1st Lent: A God of new opportunities and 2nd Chances

Second opportunities; a chance to restart, a chance to reimagine, a chance to show love, a chance to grow.

How many times have we been given a second chance; whether in work, or with friends, or more serious relationships? How many times have our parents given us another chance? And it helped us to see and make changes and grow. And conversely, how many times have we given others another opportunity, our children, an employee, a friend…and it paid off. That person made changes and became a strong child for it, a better employee, a closer friend?

We are heading to the Easter Celebrations. We remember and we give thanks for God’s incredible love, as revealed in Jesus Christ. We remember and give thanks that despite what humanity did to the Son of God, the Father returned the Son to us alive and glorified.

Jesus’ resurrection signifies that God has no interest in punishing us; God offers us second, a third, an infinite amount of opportunities to change, and grow.

God is love. God is harmony, peace and wholeness. All exhibited in God’s mercy, kindness, generosity. These are the eternal values of the Kingdom of God. When and where these values are expressed, then and there is the Kingdom of God present. Where there is an opportunity to be change and grow, the Kingdom of God is present.

Now, given the first reading and maybe some quick reading of other Old Testament texts, we may think God is not always merciful, kind et al. After all, God did flood the world, right? Yet, when we sit and reflect on this scripture passage and others, we can see a God who saves, God who brings forth a remnant against the evil and chaos that can happen. Remember that humanity’s sinfulness had spread according to the text; spread throughout all the world. That sin led to chaos, which was counter to God’s harmony. Chaos in the Old Testament is symbolized by large bodies of water. So God saves a remnant from the Chaos, who will live out God’s harmony. God did not punish, God saved and provided another chance.

Even think a little earlier, Cain had killed his brother Abel. God did not kill Cain, but marked him to protect him from others. God saves and redeems. Cain had an opportunity to change.

Mark’s Gospel says that Jesus goes into the desert, a wild and dangerous place. Angels ministered to him during this time. I wonder if that can mean that all that Jesus took with him was his grasp of Scripture, and he contemplated on this for forty days. Angels are God’s messengers, so they were there to speak of God’s love for all; God's willingness to provide opportunities for people to be forgiven, opportunities to change, to repent.

Then he comes and preaches this message.

Lent is this time to repent, to change our hearts and minds, to change the way we think and live, and operate in our world. It is a time to rejoice too, rejoice that God gives to us and to all another chance to grow and change.

Jesus in his life will give that second chance to all, but specifically in his healing and forgiving, his welcoming and teaching. And after many of these events, these moments in which people’s lives are changed, he says the Kingdom of God is at hand.

See the Kingdom of God is here, it is at hand. It is now! Not about when we die only. It is in those moments in which we are forgiven in God; a new opportunity to be changed and grow.

The kingdom of God is in those moments in which we recognize an unhealthy attitude, behavior or mindset, and we bring them to God and we find the power, the grace to change.
The Kingdom of God will be those moments in which we reconcile to others, we forgive others, we give them a chance to grow.
The Kingdom of God will be those moments when we stop letting our pasts, our traumas define us; and chose to act on God’s love.
The Kingdom of God will be those moments in which we give of ourselves, and we help others, so that out of our blessings others may thrive.

All of this is signified in our Eucharist; given to us each week as God’s invitation to be changed, to be forgiven, to be loved. And given to us to go forth and change, to forgive and to love.

A second opportunity to engage in life.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

5th Lent. Jesus brings us to life

Image
Bob woke up one Sunday morning and the bed felt so comfortable and he was so tired, he decided he would skip mass. However he heard his Mom knock on the door: “Bob, are you awake?” “Yes” he reluctantly replied. “It’s getting late, you need to get ready to go to church.” She stated. “I am not going.” he said, “I am tired, besides the people there are mean and grumpy, the music is uninspiring, and I don’t like it.” Mom said: “I don’t care, you are the priest, that is your parish, get up and go to mass!” Years ago in a galaxy far away, in another parish, we brought in a group, at the suggestion of a parishioner, for a Youth Retreat. The group was from Southern California and the parishioner said that they were spirit filled, with teen leaders and adults, and it would be transformative for our kids. An adult leader arrived ahead of the main group to begin prep work, a man of probably about late 50’s into his 60’s. He was excited for us. The main group arrived later in the evening, cons...
Read more

Holy Thursday - To Serve is to be ourselves

Image
  Recently I saw a video on TikTok. The speaker was relating how a teacher had the classroom of kids each blow up a balloon and write their name on it. Then all the balloons were collected and placed into the hallway. The kids were told they had 5 minutes to find their own balloon.  Only a few did. Then the balloons were again placed out into the hallway, and this time the teacher said, the first balloon you pick up, read the name on it and give it to that person. By the end, all had their respective balloons. The moral of the story; trying to find your own happiness does not often work; but when we help others to find theirs, we can find ours too. Now replace the word happiness with joy, and we come to the Christian sense of what we celebrate tonight, and live always. A continuing struggle with Jesus’ disciples and in general with the people: what kind of messiah was he? Some thought he was the political messiah, the one who would really be king, would restore Israel to its g...
Read more

3rd Easter: Know Jesus, Know Scripture, Know ourselves.

Image
It is said to know about ourselves and who we are now, we need to look at how we got to here. This is truth. When I was in counseling for depression, my therapist often asked about old patterns, where did they come from… The idea was to recognize the unhealthy ones and change them to healthy patterns. That way my future could be more livable. We may also know others who have what they call a “type”. They only date persons who act the same, or look the same; and they may not even know it. But others viewing from the outside can see a long pattern and make some predictions on the future. “Know thyself” was written in an ancient Greek Temple, and from it, this maxim found its way into our Christian Western Cultures. A wise statement because wisdom and a better life come from a deeper understanding of who we are and how we got here. None of us just popped into existence ready made, all of us have had to make a journey to get to here and to now; a journey with happiness and sorrow, patienc...
Read more