4th Sunday of Lent
Saved!
When I was sixteen, I participated in the local cathedral passion play. As there are never enough boys wanting to be part of such things, I was given the role of St Peter. At the second-last rehearsal, we were given our costumes, and I was somewhat disappointed to find that mine was a purple sheet folded in half with a slit for my head and two seams up the sides to create arm-holes. Surely St Peter deserved something better!
I got permission to alter my costume, and regaled my family over dinner that night with my plans. My father, who knows a thing or two about sewing and drafting patterns, gave me some well-considered advice. I took about as much notice of that as any teenager does of advice from a parent.
I spent the next day working on my masterpiece, and having cut and sewed all day, tried it on. I didn’t need to look in the mirror to know that what I had created left me looking, shall we say, a little too feminine for the part of St Peter! Hoping that I was just over-sensitive, I went upstairs to show my family. Their reactions confirmed my fears.
I was meant to go out to a 21st that night, and our dress-rehearsal was the following morning after Mass. To fix my costume, I had to either miss the party, or do an all-nighter. I left for the party with the sinking knowledge that it was going to be a long night.
I returned with a heavy heart, knowing exactly what was waiting for me. Imagine my surprise and gratitude to discover a remade version of my costume waiting folded on my desk. My compassionate father had spent his Saturday night behind the sewing machine, fixing my mistakes!
I’m sure you can see the parallels! Like my Dad with my costume, God gives us some well-considered advice about how we can best do life. And there are definitely times when we take as much notice of him as any teenager does of their parents. I deserved to have to do an all-nighter, to suffer the natural consequences of my over-confidence. The natural consequences of ignoring God about how to do life are more serious than an all-nighter.
The price paid by our compassionate God in fixing these for us is likewise more than giving up a Saturday night. The Cross gives us a powerful image of both the natural consequences of our sin, but also of just how much God loves us. His heart is one of self-giving love, and his love for us extends to sacrificing himself to save us.
In Lent, our attention is often naturally turned to our sins. It’s easy, in this context, to take on at least an unconscious image of God as one who is counting our sins to condemn us. But the Gospel today reminds us that the opposite is true. Rather than condemning us, God’s love for us is so great that he would rather die himself to save us. All he asks in return, the gospel suggests, is our faith – that we believe and receive what he has given us.
Perhaps our challenge for this week, then, is to notice not our sins, but the times we fall for the lie that pictures God as condemning us. We could use the words of today’s Gospel to remind ourselves of what we truly know and believe, that: “God sent his Son into the world not to condemn the world, but so that through him the world might be saved.” (Jn 3:17)
Reflection questions:
1. Has anyone ever made sacrifices for you that you feel you haven’t deserved?
2. Are there times in your life when you have responded to God like a rebellious teenager?
3. Are there times in your life where you have fallen for the lie that God is condemning you?
Katherine Stone
This blog was originally written for the Diocese of Wollongong