Commentary

Here’s a more detailed breakdown of what true repentance involves. Main points are the 3 C’s -1. Conviction (what you feel) 2. Confession (what you say) 3. Conversion (what you do)

• Conviction of Sin:

Acknowledging and understanding that one’s actions or thoughts are wrong and offensive to God. 

• Sorrow and Contrition:

Feeling genuine remorse and sadness for the sin committed, not just for the consequences, but for the offense to God. 

• Turning Away from Sin:

A deliberate and conscious decision to abandon the sinful behavior or way of life. 

• Turning Towards God:

Seeking a relationship with God and aligning one’s life with His will and teachings. 

• Confession:

Openly and honestly acknowledging the sin to God, and potentially to others who have been wronged. 

• Commitment to Change:

A determination to avoid repeating the sin and to live a life that pleases God. 

• Making Amends:

Taking steps to repair any harm caused by the sin, such as apologizing, making restitution, or seeking forgiveness. 

• Accepting Consequences:

Acknowledging and accepting the consequences of one’s actions, both natural and spiritual. 

“To grow up in Christ will make you maladjusted to the world. In Paul’s day, Roman citizenship was the platinum standard. As a Roman citizen he was distinct, privileged and protected. Though Roman citizenship was the premium of his age he still writes, “But our citizenship is in heaven….” What subordinated Roman citizenship for Paul? What are the costs, responsibilities and privileges of this heavenly citizenship?

“As we grow up in Jesus, we get a glimpse how how we have adjusted ourselves to a world in open opposition to truth, peace, love and justice. The affect of this adjustment is that it reduces Christ to our personal chaplain and our heavenly citizenship to an ineffectual pie -in -the -sky theology. But to imitate Jesus, adopting his words and ways and seeing as he sees will result in us being maladjusted to the world as it is. The closer to Christ we walk the more palpable the tension becomes. Is it any wonder why people keep Jesus at a Sunday only safe and superficial distance? Yet, this tension, this feeling of being maladjusted to the world mustn’t go unnoticed, be repressed or become guilt, defeat or despair. In fact, it is a part of the fuel for a faithful life.

“We must become as Dr. King has said, “creative” in our maladjustment. Or, as Paul writes in another place, “transformed…so we can prove the good….” Picture a former President teaching Sunday school after building homes for the poor. Or, picture a Nobel Laureate leaving lofty company to support sanitation workers in their quest for fair wages. Creative maladjustment doesn’t take the weight of the world on it’s shoulders, only God can carry that burden. But it does as a first step. Shift our personal pronouns and primary considerations from I, me and my, to we, us and ours! What does this superior citizenship cost and what are its responsibilities and privileges? It costs courage to see the gaps between what we say on Sunday and how we live on Monday. It’s responsibility is to God and neighbor simultaneously and it’s privileges are clarity, purpose, joy and partnership with the God of all the nations.”

Philippians 3:17-4:1
Romans 12:2

Part 1 of this series

I. Theme – We should trust in God’s covenants

“ Fox and the Hen”

The lectionary readings are here  or individually:

Old Testament – Genesis 15:1-12,17-18 Psalm – Psalm 27 Epistle – Philippians 3:17-4:1 Gospel – Luke 13:31-35

Today’s readings invite us to trust in God’s covenant promises. Each of the readings speaks about a future, a not yet. This week, try letting your heart break for the world in a new way, knowing that God will transfigure and transform every valley, every sorrow, and every cross knowing that God. is already doing to transfigure despair into hope, mourning into dancing, hate into love. Let your goal in your prayers this week be to deepen both your compassion for the world and your trust in God’s transforming presence all around.

Abraham’s involves continuation of the tribe and of the name, and of the covenant.  His confidence in the lord’s promise is counted as righteousness. Paul, in his letter to the Philippians, trusts in the coming of the Savior and the transformation of our bodies.    Paul wants his readers to be tied to the future that is the Kingdom of Heaven, and the future of Jesus is the future of the true prophet who delivers God’s final word on what will be. The gospel reminds us that although God’s covenant promises are for everyone, nevertheless our effort is required if we are to participate.

While Advent calls us to awareness, awakening and alertness, Lent helps us appreciate the cloud, the shadow, the wisdom of deep sleep. God’s covenant with Abram is not forged beneath the brilliant blaze of noon but in a deep and terrifying darkness, after the sun has set. That such an important event should happen at night prompts us to question our usual assumptions that everything good occurs in the light.

Jesus introduces another puzzle when he implies that the order of sanctity may not be as rigid as we might think. “Indeed, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.” He turns this twist into a concrete example in his lament over Jerusalem: site of the magnificent temple. To his listeners, it’s grandeur must seem close to heaven. Yet it is the city that kills the prophets; it will be the scene of his death.

Furthermore, the people most revered in that society, its religious leaders and scholars, wait outside a closed door, seething in bitterness and frustration. Because they have rejected Jesus’ overtures, they have missed their chance to enjoy the banquet of God’s reign.

The question must come to our minds as it did to Jesus’ first hearers. If the elite don’t get in, who does? Perhaps those who are willing to be gathered like chicks, those who admit their vulnerability, those who do not pride themselves on their virtue, those who know they don’t have a corner on truth.

As we grow in loving God, we become more skeptical of the idols that compete for our loyalty. When bureaucrats are inefficient and heroes corrupt, when the traffic is crazy, when time and energy dribble away, when we lose our favorite project, our finest self or our dearest love, when the oppressors triumph, the greedy profit and the innocent are bludgeoned, then we remember Paul’s claim that “our citizenship is in heaven.”

Too much is awry in this world to ever claim it for permanent residence or lasting citizenship. Knowing that the terrestrial stakes are small and the earthly city doesn’t last forever helps us “stand firm in the lord” as Paul would have the Philippians do.

So do not lose heart, as we are reminded in 2 Corinthians. Lent is a journey, and our spiritual lives are a journey. We do not see the end but we know the way we are going. Living for Christ means living for others and not for ourselves. Living for Christ means following God’s ways of love and justice and seeking justice for others. Living for Christ means knowing that the way of this world—to put ourselves first, to seek earthly success and gain, to “have it all”—means to lose it all in the end. Living for Christ means we trust in God, we trust in the hope of God for us, as Abraham and Sarah did so long ago, as Jesus taught us, and as the psalmists sang and Paul preached—we know we shall see the goodness of God in our lives, and we share that hope with others.

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Today where sun rises on hills of fresh sorrow tomorrow where stars set upon fields of old pain we will do the day’s work to bring comfort and healing for this is Christ’s labour, fulfilled the third day

Today where souls suffer, despairing and fearful tomorrow where whole lives are crushed under strain we will do the day’s work to bring peace, to bring courage for this is Christ’s labour, fulfilled the third day

Today where the parched and scarred earth yields no bounty tomorrow where war-weary ground gives no grain we will do the day’s work to bring hope to the hungry for this is Christ’s labour, fulfilled the third day

Today where the foxes of evil still threaten tomorrow where tenderness so often is maimed we will do the day’s work to bring love and compassion for this is Christ’s labour, fulfilled the third day

Today where the forces of greed rule the kingdoms tomorrow where powers of death hold their sway we will do the day’s work to bring justice and caring for we are Christ’s labour, fulfilled the third day

– Andrew King

Dr. Kathy Bozzuti-Jones, Trinity NY. Image “Mother Hen. Mosaic, Jerusalem”. Unknown

“In a striking woman-centered image of God, Luke’s Gospel invites us to contemplate Jesus as a mother hen, gathering her chicks under her wings in a loving, maternal, and open-hearted posture of mercy. But her children will not come home to her for shelter. And, by referring to Herod — an icon for the murderous powers of death — as a fox, this vulnerable hen, bereft and struggling with failure, declares that it will not run away. Jesus digs in, defiantly. He is resolved to move toward Herod and into Jerusalem for the completion of his saving work of healing and deliverance — his fiercely compassionate mission from God — despite all impending threats. Jesus must be on his way, now, even as he laments his certain rejection: Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills prophets.”

Questions for reflection:

“Does this caring, protective image of God confirm or expand your own image of God? Might it be a powerful image for our times? What does it say about the Christian call to radical vulnerability? What other images of God help you to understand God’s mercy and care, in this moment?”