It's easy to be critical when reading Scripture. I cringe when Adam and Eve break the one rule God gives them. The Israelites are so consistently hopeless and just can't seem to get it right. For me, more than any other example, it is really, truly, incredibly easy to be critical of Thomas in today's Gospel.
Maybe that’s why Lent is a good time to read this famous story. Maybe we have to go from recognising ourselves in the righteous older brother, to recognising ourselves in the humbled, down on his knees younger one. The ‘ministry of reconciliation’ that St Paul talks about in the second reading is for US. We need to forgive those we have grudges against. We need the Father to help us drop our guard if we’re going to enter into the party of heaven.
I relate to Peter so much, so often in the Gospels (for obvious reasons) but in this passage when he says, “Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters,” it is so human, he has seen Jesus in all his Glory and he doesn’t want it to stop, he wants to sit there, in a very real way he doesn’t want to come down from the mountain.
The thing I find hardest about Lent is once I've decided what I'll give up, is sticking to the plan. Nothing looks quite as appealing as that chocolate you've decided not to eat. Suddenly, there are 100 reasons why using Social Media is an essential activity or why fasting won't work today for whatever reason. All of this resides within my very comfortable life and minor Lenten penances.
Over in the gospel, when Jesus says “how can a blind man lead a blind man”, he’s talking to you and me! ‘Cos how often do we do just that? That’s why, as Jesus says, we should listen to the teachers/mentors in our lives and not presume we know better than they do. Humility is the beginning of wisdom!
Ask yourself, who are other people in your life? Is there someone at school, at work, in your street, or on your sporting team that you haven’t spoken with before? When you treat others as you would want to be treated, it becomes a lot easier to not judge or condemn others, to forgive others and to love your enemies.
There are two comparisons Luke wants us to make. Firstly that, in God’s kind of history, it is not the movers and shakers of the earth who are the main characters. The Spirit moves where He wills and builds His kingdom with those who are most receptive to His Word, notably not the emperor called ‘a god’, nor the high priest sitting on the chair of Moses.
