Lent 3 – the mercy of God
Exodus 3: 1-15; Luke13: 1-9
It has been worrying to hear reports of the ill-health of Pope Francis over the last 5 or 6 weeks – it seems that his long struggle with lung conditions is getting the better of him. Even so, we are told that he continues to read and write when he is able – there is, of course, a long history of Popes working right up until their death.
I found a reference this week to a sermon that Pope John Paul 2nd had written just before his death – in fact he died the evening before he was due to preach it – so I suppose these are the nearest we have to his ‘last thoughts’. It was a sermon about the grace of God and included the lovely phrase “how much the world needs to understand and accept divine mercy”.
Twenty years on, it is definitely something which the world still needs to hear, and it could almost be a summary of the two readings we have heard: “how much the world needs to understand and accept divine mercy”.
We began with the encounter between Moses and a burning bush. Moses is surely a man in need of an encounter with the mercy of God.
Let’s just remind ourselves of the ‘story so far’ of Moses.
Just take a moment to think about what the name ‘Moses’ means to you.. a baby in a basket; the burning bush incident – which leads to going to see Pharoah to demand ‘let my people go’… and something about Hebrew slaves and a murder…? And how do God’s people even get to be living in Egypt and end up being led by a man with an Egyptian name?
We mentioned the story of Joseph two weeks’ ago – a story which ended with Jacob, his father, and all the large family coming to Egypt to escape starvation and settling in the Nile Delta.
Generations later, the Egyptians are worried that they are outnumbered by these ‘foreigners’. They have enslaved the Hebrews, and then tried, unsuccessfully, to limit the number of Hebrew babies being born.
Moses is born to a Hebrew couple, who already have 2 children, Miriam & Aaron.
But then a terrible law is passed to kill all Hebrew babies. To save Moses, his mother places him in a basket in the Nile. He is found by the daughter of the Pharoah & raised – first by his own mother and then by Pharoah’s daughter, as an Egyptian prince.
However, when he is an adult he sees an Egyptian mistreating a Hebrew slave, and Moses reacts in anger, killing the Egyptian.
He flees to Midian, where he marries Zipporah, one of the daughters of Jethro, a priest of Midian.
This is why Moses is working as a shepherd when he sees the burning bush; this is why only the mercy and grace of God could make Moses return to Egypt; and this is why Moses is about to embark on God’s great rescue mission – to bring the Hebrews, the people of God, out of Egypt and into the promised land.
The people of God are in dire need of the mercy of God to bring them out of slavery and into freedom. Through a long, long series of events, God brings the people of God across the Red Sea and finally back into the land of Canaan. Yet it all begins with Moses seeing a bush which burns but does not burn up, and encountering the living God in that moment. When people most need God’s mercy, they discover that God is right there alongside them.
About fifteen hundred years later, Jesus is born, into a time when the land of Israel is now occupied by the Roman Empire.
Jesus teaches the people many things – and he tells the parable of the fig tree to people who are reeling, having heard some shocking news.
There have been two reports – one of Jewish pilgrims, slaughtered on the orders of Pontius Pilate; and one of eighteen people killed in some sort of terrible accident.
Whether death occurs because of state-sponsored terror or because of a random accident, Jesus is clear that these deaths are not evidence of God’s punishment, they are the sort of events that just happen in life. But hearing about these sorts of events – then, as now, can cause people to reflect on the fragility of life and come to a realisation of their need to seize this moment to receive God’s grace and mercy.
Jesus then tells the parable to illustrate what that mercy might look like.
As in so many parables, we’re left with questions, which keep us thinking and pondering.
Does the owner of the vineyard do what the gardener has suggested and leave the tree for another year? If he does give the tree a year to produce fruit, what happens when the year is up – does the tree flourish, or is it doomed?
And what is the story telling us about mercy? I think Jesus is pointing us to our need to act to accept mercy, God’s mercy, as soon as we can. God’s mercy will help us grow and thrive, and make our lives fruitful. Why would we want to wait to accept God’s mercy – surely we need it now.
And what does all this mean for us?
We don’t live as enslaved people, there is no occupying army in our land… and yet we might know just what it means to feel trapped, or to feel that we are not really free to do what we would like to do, and I think we can all relate to wondering what the world is coming to.
Whichever Pope we look to, we can understand the words “how much the world needs to understand and accept divine mercy”.
And the needs of the world start with us: how much we need to understand and accept divine mercy – how much I need to know that God’s love and grace is waiting for me to turn and accept it.
As I was coming to the end of writing this sermon I was thinking about a story to help to demonstrate God’s mercy in our everyday lives.
How do we know when God’s mercy is near to us – how do we know where to look for evidence that God is with us? Surely it is too much to expect a burning bush, or be told a wise story about a fig tree?
The wonderful US pastor and novelist, Frederick Buechner wrote: “Pay attention to the things that bring a tear to your eye or a lump to your throat, because they are signs that the holy is drawing near”.
Then, on the news of all places, there it was in front of me – and it certainly brought a lump to my throat.
It was a report from the Special Winter Olympics in Turin, and it showed 2 profoundly disabled young men, in special wheelchairs fitted with a ski, skiing down the mountain with their fathers, the dads guiding and steering the wheelchairs, and the young men grinning with pleasure and clapping their hands with delight.
The love of the father directs the safe journey of the child… bringing joy and laughter.
The love of God waits for us to accept our need for mercy.
In the name of Jesus.
Amen.
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