This coming Sunday is the 3rd Sunday in Lent, Year C.  For parishes with active RCIA programs it is also the beginning of the Lenten Scrutinies when the catechumens/elect (those awaiting baptism) are present at Mass. The presider has the option to use the readings from Year A. So, if this Sunday you are wondering why the Johannine gospel of Jesus’ encounter with a Samaritan woman at the well is proclaimed, you’ll know why! In this post we will stay with the Year C readings.

Coming as it does on this Sunday in Lent, out of sequence with the narrative flow of Luke’s gospel, we would do well to consider the verses that precede our gospel pericope.

Luke 12 begins with an admonition about following the teaching and example of the Pharisees, having denounced them at the end of Luke 11. All this is Jesus’ way of preparing the disciples for the time after the Crucifixion and Resurrection when the Pharisees will be one of the sources of persecution of the nascent Christian community. The message is not to fear them, but if you want to fear someone, then fear the One who can consign you to Gehenna for eternity – and yet they also need to know that the One cares for them without limit. And so, do not worry about judgment from the Pharisees and scribes, but follow Jesus, and at the time of judgment, the “the Son of Man will acknowledge [you] before the angels of God.” (Lk 12:8)

In Luke 12 the admonitions continue, addressing the earthly concerns of things that will matter little in the life to come. When a man wants Jesus to arbitrate an inheritance issue it serves as an entree for Jesus’ parable about the “foolish rich man” who, in greed, accumulates great, overflowing wealth. To that one God says, “ ‘You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you; and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?’ Thus will it be for the one who stores up treasure for himself but is not rich in what matters to God.” (Luke 12:20-21)

The message is to not worry, but seek the kingdom and trust in the loving care of the Father in heaven. Jesus directs their attention to the care God gives to the ravens and the flowers of the field, and people are far more treasured. Thus, seek the kingdom as vigilant and faithful servants, working even when the master has done away “Much will be required of the person entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more.” (Luke 12:48)

Luke 12 ends with a reminder that Jesus will be for them a cause of division within their households and communities, but they are to continue to seek the kingdom and stay alert to be able to read the “signs of the times” of the in-breaking of the kingdom.

The chapter before our Sunday gospel has raised issues of persecution, God’s providential care, not to worry about earthly concerns but to bear fruit in what matters to God, and staying alert to the signs of the times. With that, our gospel begins: we hear about a report given to Jesus about Pilate’s brutal slaughter of Galileans, after which Jesus mentions the accidental death of eighteen inhabitants of Jerusalem upon whom the tower of Siloam fell. 

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Image credit: The Vine Dresser and the Fig Tree | James Tissot, 1886-1894 | Brooklyn Museum | PD-US