Fourth Sunday of Lent
Josh 5: 9, 10-12
2 Cor 5: 17-21
Lk 15: 1-3, 11-32
God’s promises are trustworthy. The Israelites wandered for forty
years through the deserts of the Sinai Peninsula before they arrived at
the Promised Land, but they did eventually arrive, establish
themselves, and harvest a rich crop from which they ate the first fruits.
This bounty of goodness from the long-awaited land was a concrete
reminder that God had fulfilled the promise made to the Israelites. It
was also a sign that the land of promise was fertile, and the produce of
that land abundant and delicious!
Imagine how delicious this food must have tasted after the people consumed “manna” for so
long. Remember the last time you gave up some food item for the six weeks of Lent and recall how
good it tasted come Easter. Now multiply that waiting time a hundred-fold and guess at the
overwhelming joy the Israelites felt on that day.
Just as the Israelites were provided manna until the harvest of the land could be secured so
we are provided with that which we need while we wait on God to fulfill the promises made to us.
Like the Israelites, we are often disgusted with the routine manna. Although it is God’s gift for the
journey, we also want something more exciting, more extraordinary, more clearly connected to the
promises we have heard God speak to us. We grow impatient and dissatisfied.
Yet, the journey is an essential part of the promise. Our coming to the Promised Land
involves not only an external arrival where we believe we should be according to God’s promise,
but also an internal conversion that readies our heart to its entrance. Whether it takes a few
moments or forty years for that promise to be fulfilled is not up to us. It is God’s timing, because
God will provide not only manna for the journey, but the experiences necessary for us to be ready to
accept the Promised Land with a new heart. God is both about preparing a place for us and
preparing ourselves for that place.
So, indeed, we are a new creation in Christ as Paul’s Letter to the Corinthians reminds us.
Whatever disables us from truly embracing the promise will be removed by the conversion God
works in our hearts. Is this not the deepest root of reconciliation? Whatever blocks us from truly
accepting the gifts of God will be removed! Guaranteed.
First and foremost, God desires to lavish love upon us. Yes, we will stray like the prodigal
son, but we are always called to return, because love is the overriding consideration. God is first
about relationship with us. God will always turn towards us in forgiveness, for God is rich in
mercy. If we put our relationship with God first in our lives, we will, no matter what our failings,
remember to turn also to God. God will not only heal us, but we will realize that God never stopped
loving us.
 What is the main obstacle in my life that prevents me from embracing God’s promises?
 How does God seek to ready my heart for the Promised Land?
 Do I believe in my heart of hearts, that God seeks first to love me, and will forgive my
sins?
 Am I ready to become a new creation, for the sake of the reign of God?
No matter how big my sinfulness, God’s love is infinitely greater.