Reflection on Today’s Readings, 4th Sunday of Lent C, March 27th, 2022
Texts: Joshua 5:9-12; Psalm 34:2-7; 2Cor. 5:17-21; Luke 15:1-3.11-32
Lenten season is meant to initiate a new beginning in our lives; it is a period of training for improved relationship with God. Today’s readings remind us of this truth. The first reading recounts the story of new beginning in the life of the people of God. Their new life is made possible by the power of God, as it is said, “The Lord said to Joshua, ‘This day I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.’” It was the Lord who removed the reproach of the slavery from them; He led them out of the land of slavery into the land of freedom. Lent is also a journey from slavery to the passion of the body to the freedom of the spirit. When the people entered the land of freedom and ate the produce of the land, the manner stopped. To begin a new life, our former life must stop. During this lent we must put an end to vicious life and begin a life of virtues. We could also look at it from the perspective of Eucharist. We are fed with the body and blood of Christ now under the appearance of bread and wine, when we get to heaven, our promised land, we shall be fed with the vision of God; we shall be fed with the divine presence.
St. Paul, in today’s second reading, reminds us that our new life results from being in Christ. He says, “If any one is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come.” We cannot be in Christ and still remain who we were before meeting Him. We may ask ourselves if anything has changed in our lives since we meet Jesus Christ. When we are in Christ the reproach of the past is removed and we are made new. The reproach of sin is removed, the reproach of evil is removed. Sins are forgiven and guilt cancelled. We are recreated in Christ by the infusion of grace and divine vigour. An unforgiving man becomes a forgiving man; a man filled with hatred, bitterness and anger is now filled with love and peace; a selfish man now becomes self-sacrificing etc. In Christ we make peace with God and with one another; we are reconciled with God and with one another. This is because the sin which makes us enemies of God is removed.
We enjoy this privilege in Jesus Christ because He has paid the price for our sins. Jesus Christ paid the price for the sins of the world. St. Paul, in the second reading, says, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” We have to be in Him to appropriate the righteousness to ourselves. What it means to be in Jesus Christ is having faith in Him and living by His words. The new life in Christ is a reconciliation with God and with one another. When we are at peace with our brothers and sisters, we are already living the new life in Christ. We live the new life when we do not have ill feelings towards one another, when we love one another, when we maintain justice and peace etc. The new life in Christ also demands that we spread the message of peace by our words and life; we are to live the message and also preach it. Our reconciliation with God makes us ambassadors of reconciliation.
We learn, in today’s gospel reading, that God does not turn away any sinner who repents and turn to Him. Repentance is important to live the new life in Christ. When we turn away from God, He always creates circumstances that can lead us back to him. This is evident in the famine that struck the land in the parable of Jesus. The suffering the younger son experienced as a result of the famine made him miss the love of his father. He also recognised how he has abused the love of his father and sinned against him grievously. God is always at work to lead us back to Himself. The famine was a moment of grace for the younger son to come back to God, to return home and to be alive again.
Lent is a moment of grace created by God, through the Church, to renew our lives and make us whole once again. During this lent we are to acknowledge our sins, hate them and say, “I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me as one of your hired servants’” Let us avail ourselves the grace of the sacrament of reconciliation. We cannot return to God when we are not ready yet to abandon our sin. Many of us want to return to God with our sins; he will not accept us with our sins. It is possible that some of us fail to acknowledge their sins. I have sins that I need to let go to allow God to reign in me. So also you have sin to let go that God may reign in your life. We should not be afraid to acknowledge our sins, He will not condemn us; He will only justify us and make us whole. We have a loving Father who has been waiting for us to return to Him the moment we are gone. Let us acknowledge our sins, hate them and return to God. When we return to Him, He will always say, “Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet; and bring the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and make merry; for this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.” He is always happy to welcome us back as sons and daughters.
The problem of the elder brother was that he failed to be an ambassador of peace. He was reconciled with his father but saw no reason to reconcile with his younger brother. Having reconciled with God, we have the mandate to spread the message of reconciliation by our lives and words. St. Paul, in the second reading, says “All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. So we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us”
O God, who through your Word reconcile the human race to yourself in a wonderful way, grant, we pray, that with prompt devotion and eager faith the Christian people may hasten toward the solemn celebrations to come. Amen. (Collect)
Fr. Andrew Olowomuke
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