Father Riley's homily from March 17, 2019 and news alerts

CEC News alerts !

…   We will have Morning Prayer March 24.   Father Riley will lead us in Holy Eucharist Sunday March  31.

…  Our Lenten early morning (9am) Sunday School with Father Riley will continue Sunday, March 31st.

… Dates to note:  April 14--Palm Sunday; April 19--Good Friday with Stations of the Cross at about 11:30 and Good Friday service following at noon; April 21--Easter Sunday

…  There will be many visitors to Tensas Parish Saturday, March 23.  About 250 participants will be participating in the Louisiana Trust for Historic Preservation Spring "Ramble".  They will begin the 'Ramble' at our church early Saturday morning and then travel to many locations throughout Tensas.

LENT II - C - 19                                LUKE 13. 31-35

Last week it was Satan who threatened to up-end Jesus’ mission by tempting Christ to abandon his humanity in favor of his divinity while still in the wilderness. The devil did not want Jesus to go to Jerusalem and die on the cross. In today’s gospel, Jesus is given a warning by some Pharisees that Herod plans to kill him. It would be in his best interest not to go to Jerusalem.

Satan with his temptations laced with biblical verses, failed to dissuade Jesus in the wilderness. Since that time, Jesus has begun his mission of preaching, teaching, and healing as a means of bringing the kingdom of God near to those who are open to receive it. In today’s passage, he is making his way through towns and villages as he journeys toward Jerusalem.

It is in one such place, where he has stopped to teach, that this particular group of Pharisees, Luke tells us, have sought him out to warn him to turn back. It was another attempt to stop his mission. The threat of Herod, however, does not deter Christ from continuing his journey and doing the work the Father has given him to do.

Jesus knows his destiny is to die in the Holy City. He sees himself in the role of a prophet joining the ranks of those who have preceded him. In that, he laments over the state of Jerusalem, as many of his predecessors have done, for it is a city in rebellion.

Jesus’ lament evokes in his listeners a host of images and expectations: Jerusalem is the center of political and religious power, the symbol of God’s people, the sign of the people’s rejection of God’s word, the focus of God’s judgment, the hope for peace and prosperity. To all this, Jesus preaches judgment. “See your house is left desolate.” His rejection will seal the fate of the city.

He is going to Jerusalem as God’s prophet to pronounce God’s word and to face a prophet’s death. God’s word will be rejected, and God’s word incarnate will be killed. Jesus goes voluntarily despite the warning.  And he goes knowing how he will be received on Palm Sunday.

All three of today’s readings contain expectations and promises. Abram had a vision in which God spoke to him. A promise was made sealed by a covenant. Abram would have an heir of his own issue. “And he believed the Lord; and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness.”

St. Paul writing to the Church at Philippi tells the Christians there to expect a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. The promise is that all who stand firm in their faith and belief in Christ will be transformed into his likeness. The Pharisees expected Jesus to turn back once he was warned that Herod was out to get him.

Moreover, Jesus expected to be both rejected and received as Messiah upon his arrival in the Holy City. He promised that they would not see him again until the time would come when they will say, “Blessed is the he who comes in the name of the Lord.”

We do not always think about the promises we made to God in Christ as we embarked on our Lenten journey. Nor of the expectations, we have for our selves. Forty days seems like a long time to hope that we can maintain our Lenten discipline.

Too often, we lose our focus on Him whom we have chosen to follow and instead focus on self. Our intentions were good as we began on Ash Wednesday and accepted the church’s invitation to make a holy Lent. However, it usually does not take us long before we begin to swerve away from our chosen path.

Those Lenten resolutions are easily forgotten in the wake of daily living. We find it too easy to give in and give up. Lent is an opportunity to practice self-denial in the hope that we might learn to live in a habitual state of just that - self-denial in order to live to God.

But alas, we are only human. Our frailties often times out way our spiritual strengths when it comes to promises made to God. Moreover, to focus on self, likewise, lessens our expectations of God. It does not take much for us to “turn back” and to give in to our old ways of doing and living.

Jesus’ death and resurrection not only defeated Satan once and for all, but also ushered in a New Jerusalem; a new way of living. Because of his death and resurrection, we now live in a different world. Granted it is still a world where we encounter injustice, rejection, deprivation and violence.

And in this Lenten season, we know our selves to be a broken and sinful people, being in a broken and sinful world. Yet, we are simultaneously a redeemed people, living in a redeemed world. It is not always easy for us to realize that, especially when we are focused on something other than the promises of God in Christ.

Abram received a vision of God that contained a promise of a reward. His initial reaction was fear, followed by a complaint that he was childless. God was making Abram a promise, but before he could believe it, Abram was focused on what he did not have - an heir. How many times does God try to tell us something, to bring us good news, but it is often clouded over by what we perceive we do not have.

St. Paul presented the Christians at Philippi with a choice. You can imitate me, Paul says, or you can live like those who are enemies of the cross of Christ whose focus is on themselves, their wants, and their needs. Live, instead, Paul tells them, with the expectation that the Savior, the Lord Jesus will come. And when he does we, who stand firm in our faith and belief in him will be transformed into his glory. That is the promise.

Christ’s life, death, and resurrection is salvation for all, and it marks the beginning of the New Jerusalem in our midst. We are called to make the Christ of the New Jerusalem the center of our lives by voluntarily dying to self, that is, by setting aside our wants, our desires, and our complaints and turning back to God with penitent hearts and steadfast faith.

That is not only the message of Lent, but also the message of the new life to which we have been called to live. By God’s mercy and grace, we are able to right ourselves and continue the journey embracing and holding fast to the belief and expectation that one day, the promises of God in Christ will be fulfilled and the New Jerusalem realized. AMEN+