Pew Sheet, Sunday the 23rd of March, 2025 The Third Sunday of Lent
Today’s Gospel begins with a group of unidentified people who tell Jesus about the death of some Galileans whom Pilate’s troops had killed within the precincts of the Jerusalem temple. The suggestion is made that they may have been slain on the very altars on which they were offering their sacrifices or cast into the great furnaces which consumed the burnt offerings in the temple every day. We know little about the historical origins of this story, but we do know that Galilee was part of Herod’s jurisdiction, and prior to Jesus’ arrest, trial and execution; Pilate and Herod had been sworn enemies. Galileans were also considered to be unruly and seditious, which is why in John 7:41 some wonder how the Messiah could possibly come from such a place, and Nathaniel in John 1:46 asks ‘can anything good come out of Nazareth’ which is in the heart of Galilee, and whose inhabitants were despised and ridiculed by many in Jesus’ time.
From the tone of Jesus’ reply, one can infer that they had deduced from the victim’s gruesome deaths that the Galileans must have been guilty of some great sin or crime to have been killed in such a way, but Jesus responds with another current event to argue that the nature of someone’s death cannot be attributed to their moral state when alluding to the death of 18 people caused when the tower of Siloam, in the south of the city, suddenly collapsed killing all those in or below it. In doing so, Jesus shows that he was fully aware of events happening elsewhere in Palestine, but more importantly, he repudiates their assumption that their deaths were a sign of divine retribution for the victim’s real or perceived sinfulness or wrongdoing.
The notion that bad things only happen to bad people was prevalent in Jesus’ time, and there are even traces of it in our Epistle reading from 1 Corinthians in which Paul attributes the suffering of the ancient Israelites to their sinfulness and idolatry, which would have been the accepted wisdom of the day. Jesus’ answer challenges this accepted wisdom however, and he reminds his listeners that bad things happen to those who are good and bad alike. Mishaps and tragedies are not necessarily a sign of divine retribution (though they may be a consequence of sin); but they should alert us all to the transience of life, and remind us of the need to be in good relationships both with God, and with one another, repenting in a timely manner and keeping our moral accounts in order so that we are ready to face God’s judgement whenever and wherever it comes.
One of the first French expressions I ever learned was, ‘les bons comptes fonts les bons amis’, which means that paying your debts and keeping your accounts up to date on a frequent or daily basis is the best way to build and retain good friendships. And that in essence, is what lies behind Jesus’ meaning here; for we will all of us perish at some point in time, whether at a time we can anticipate, or like those hapless Galileans and the people crushed by the tower of Siloam, suddenly and without warning, even perhaps, whilst engaged in our worship! The important thing is to be ready, and to keep our account with God in good order so that no matter when it happens, we are ready to meet him.
And we know that God is a more clement and forgiving a judge than Pilate, whose brutality and violence was legendary (and was the reason for his eventual recall to Rome) could ever be, even though he found that Jesus had committed no crime and tried to set him free before surrendering to the baying mob. The story of the failing fruit tree being given more time in which to prove itself is an example of the way in which Christ intercedes with us to the Father not to reap justice for what we truly deserve, but to plead clemency for what we might otherwise become if we ‘seek the Lord while he is near’ and forsake those things in our lives which offend him as Isaiah so clearly reminds us. When we do this, we experience God’s mercy as we do so, for God will indeed pardon all those who turn to him, both during this penitential season of Lent, and every day of our lives as we keep the ledger of our lives in good order with him.
Collect
Eternal God, give us insight to discern your will for us,
to give up what harms us, and to seek the perfection we are promised,
in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Isaiah 55:1-9
Come, everyone who thirsts; come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your earnings for that which does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear, and come to me; listen, so that you may live.
I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David.
See, I made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander for the peoples. Now you shall call nations that you do not know, and nations that do not know you shall run to you, because of the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he has glorified you.
Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake their way and the unrighteous their thoughts; let them return to the Lord, that he may have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
1 Corinthians 10:1-13
I do not want you to be ignorant, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them, and they were struck down in the wilderness.
Now these things occurred as examples for us, so that we might not desire evil as they did. Do not become idolaters as some of them did, as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and they rose up to play.” We must not engage in sexual immorality, as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did, and were destroyed by serpents. And do not complain, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer. These things happened to them to serve as an example, and they were written down to instruct us, on whom the ends of the ages have come.
So if you think you are standing, watch out that you do not fall. No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it.
Luke 13:1-9
At that very time there were some present who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. He asked them, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? No, I tell you, but unless you repent you will all perish as they did. Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them—do you think that they were worse offenders than all the other people living in Jerusalem? No, I tell you, but unless you repent you will all perish just as they did.”
Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. So he said to the man working the vineyard, ‘See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil?’ He replied, ‘Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it. If it bears fruit next year, well and good, but if not, you can cut it down.”
Post Communion Prayer
Merciful Lord,
Grant your people grace to withstand the temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil. And with pure hearts and minds to follow you, the only God, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
This Week’s Events
Monday (Oscar Romero, Archbishop of San Salvador, Martyr, 1980)
Bell Ringing, 7.30pm in St Laurence. Contact Jan on 07835 461361.
Tuesday (The Annunciation of our Lord to the Blessed Virgin Mary)
Zoom In Morning Prayer, 9am. Meeting ID: 539 3978774 password: TuaR0T or contact Sue on [email protected] (The 0 in R0T is a zero not an ‘O’)
Evening House Group, contact Jo on 07803 942 687 for more information.
Wednesday (Harriet Monsell, Founder, Community of St John the Baptist, 1883)
Morning Coffee, 10.00-11.45am in the St Laurence Room.
Midweek Holy Communion, 12.00 noon, St Laurence.
Thursday
Daytime House Group, contact Jo on 07803 942 687 for more details.
Friday
Junior Choir at 6.30 pm followed by full Choir Practice at 7.30pm. Contact Derry on [email protected] if you would like to join in this term.
Lent Lunches:
The next Lent lunches will take place in the St Laurence Room on the 26th of March, and the 2nd of April. Please do contact Liz Van de Poll if able to help with catering by offering soup or some baked goods.
OUR SCHOOLS STILL NEED YOU
We have urgent need once again for a Foundation Governor for both Winslow and Great Horwood CofE Schools. Please consider whether you might be able to serve both they and the parish in this way and talk to Steve if you feel able to help.
Please do remember to complete and submit your Electoral Roll applications!