The Second Sunday in Lent (Year C) (Sexagesima)
March 16, 2025
O God, whose glory it is always to have mercy: Be gracious to all who have gone astray from thy ways, and bring them again with penitent hearts and steadfast faith to embrace and hold fast the unchangeable truth of thy Word, Jesus Christ thy Son; who with thee and the Holy Spirit liveth and reigneth, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18
Philippians 3:17–4:1
Luke 13:(22-30) 31-35
Over and over Scripture tells us stories of how powerful men – monarchs and rulers, the ultra-wealthy tycoons, religious leaders – seek only their own self-interest, the expansion of their power and control, the increase of their riches. The juxtaposition is always between the values of the empires of this world – be it the Egyptians, Balylonians, or Romans – and those of the Kingdom of God. The authors of these stories know that sometimes the easiest thing to do, for people like many of us who have the privilege to do so, is to fall in line with these worldly powers and keep you heads down. At the same time, they also show us what it feels like, looks like, to stand-up for God’s values of love – which, when put into action appear in the form of justice, compassion, reconciliation, and peace. More than that, sacred history, the account of God’s dealings with the creation that he made and declared good, inspires us to stand up and reminds us that rather than a futile exercise, it is the very vocation to which we are called.
These stories from two, three thousand years ago resonate with us in profound ways. On the one hand, we see the perhaps depressing reality that things have not changed that much. On the other hand, it shows us the power of perseverance and that we do have a choice. We can choose to follow along, take the easy path, that takes us to the heart of the empires of this world, or we can select the one that leads us towards the Kingdom of God. When we make this choice, we become something more than we are now, we unite ourselves with God and with all those others who make up the Body of Christ.
Today’s Gospel at first glance seems to be full of bad news. We get the distinct impression that few will be saved, that the city where heaven and earth meet – the city of Jerusalem – is forsaken and the place where prophets fail and die. Indeed, this is what the world often looks and feels like. Yet, when Jesus tells us to “strive to enter by the narrow door,” we are shown the way. Jesus asks us to choose the more difficult path, but the one that leads to the banquet that is the Kingdom of God. He is telling us clearly that choosing to be on the side of God and of love is counter-cultural and challenging. He is making no bones about that. Indeed, he is showing us that this path – a path that he will not avoid – leads to Jerusalem and to his passion. And yet, we who know the whole story know that Calvary is not the end. We know that on the other side of the cross lies the Resurrection and the victory of love over death.
We who know the whole story know that Resurrection life is not only about some far-off future with God in Heaven, but something that happens here and now. The power of the Resurrection, the power by which “our Lord Jesus Christ ... will change our [earthly bodies] to be like his glorious body,” is the very power we use to stand up to those forces of the the kingdoms and empires of the world. It is just like Paul says in today’s epistle: “many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, live as enemies of the cross of Christ.” However, “Their end is destruction, their god is the belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things.” Jesus shows us how we can align our very beings with the truest and most important thing in all creation: our God whose identity is love – the life that seeks the good and welfare of the other and all creation, not to make ourselves richer or more powerful, but for the sake of the life of the other. God’s promise to us is not that different from the promise to Abraham: “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them, ... so shall your descendants be.”
Andrew Charles Blume ✠
New York City
The Second Sunday in Lent, 16 March 2025
© 2025 Andrew Charles Blume