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24 March 2019                   Third Sunday of Lent Year C

TIME RUNNING OUT?

The next three Sundays of Lent invite us to reflect on repentance. Repentance is not a hobby for the pious-minded. It is the heart of the gospel and that’s why Jesus’ very first recorded words were to encourage people to repent.

We all know that we ought to repent, but we don’t really believe that our lives are going to end this week and so we consider that there’s probably plenty of time to get around to it at a later date. After all, we’ve got lots of much more important things to worry about, haven’t we?

That’s what people thought at the time of Jesus too. Some Galileans had recently been murdered by the Roman Guard. And a building had collapsed in Siloah killing eighteen people. Did they die because they were bad, asks Jesus? Of course not. They were no worse than you, he says. So, if you think you can put off repentance, then think again. You might not have much time left, he warns.

Is Jesus trying to frighten people into repenting? Not really. He’s saying that the choices and actions we create in this life have an effect on our future and there can be nothing more urgent than sorting out our lifestyle, our way of behaving, while we still have the chance.

God does not punish people this side of the grave. It’s an old wives tale that says people get their comeuppance for things they’ve done wrong, that God gives them “bad luck” for their sins. Christians do not believe in Karma; they believe in a God who gives us freedom of choice but who demands that we give an account of our choices and actions and who constantly calls us to repent, to have a change of heart, to alter our behaviour for the better.

Although repentance is a daily thing, Christians are called to make a special effort during Lent, to cooperate with God’s grace and allow the risen life that is Jesus to permeate their whole being. The ashes we bore at the start of Lent may have been washed away but they remain symbolically as signs that we are trying daily to die to sin. Doing this means repenting. And Jesus warns us that time may be running out.

Unless you repent, you will all perish as they did.                                                (Luke 13:3)