David was the king of Israel, yet, he allowed himself to stray far away from his faithfulness to God. He not only committed adultery with another man’s wife, but he ordered the woman’s husband to be killed in battle to get rid of him. David replaced his faith in God with pride, arrogance, and greed. He was not able to see the wrong he had done until God sent Nathan the prophet to open his eyes. The psalm that we hear today is a prayer of repentance that David prays to God: “Create a clean heart in me, O God.” Like David, we often cannot see our sins until God enlightens our hearts and opens our eyes. We can be blinded by anger, selfishness, self-righteousness, pride, and stubbornness.
In today’s psalm, David pleads with God to have mercy on him, for God in his immense goodness to reach out to him. In God’s mercy, he pursues us, invites us, and seeks us out. Even David’s acts of murder and adultery did not keep God from seeking him out. In our contrition and repentance, God’s love and mercy are there to touch our hearts in a special way. At the end of the psalm, David promises that if God forgives him, he will do his best to lead others to God. Thus, in response to God’s mercy and compassion, David desires to serve and care for others. This is a response that is pleasing to God.
We hear this psalm of repentance, conversion, transformation, and mercy as we get closer to the end of Lent, as next week we will commemorate Palm Sunday and begin of Holy Week. In the Gospel today, some Greek converts to Judaism approach Philip, telling him that they want to see Jesus. Jesus gives an enigmatic answer to this request, telling them, that “unless a grain of wheat falls on the ground and dies, it remains a single grain; but if it dies, it yields a rich harvest." The grain is transformed into something new: into roots, leaves, and fruit. It is interesting: these Greeks wanting to see Jesus. To want to see Jesus, we just don’t look at him out of a whim or out of curiosity. To see Jesus, we enter into his way of thinking. We enter into his passion, his journey to the cross, and his transformation. Like the grain of wheat that is transformed into something new, Jesus lets go of everything in order to bring new life to himself and to his disciples. Through this process, he is transformed and we are transformed. If we do not recognize Jesus' transformation through his passion, death, and resurrection, then we do not really see him and do not really know him. But Jesus goes on to tell us, that if we cling to our lives, then we lose them.If we are willing to let go, then we can truly embrace life. We must be willing to walk with Jesus, accompanying him on his journey to Calvary. This journey will be different for each person in the reality of his life.
I remember going through the RCIA program at St Norbert Catholic Church, in Orange, California. Tere Davalos, one of my mom’s best friends, was my sponsor. My mom had died less than a year earlier. One of the things I loved during the year I was in RCIA was praying the stations of the cross each Friday at the parish. I have enjoyed praying the stations of the cross each Friday here at Holy Savior during Lent, followed by our Lenten meal. Many of us carry different cross in our daily lives, crosses that others may not be aware of. What I love about the stations of the cross, is that our prayers in the stations not only accompany Jesus on his journey, but they lay out the context of Lent for us and help us to examine ourselves and acknowledge the crosses in our own life as well as our sinfulness. We prayed Everyone’s several Fridays during Lent, written by Clarence Enzler. That version of the stations of the cross looks at how Jesus’ journey intersects with our daily lives: at the workplace, doing chores at home, interacting with our family and friends, forgiving those who have offended us. A parishioner of mine from St James in Tupelo told me that she had printed out a page from that stations of the cross written by Enzler and had it tacked up by her cubicle at work. She said that the message of that station of the cross so spoke to her in the reality of her journey. And that is what our faith is supposed to do. Our faith is to speak to us on our journey, not just be so abstract thought or a philosophy that sounds good to us and does not have relevance to our lived reality. Jesus’ message today and his journey to the cross are to touch our lives in a real way.
As we heard of King David’s repentance from his sins in today’s psalm, as we hear Jesus give a response to those who wish to know more about him, may we think about how we can come to terms with the reality of our lives and the crosses and sufferings we have to bear with these last days of Lent and the commemoration of Holy Week. Let us accept Jesus’ invitation to enter into his transformation and his reality.
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