THIRD SUNDAY BEFORE LENT
(Septuagesima Sunday)
Readings:
Key Verses (using the World English Bible):
1 Cor. 9:24: “Don’t you know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run like that, that you may win.”
Matt. 20:14-15a: “Take that which is yours, and go your way. It is my desire to give to this last [laborer] just as much as to you. Isn’t it lawful for me to do what I want to with what I own?”
Reflection
We’ve always lived with multiple beginnings. Ancient peoples have observed one or more of the four turning points of the year—the equinoxes and solstices—as a “new beginning”. Down to the present day, we start our New Year in winter, our tax year in April, and our (U.S.) school year towards the fall—incidentally, near Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.
The Church, too, has lived with multiple beginnings, like September 1st in the East, or Advent Sunday in the West. But today, as the traditional church year formally puts Christmas behind, and begins to look ahead to Easter, we get the opportunity to go back to where it all started—the Creation of the world.
Yes, it’s rather strange to begin the Easter countdown already when Jesus’ liturgical birth was barely a month ago. But the first Full Moon of spring is not concerned with liturgy. The ancient Church had concerns of her own, and in the weeks before Easter, these were the proper education of newcomers into the faith. Before they could celebrate their first Easter, new Christians had to understand why Easter happened in the first place. And the most natural starting point to answer that was Genesis. We don’t know what readings from Genesis they officially used in this period that eventually became the “Time before Lent”. But we can get a sense of this early “catechism” from the surviving New Testament readings today.
The well-known Parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard tells the story of a “master of a household” who, at the end of the work day, surprises his hired hands by paying them all equally one day’s wage—regardless of how long they had worked for him. Naturally, those who had toiled since daybreak were upset about getting paid the same as those who had worked for only one hour. But the master asks them: “Didn’t you agree with me for a denarius?… Isn’t it lawful for me to do what I want to with what I own?”
Now, while this business model would fail miserably in the corporate world, the story isn’t about earthly economy; it’s about God’s “economy”, or how God wishes to run the world. And God has always wished to run the world like the master of the household. We learn from the Creation story in Genesis that, from the luminaries in the heavens, to the creeping things on earth, even to humankind—God equally called them all “good”; equally gave them all life, existence, and even a purpose, regardless of what day he made them on. So is it fair that I’m just as “good” as, say, an ant, or an amoeba? No, it’s not fair—it’s love. And more specifically, it’s God’s unconditional love, which, by definition, there can’t be “more” or “less” of. It just is—like a parent’s love for multiple children.
The fact that we, as one human race, have never been able to figure out how to run this world with such equality shows how far we’ve wandered away from the original plan. But that doesn’t mean we should stop trying and give up. Paul asks us: “Don’t you know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize?” What prize is that? Well, we know it’s not God’s love; we’ve always had that from the beginning. I think the prize, the “incorruptible crown” we’re running towards, is the ability to love like God, realizing that such love really can change our world. It’s that moment when we know that our lives are fully aligned with God’s “economy”, in which we, with God, labor to provide everyone with their basic, daily needs; when we feel our hearts transformed into vessels for God’s unconditional love towards others and ourselves; and when we see in our very being that God has made us worthy to fulfill his original purpose.
“Run like that, that you may win.” In God’s race, we are all winners—and no one can take away our crown.
Prayer of the Day
O Lord, we pray you,
favorably hear the prayers of your people,
that we, who are justly punished for our offenses,
may be mercifully delivered by your goodness,
for the glory of your Name;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
—Collect for the Third Sunday before Lent, Book of Common Prayer, 1662
Or,
Almighty God,
you have created the heavens and the earth,
and made us in your image.
Teach us to discern your hand in all your works,
and your likeness in all your children;
through Jesus Christ, your Son our Lord,
who with you and the Holy Spirit
reigns supreme over all things,
now and for ever.
Amen.
—Collect for the Second Sunday before Lent, Common Worship: Daily Prayer, 2005
Hymn: “O Master, let me walk with you”
(Words: Washington Gladden, 1836-1918, adapted by Joseph A. Soltero, 2015
Tune: ‘Maryton’, Henry Percy Smith, 1825-1898)
O Master, let me walk with you
In lowly paths of service true.
Tell me your secret; help me to bear
The strain of toil, the fret of care.
Help me the slow of heart to move
By some clear, winning word of love.
Teach me the wayward feet to stay,
And guide them in the homeward way.
Teach me your patience; stay with me
In closer, dearer company,
In work that keeps faith sweet and strong,
In trust that triumphs over wrong;
In hope that sends a shining ray
Far down the future’s broadening way,
In peace that only you can give,
With you, O Master, let me live.
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