Readings: Hosea 5:15-6:6; Psalm 50:3-4,18-21; Luke 18:9-14
Prophets are expected to be passionate and Hosea does not disappoint today, treating us to a cocktail of toughness and tenderness, ‘He has torn us to pieces, but he will heal us’. Metaphors of both healing and prosecution are inter-mingled in the scriptures, serving to remind that salvation from God is about forgiveness of sins and freedom from injury. While we are told, ‘I have torn them to pieces by the prophets’, the thrust of God’s word talks of putting His people together again, indicated in the beautiful images of the inbreaking dawn and the impact of rain which we appreciate at this time of year.
The tone of the Gospel reading is more subdued, showing the contrast between the attitudes of the Pharisee and tax-collector. However, both of them are passionate, the one in his hubris and haughtiness, the other in his hiddenness and humility. In his Gospel which speaks often of prayer, particularly the prayer of Jesus, Luke tells us that the Pharisee ‘said this prayer to himself’ while the tax-collector is described as ‘not daring even to raise his eyes to heaven, beat his breast and said, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner”. The former is in a competitive mood, the latter calling for compassion.
Approaching the mid-point of Lent, today’s readings ask us to listen and look at the image of God we relate to. Is God a book keeper writing down and recording our frequent failures to be good and do what is right, to be used in evidence against us? Considering this impression, it is important to remember that the saint to whom task of collating charge sheets is often delegated – Peter – is a prototype of the tax-collector and his ilk, including in the church. Indeed Peter personifies the prophet’s prerequisite – ‘what I want is love, not sacrifice’ – responding positively, if painfully, to the question put to him three times by Jesus after the Resurrection – ‘Do you love me?’.
Fr Kevin O’Gorman SMA