THIRD SUNDAY OF LENT, YR A
Exodus 17:3-7; Psalm 95;
Roman 5:1-2,5-8; John 4:5-42
JESUS OUR PEACE WITH GOD
Paul in our second reading from Romans, speaks of the merits of the gospel to those who welcome it. On this Sunday the church leads us to focus on two of these merits of the gospel.
The first is that, through the gospel we have peace with God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Early on in the letter he stipulated the reason for the rancour or separation between God and humanity. For Paul, by sinning, man has decided to be ruled by sin rather than the will and the power of God.
He noted that we have exchanged truth for a lie, indulged in shameful acts such as women exchanging natural sexual relations for unnatural ones and men abandons natural relations with women and were rather inflamed with lust for one another. (Romans 1:25, 26b-27). We have abandoned God’s commandment for a just behaviour and right attitude and rather embraced wickedness, greed, evil, envy, deceit, malice, strife infidelity among others. (Romans 1;29-30)
All these robs us of true peace and freedom which can be found only in God. But God through his mercy comes to help us out. He saves us by his own holiness. He “sent his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should be saved” for he did not wish to condemn any of us to damnation but to save us through his son (John 3:16-17). This is the depth of God’s love.
Through the passion death and resurrection of Jesus therefore, peace is restored between us and God. Through Christ there is reconciliation with God. For all who are and feel estranged from God, the cross of Christ comes to bridge that gap. Jesus is our peace with God. Je invites all of us to the foot of the cross.
In Lent we all make a truly repentant return to the cross for renewal and newness. In this season we recognise our folly and come to the cross to rediscover God’s mercy and love.
The point is that the gospel brings us hope. Paul’s use of the concept of hope comes from the use of the word in the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible), which among others mean to trust.
The object of your hope can guarantee goodness or otherwise. God is the only guarantee of sure hope. He is the only one who gives goodness to those who repose their hope in him. Isaiah says “those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not be faint” (Isaiah 40:31).
For Paul we can boast of our hope and trust in God’s glory because this kind of hope does not disappoint. We trust God, because of what he has done for us already and we know he will do more for us even now and in the future. If Christ died for us while we were still sinners, what can he not do for us. If he could take the risk of dying for us knowing that we could reject him, what can’t he do for us?
Above all, the guarantee of this hope is the gift of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the pledge of God’s goodness. His presence in our lives makes us certain that, God will give us what he promised. In him and through him we will receive our inheritance.
In this season of Lent, we take the opportunity to come to the cross for a renewal and reconciliation with God. We do this through the penitential activities of lent and confession. We believe that, when we come to the Lord he will surely respond to us and save us. He who took the initiative to reconcile with us, will surely grant us his mercy when we call to him.
God bless you.
BY Rev. Fr. Delight Arnold Carbonu
