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Homily for the Third Sunday Of Lent
(Mar 11, 2007)

The Scriptures today tell us at least two things about our God:
   I am the God who comes to your rescue
   And I am the God who will give you a 2^nd chance 

I)    I am the God who comes to rescue you.
Moses: When God sent Moses to free the Israelites from slavery in  Egypt , he asked God,                              
                            who shall I say has sent me.
God responded, tell them:
  I am the God who has heard your plea and I have come to your rescue.
  I am the God who came to save Abraham, to save Isaac and to save Jacob from their distress.
  And God adds mysteriously: I AM WHO AM – Yahweh … Jahovah
          This God is not just one of the pantheon of gods, but the only true God
           The one who comes to Save is  the God beyond all powers and principalities
        Ultimately our God is the only God – the only one who can SAVE us.

  Thankfully, our God does enter into history – our God does come to our rescue
      He comes in the person of Jesus, son of Mary and Joseph
       Our God comes to save us.
       Better than getting us out of slavery in Egypt , our God comes to save us from sin and from death. 

II) Our God will give us a second chance.
      Jesus tells the parable of the fig tree. Because it does not bear fruit, the master says that it should be cut down.  But he decides to give it a second chance. He will cultivate and fertilize it, with the hope that it will still bear fruit.  Jesus is telling us that is the way our God is.

Story: Darlene: I  had lots of memories of my her mother in the sewing room. I often found  mother there on her Singer Machine fashioning garments for me, my sisters and others. I remember how patient my  mother was while teaching us to sew. When I made a mistake she would not complain or scold, but merely say: “Hand it here dear.” Then she would take the seam ripper and get rid of all my mistakes—hand it back to me and say: “Now, try again.”  
       When the sewing machine was put away and the clothes folded, the sewing room became Mom’s prayer room. Over the years I came to realize that just as I could hand my sewing mistakes back to Mom, I could hand my sins back to the Lord, and the Lord would give me another chance. I could almost hear Jesus say: “Now, go try again.”

 III) What about us?:
   If our God is a God of the second chance, should we not give others a second chance? 
   -Yet some people would never grant clemency to a murderer
   -         While some marriages may have to come to an end, how sad it is when one partner
  refuses to give their marriage another chance, while that marriage still has a chance of success.
   -         The best teachers are those who still want their student to try again, after they have failed.
   -         Since God is willing, shouldn’t I also be willing to forgive myself, to give myself a second chance? .
Story: A woman was once visiting a monastery, and asked:  What do you monks do all day long?  She expected he would tell about how deeply they entered into prayer and all the good they things they were making in their workshops.  But instead this holy monk answered her:
“We fall and we get up.  We fall and we get up.” 

Conclusion: That’s not a bad description of a good Jew or a good Christian. 
And we can describe our God as the God of  Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses and Jesus. The God who comes to our rescue. The God who gives us another chance.