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Third Sunday in Lent Ex 30/1-17 |
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| Background: (We choose the first reading today because it is so important. It does however, illumine the Gospel text, perhaps in ways that those who chose the readings did not anticipate and might not even like) The key word in this statement of covenant between God and people is "jealous" which is not a very good translation. In fact it has been "bowlderized" to clean it up so that the laity will not be shocked (an insulting and patronizing assumption). The word means in its Hebrew root "breathing after." In its only other use in the bible it describes the emotions of a groom passionately desiring his bride, a state of advanced sexual arousal. It would much better be translated "passionate," though perhaps that wouldn’t even be strong enough. The bible has no problem using a word which means aroused passion to describe how God feels about His people. Sexual passion is a metaphor for God’s love of us which is inaccurate not be excess, but by defect. The passage involves a metaphor in which God tells his people that because of his passion for them he does not want them whoring after false gods. It almost hints that God is the wife who grows angry at an unfaithful husband. Thus we understand the passion which animates Jesus in today’s gospel. |
read the padre |
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Story: In "Commandments" a film (which I do not necessarily endorse) to be released at the end of the month, the protagonist Seth Warner (Aiden Quinn) feels that God has broken the Covenant in this mornings first reading. His pregnant wife has drowned, his home has been destroyed in a tornado (which spared all the other houses on the block), he has lost his job, lightning struck him (and his dog). Since God has broken his promises, Seth feels it’s appropriate for him to strike back by breaking his end of the Covenant. He systematically breaks all the commandments to show God what he thinks of Him. His final violation is of the "Commandment" thou shalt not kill. His method of breaking that injunction is spectacular: he throws himself off a lighthouse in the midst of a hurricate. God’s response is equally spectacular. The next morning a crowd of people walking down the beach discover a dead whale. They slit it open and out of the whale’s belly there comes water, fish, and Seth Warner, very much alive. God has responded to his hatred with the Sign of Jonah. Moral (if one is needed): God always trumps, one way or another, our hatred with his love. |
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