RCL Readings 7 March 2010 (3rd Sunday of Lent)
Isaiah 55:1-9
Psalm 63:1-8
1 Corinthians 10:1-13
Luke 13:1-9



Psalm 63:1-8 expresses the psalmist’s deep longing after God. A relationship which encompasses the whole of the day – the opening verse “I seek you” can mean to seek ‘early’ or ‘in the morning’, and verse 6 speaks of God being the psalmist’s focus even in the “watches of the night” (NRSV). We live at a time when many people experience a deep longing, even emptiness, they feel as thought they are “in a dry and weary land” (v.1) and yet are unaware that God is both the source of their longing and the fulfilment of that longing. During the week read slowly these verses from the Psalm and make them your own – seek to enter into the same ‘thirst’ and like the psalmist let that lead to praise. Pray for those who experience a great emptiness in their lives and consider how you might encourage them to seek after God.

Isaiah 55:1-9 is an invitation to those who “thirst”. It is a profound reminder that what God offers can’t be bought with money, can’t be achieved by effort, isn’t a reward for our achievements. The emphasis is on “incline your ear, and come to me; listen, so that you may live” (v.3) and “seek the LORD while he may be found, call upon him while he is near” (v.6). The trust expressed in Psalm 63 and the invitation of Isaiah 55 verses 3 & 6 need to be our attitude in prayer. One of the reasons we need to learn to ‘incline our ear’, to ‘listen’, and to ‘seek the LORD’ is that God’s thoughts and ways are not our thoughts and ways (Isa 55:8). It is all too easy to assume that our thoughts and ways are the same as God’s, but, the more I study the prophets and the gospels, the more I become aware that there is an enormous gap between the two. God’s thoughts and ways are so often radically different, if not diametrically opposed, to ours. Read these readings and listen for what might be God’s thoughts and ways revealed within them.

1 Corinthians 10:1-13 will initially strike our ears as strange. What Paul is doing is using Israel’s history to warn the Corinthians “not to desire evil” (v.6) – a contrast to Psalm 63 and Isaiah 55 where the ‘thirsting’ or desire was after God. Paul sites that they fall for a variety of reasons: idolatry i.e. putting something else in the place of God as the object of devotion (v.7), sexual immorality (v.8), putting Christ to the test (v.9), and complaining (v.10) – an interesting list! Pray that you might recognise the potential points of fall and learn to trust and draw upon the resources God provides (v.12&13).

Luke 13 begins with a number of local disasters and the question whether those who suffered “were worse sinners” (v.2). This question is commoner than we realise and often asked subconsciously rather than outright. The answer is a definitive “no”, but there is nevertheless the challenge/need to repent! If our ways are not God’s ways (Isa 55:8) and we fall for some of the reasons sited in 1 Cor. 10 then we too are called to repentance and shouldn’t try to hide behind the fact that some may be worse sinners than us!

The second part of the Luke 13 reading (v.6-9) is an encouragement to patient waiting AND hopeful action. Are you/we bearing fruit for the Kingdom of God? What “digging around” and putting “manure” on might we be called to do?