Third Sunday of Lent Year C

Exodus 17:3-7

Ps. 95:1-2, 6-7, 8-9

Romans 5:1-2, 5-8

John 4:5-42 or 4:5-15, 19b-26, 39a, 40-42

The Gospel reading for today’s celebration is very clear. Jesus repeats, “I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did!” The verse before the Gospel has also prepared for it: “Repent, says the Lord; the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17). It is the same call given to us at the beginning of Lent that is repeated often, something much needed given our ability to get easily distracted.

The term here translated as “repent” is the verbal form of the Greek word metanoia, a word that is also translated as “conversion.” The related Hebrew term is shuv, which means “to turn back or return,” emphasizing a return to God and His ways (Strong’s H7725).

The first reading is key to understanding the process to which God invites us. God wants His people to live in freedom. But we need to be honest. Quite often, what we call freedom is simply our fancied whims, our desire to make our will prevail no matter what or whose rights may be affected. On top of that, we do not want to take responsibility for our “free” actions. In fact, the Liturgical Ordo indicates that “the purpose of the first part of Lent (which ends this coming Saturday) is to bring us to compunction. “Compunction” is etymologically related to the verb “to puncture” and suggests the deflation of our inflated egos, a challenge to any self-deceit about the quality of our lives as disciples of Jesus. By hitting us again and again … the Gospel passages are meant to trouble us, to confront our illusions about ourselves” (p. 70). 

So, what does the first reading teach us? At a crucial moment in the history of Israel, when all hope was seemingly wiped out, God intervened to rescue them in a fully unexpected way. As the second reading points out, “these things happened as examples for us.” By His salvific intervention, God displays His power to rescue humankind from what is otherwise a totally hopeless situation. The display of His power is given in the Paschal Mystery of Christ. 

The defeat of death through Jesus of Nazareth gives us the certainty we need to convert our hearts to the living God Who is the God of the living. In a discussion with the Sadducees who denied the resurrection of the dead, Jesus answered by precisely quoting today’s passage of Exodus. He said, “That the dead will rise even Moses made known in the passage about the bush, when he called ‘Lord’ the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; and he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive” (Lk 20:37-38).

The call is out: “Convert,” which means change your mind and look for the God of the living so that you may live, as the Israelites were also called to do: “Choose life, then, that you and your descendants may live, by loving the Lord, your God, obeying his voice, and holding fast to him” (Deut 30:19-20).

The Responsorial Psalm encourages us to strive for the change we need to make by quoting a verse with huge resonance in the history of Israel. Ps 103:8 says, “Merciful and gracious is the LORD, slow to anger and abounding in kindness.” This quote comes from Exodus 34:6-7, which is Moses’ reaction after God was willing to forgive the sin committed by Israel when worshipping the Golden Calf (see Ex 32). This same verse is used in Joel 2:13, which was read on Ash Wednesday.

What is the aim? The aim is to arrive at the Easter season with hearts fully disposed and prepared to receive and enter into the power of the new life that the Risen One is living. In fact, next week the liturgy will shift its lens, as the Liturgical Ordo makes clear: “The readings for the second half of Lent, beginning on the Monday of the fourth week of Lent, are a presentation of the mystery of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, of whom John says that all who believe in him will have eternal life” (p. 70).

But for us to be able to receive it, we need to prepare the ground, as the parable of the sower makes clear: “as for the seed that fell on rich soil, they are the ones who, when they have heard the word, embrace it with a generous and good heart, and bear fruit through perseverance” (Lk 8:15).