In our 1st reading from Exodus we read about Moses establishing a new life after fleeing from what was his family in Egypt. He is no longer of noble descent but a shepherd tending the sheep of his Father-in-Law Jethro. In other words he had a life changing experience. While leading the flock across the desert he comes upon Mount Horeb or God’s mountain. He sees at a distance a bush, though on fire, not being consumed and decides to have a closer look. When God sees him, he calls to him: Moses! Moses! He now realizes God knows his name and responds Here I am. God then said: Come no nearer. Remove the sandals from your feet for you are standing on holy ground for I am the God of you fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.
When Moses learns God is speaking to him he hides his face for he knows no one can look upon God and live but the lord reassures him and tells him he knows of his people’s suffering and that he came to rescue them. Moses now wants to know God’s name so he asks: who should I say sent me? God says I am who am; tell them I am sent you to them. All during this interaction Moses is standing on holy ground. To stand on holy ground means to be in the presence of God for wherever God dwells the ground is holy Prior to Vatican II the laity were not allowed to walk in the sanctuary or the area around the Altar because it was seen as holy ground not because they were unworthy but because it was a place of reverence. The same was true in the Old Testament, unless you were anointed priest or prophet you were not allowed to enter the sanctuary. This was the case for the priest Zachariah who was chosen by lottery to enter the sanctuary and burn incense while the assembly prayed outside. It was during this offering an angel told him his wife Elizabeth will have a son who’s later known as John the Baptist but because Zachariah doubted God’s word he is struck dumb - yet he’s one of the few who could enter the temple and stand on holy ground, he’s one of the few who have a relationship with God.
The people in today’s Gospel felt they had a greater relationship with God than the Galileans who suffered at the hands of Pilate because of how they suffered - but Jesus tells them that this is not true and that they too are sinners and if they don’t put their trust in God’s word and repent, they will also parish. Jesus tells them that much is expected of them if they hope to get into heaven. He then tells the parable of the fig tree planted in an orchard. When the owner returns and searches for fruit, he doesn’t find any, He tells the gardener he searched for fruit on this tree for three years and never found any so he should cut it down. The gardener asks the owner to give him just one more year to cultivate the ground and fertilize it and then if it doesn’t bear fruit, he will cut it down. I like to compare the tree to all sinners who don’t produce good fruit and the gardener to Jesus who gives us another chance. Like the gardener who cultivates the soil, Jesus cultivates and nourish us with his law and the word of God so when the Father returns, he will find good fruit. The season of lent is the time for us to look at what kind of fruit we are producing. To produce good fruit, we need to strip away all that drains life from us, so we do not “exhaust the soil” God shows his people how fragile life is and how sudden one's death can be, and to be ready when God comes. He wants us to have a 2nd chance. Lent a time for 2nd chances because when we die it’s going to be too late. Imagine not having a 2nd chance?
Many years ago, a priest came to Appleton to give a retreat. He was not from our diocese He told us what happened to him based on the scripture of the fig tree that didn’t bear fruit. It happened to him on a weekday morning during mass. While reading this very Gospel the words of the Gospel came up off the page but it wasn’t the words being magnified that startled him but a forgotten past encounter with an afterlife experience that was revealed to him - that had him shaken, so much so - that he could barely finish the mass. After mass he shared his story with his parishioners. He left the home of some parishioners late at night and on his way back to the parish he was in a head on car crash. The doctors didn't expect him to live. He broke his neck and his head was placed in a hallow. He was sure to point out to us - the two indentations on each of his temples -from the neck harness. He was in a coma for several weeks. the doctors felt that even if he came out of the coma he would never walk. As it turned out he came out of the coma and recovered quickly and remembered nothing about the accident ‘til the day he read this gospel.
This is his story. While reading the gospel about the tree that didn’t bear fruit he remembered standing before the judgment seat of Jesus. I don’t remember if he saw Jesus but he heard his voice. Jesus was condemning him to hell. He saw an overview of his entire life and knew he had done wrong. He said, when you are standing before God you can’t argue with the truth because your sins are clearly revealed to you. He then heard a voice pleading to Jesus to be merciful. It was the blessed mother - she asked Jesus to give him another chance Jesus said he wasn’t worthy of another chance, but he was worthy of hell. Mary then said: but with enough grace, he could be worthy of heaven. He then recalls Jesus saying to Mary - He is entirely yours, When the vision concluded he was still looking at the Gospel, with the words going down - to normal size. He told us that he knew he was deserving of hell, he never why - but he led me to believe it was the way he was living his life or should I say not living his life as a priest should. He wasn’t fulfilling his role as a priest whether he wasn’t making himself available or was always at parties I don’t know, but I do know he turned his life around. He later got permission from his bishop to join a religious order. For while he shared his story with others to warn them about changing their life and producing good fruit. We now need to look at how we are living our lives. Is it only about me - or am I making myself available to others
I remember the rector of my seminary telling us if you tell someone you’re going to pray for them, you have to pray for them and if you ask someone how they are doing and they are struggling you can’t just say you’re sorry and you hope things get better and walk away but you need to listen to them or don’t ask. We often know people who have been through difficult times or lost a loved one and when we see them we may greet them but then act like nothing ever happened, instead of talking to them about it, they want to talk about it, especially if they lost a loved one. We might even think we didn’t do anything wrong by arguing that we didn’t want to upset them - but most people are waiting to speak about their loved ones, they miss them and they are going through grief, and we need to be there for them. that’s what walkingwith someone means -
God calls us to be as holy. He wants us to be present to others. He wants us to nourish those around us with his word so they can also share the faith. He wants us to be the means in which hearts can be enlightened and he wants us to pray St Paul talks about being grounded in love through prayer in Ephesians: I kneel before you the Father, from whom every family in heaven and earth is named, that he may grant you in accord with the riches of his glory, to be strengthen with power through the spirit of the inner self and that Christ may dwell in our hearts so we are rooted and grounded in love with his holy ones. Know the love of Christ surpasses all knowledge so you will be filled with the fullness of God .
The most important part of prayer is listening or how are we going to know what God wants of us. We get so caught up in our own little world we don’t see the real world. The kingdom of God is the world we want to be part of and not find ourselves standing before God in our final hour and hear him say he’s not worry of heaven, he’s worthy of hell
Prayer and confession transform us. Confession pares away our dead branches and fertilizes our hearts with grace, so we bring forth good fruit. To do that we need to have a formed conscience. Someone once came to me in confession and ask me if I thought something was a sin, and I told him it was. He then began to argue with me why it wasn’t a sin, to which I responded: if you thought it was okay then why did you ask me? he said: Well - I wanted to make sure. I said - well now you can be sure, it’s a sin. When we stand before Jesus you and i aren't going to be able to argue with truth, who is Jesus Christ. To be a tree that bears good fruit - is a tree that knows the truth, and - a tree that knows the truth, is a tree that knows the Christ and to know the Christ is to know the afflictions of those around you. God said to Moses I have seen the afflictions of your people and - I have come to rescue them. During this season of lent we also need see the afflictions of our people so we can rescue them. God is mercy and God’s mercy is - a hope we need to give - to others.