We are continuing our journey through Lent looking at the Sunday readings, and how we can relate them to stories of Biblical women and our lives. Repentance is a big topic in Lent. The story of the Prodigal Son from the Gospel this week, promises that God will always welcome us home when we return. Rahab and Mary of Magdala, though maligned through the centuries also teach us about unconditional love.
The collect for this Fourth Sunday of Lent, echoes the theme as well.
Jesus, as the true bread, gives life and love to the world. Through him, we are
then to give that same grace to others. Gracious Father, whose blessed Son
Jesus Christ came down from heaven to be the true bread which gives life to the
world: Evermore give us this bread, that he may live in us, and we in him;
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.
Amen. We pray that we may live in him, and be like him in our lives.
Jesus tells the story of the Prodigal Son after the Pharisees complained
about Jesus hanging out with ‘sinners.’ The definition of ‘sinner’ to the
Pharisees was pretty much anyone who didn’t practice religion exactly
‘right’—by their definition. Sadly, the same thing can be said of each of us
today. We often categorize someone as ‘bad’ or ‘sinner’ simply because they
don’t act like we think they should, or they hold a different belief system. It
is very easy to point fingers, and hard to really try to understand a different
viewpoint or life-style.
The parable tells of a young man who asks for his inheritance and then
squandered his property in dissolute living. He eventually returns home.
His father, who has been hoping for the return, greets him with gifts and a
feast. We see that his older brother is not so generous. He pouts, and became
angry and refused to go in. Even when his father tries to explain, he seems
to remain obstinate. Jesus was symbolically pointing to the Pharisees as the
elder son who refuses to accept his brother’s repentance and insists on his own
way.
The question is equally applicable to us today. Like the Pharisees,
and elder son, we want to be the special and ‘proper’ and ‘right’ one. Even in
the scriptural witness, we find that women (and men) are looked down on and
discounted. We see that in Rahab and Mary of Magdala, both named as prostitutes
for being outside the norm.
As I note in my book Sacred Story: Yours, Mine, Ours, “despite their witness and action,
both Rahab and Mary of Magdala are slandered and disparaged. Over the
centuries, their reputations and lives have been ignored or rewritten by those
in power.”
K.J. Ramsey affirms,
“This is what I know: the betrayal of another cannot take your belovedness
away. Darkness cannot steal your inheritance. Evil cannot revoke your
anointing. The Kingdom of God is here. This is still your Father’s world.
Beautiful and brutal things will happen to you and those you love. But do not
be afraid. God never leaves us without a witness or a name.” [The
Lord is My Courage: Stepping Through the Shadows of Fear to the Voice of Love
(Zondervan, 2022)]
In The
Weight of Glory, CS Lewis says, “There are no ordinary people. You have
never talked to a mere mortal…it is immortals whom we joke with, work with,
marry, and exploit…Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbor is the
holiest object presented to your senses...in him also Christ vere latitat—the
glorifier and the glorified, Glory Himself, is truly hidden.” In my book, I
noted, “Seeing each other as bearers of God and co-workers with us, could
change our perceptions and judgments. I wonder what difference it would make in
my life, in your life, in the world, if we were conscious of the Christ hidden
in each of us. If we, like Rahab and Mary, were truly willing to cast our lot
with God, a Beloved Community might be birthed.”
1 John 4:7 pleads, Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of
God. Like the father in the parable, our response to each other needs to be
grace and acceptance not pouting or pointing fingers because not everyone is
just like us.
What difference
would it make if you saw everyone as filled with God’s glory and equally
beloved?
