we are all your servants. May it be to us according to your word and will.
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