Third Sunday of Lent - March 24, 2019

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Exodus 3:1-8,13-15; 1 Corinthians 10:1-6,10-12; Luke 13:1-9

Your mom tells you to eat your vegetables. Magazines and websites tell you to get some exercise every day. Once upon a time one of your friends may have told you an old relationship just was not the right person for you. We often ignore other people’s good advice and try to put off following it. When God spoke to Moses using a burning bush as the method for delivering his message, Moses could not ignore it.

Moses went from a relatively comfortable position tending his father-in-law’s flock to one of the great struggles of history – leading the Israelites out of Egypt. For most of us, God’s call is not as dramatic as it was for Moses. However, as the gospel makes clear, God has called each of us and now is time for us to respond. It is easy to forget that today is the day for us to heed God’s call. A busy day or a short temper makes it easy to put off our response until tomorrow or just someday far in the future. However, Jesus reminds us that disaster could come to any of us at any time.

The readings set up a parallel between the bush that burns but is not consumed and the unproductive fig tree that the master is about to strike down. Jesus has saved the fig tree and is tending and fertilizing the ground from which it grows. Today is the day for the fig tree to start producing some fruit.

Q:  Today, what “fruit” do you commit to producing in response to God’s call?

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