Charity or Almsgiving Sunday
Exodus 3:1-8a, 13-15; 1 Corinthians 10:1-6, 10-12; Luke 13:1-9
Wow, the third Sunday of Lent is already upon us! How much of a host of the past three weeks of Lent have we been? What are the achievements so far in our warfare against discriminations, selfishness, maliciousness, anger, gluttony, gossip? Yes, how charitable have we been in the past three weeks of Lent?
It may surprise you that charity summarizes our journey of Lent so far; but it shouldn’t. The three readings of this Sunday are pointing in the direction of charity or sharing what we have with others – unless we appreciate what Jesus did for us on the cross, neither can we love human beings nor God, which is our necessary response to God’s mercy to us! Charity, love-as-sacrifice, expressed in our love for one another, is the only acceptable measure of our human response to God’s love for us in Jesus Christ. This love or charity has its origins in God himself.
The visit of God, in the form of a cloud, and the company of Elijah and Moses last Sunday, which we call Transfiguration, tells us that they (Elijah and Moses) were talking with Jesus about his imminent death. That is, Jesus receives visitors, and God comes to visit his Son because of the crucifixion awaiting him. The same voice that spoke at the baptism spoke again at the Transfiguration. The same Spirit that led Jesus into the desert to be tempted and granted him victory over temptation leads him today towards his crucifixion. It follows that God doesn’t visit only when all is well, he visits also when the going gets tough; indeed, he never departs from us; he is always there through thick and thin. However, in some moments of our lives, especially when the odds are against us, God visits us in a peculiar way because our God visits!
A suffering and oppressed people called out to God, in our first reading, and what does Exodus say: “I have visited my people and I have seen their suffering, so I have come to rescue them” (Exodus 3:7, 16). God visits those in trouble in order to bring them solace and liberation; this he does today with the Israelites. Remember, though, that God’s visitation is made concrete through Moses – the visible image of a visiting God. Moses becomes the human presence and mouthpiece of God to lead Israel out of slavery and suffering. Our God visits, in human form!
God visits Israel, reveals his name and presence to them, but what a welcome he received – stubbornness in old ways and doubts as to his powers; even Pharaoh will contest God’s power, and the legitimacy of God to take away their economic power – human slaves, Israelites! Of course, it is not for no good reason that God is called SABAOTH – God of hosts/armies; he does battles too, when need be; not battles to kill, but to save. Our God visits!
How come human beings, more often than not, fail to be hospitable to a God who visits them, they fail to be good hosts to him? Paul mentions how the three symbols of “cloud,” meaning God, “manna,” meaning communion/spiritual food, and “water,” meaning Baptism, manifest God’s mediums of visitation to his people, yet they were not appreciative of God’s actions. God feeds his children spiritually and materially – manna, holy communion, ordinary food; he makes us his adopted children through baptism – spiritual heritage; he made our ancestors cross the sea of reeds hitch free – liberation from physical and spiritual bondage to sin and physical incarceration. Interestingly, Paul adds, “what happened to them is a warning to you and me!” What do we make of warnings anyway? After all, is God’s mercy not everlasting? Who cares about his punishment? He shouldn’t punish ever! Yet, our God visits!
The meaning of God’s visit is determined by God’s host: God comes in blessing or punishment. When God is welcomed, he leaves a blessing behind; when he is rejected, he leaves punishment. Jesus says, “But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did” (Luke 13:5)! Pharaoh and his army didn’t escape punishment for resisting and opposing God’s visit. Among the Israelites, not everybody made it to the Promised Land because they were not all receptive of God’s visitation. Even today, some of us continue to be bad hosts for Jesus’ visits to our homes, countries, hearts, etc. Indeed, God visits us in my neighbor, and our visit to our neighbors is God’s visit to them. Yes, our God visits!
But how have we fared so far, this Lent? Have we fasted from discrimination, gossips and greed? Oh yes, we have every excuse not to be forgiving and to be angry and selfish! Of course, we want God to help us out of our predicaments; we want him to make people love, favor and bless us; yet, we do not see any reason why we need to do that for others. Again, why do we attend the Way/Stations of the Cross? To mark our presence or to show love? What about our sick neighbor whom we failed to visit because we prefer going to the stations/way of the cross instead of helping a needy neighbor? “Whatsoever you do, to the least of my people . . . ” (Matthew 25:31-46), that is God right there visiting with us, visiting us this Lent. Our God visits!
Lenten period is an invitation to show love to our neighbors because God loves us and gives his Son for us. The effects of our Lenten CHARITY (almsgiving), one of the three pillars of the Lenten (fasting, prayer, and almsgiving) season, has to be felt by somebody, otherwise our Lent is inconsequential! Just as God visits us, so do we need to visit others by being God’s favor and blessing to them. It is not late; we still have time for charity, but not limitless time because – “Sir, leave it for this year also, and I shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it; it may bear fruit in the future. If not you can cut it down” (Luke 13:9). With this parable, Jesus is buying time for us; but will we avail ourselves of this time?
The parable of today’s gospel tell us of the consequences of failing to take advantage of God’s mercy, of recognizing that loving a God who loves us, and gives his Son for us, frustrates God’s will for our salvation. The God who created us without our help, says St. Augustine of Hippo, will not save us without our help. God offers us salvation free of charge: it is left to us to either accept or reject it. God gives us mercy and grace, but they need human assent and consent! The limit of mercy is the human freedom to either receive or reject mercy!
Assignment for the Week:
Can you make someone feel the impact of your charity this week?