Don't Get Burned

A Reflection on the Second Reading for March 24th, 2019:
Third Sunday of Lent

1 Corinthians 10:1-6, 10-12

1 I want you to know, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, 2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 and all ate the same supernatural food 4 and all drank the same supernatural drink. For they drank from the supernatural Rock which followed them, and the Rock was Christ. 5 Nevertheless with most of them God was not pleased; for they were overthrown in the wilderness. 6 Now these things are warnings for us, not to desire evil as they did. 10 nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer. 11 Now these things happened to them as a warning, but they were written down for our instruction, upon whom the end of the ages has come. 12 Therefore let any one who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.

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At our house we have a cast iron frying pan that we use on our stove top, but then sometimes put in the oven to finish cooking a dish. The first time I used it in the oven, I used the oven mitt to remove it from the oven and placed it on the stove top to cool. My husband came along and covered the handle, warning me that when he didn't do this, he forgot the handle was hot and later tried to move it with his bare hand, and wound up burning his hand. Next time I used this same frying pan in the kitchen and took it out of the oven, I recalled my husband warning me about the potential risk of burning my hand, but convinced myself I wouldn’t forget it was hot, and hence didn’t need to cover the handle. Well guess what? In my busyness of trying to get supper on the table among the chaos of life, I totally forgot, and grabbed the handle with my bare hand and burned my hand!
 
In Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, he warns them of the consequences they will face if they continue to sin as their ancestors did. He reminds them of how God used Moses to lead them out of Egypt and saved them from the Israelites and yet those who were not willing to turn from their sinful ways were not allowed to enter the promised land and instead died in the desert.
 
Paul’s letter is meant to be a warning for us today too. The church is undermined today, just as it was back in Corinth, by immorality and spiritual immaturity. How are we going to choose to respond? Will we be strong in our faith and go against the status quo or will we chose to blend in and forget or ignore our Christian values?

"The church is undermined today, just as it was back in Corinth, by immorality and spiritual immaturity. How are we going to choose to respond?"

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Just as many Israelites were denied access to the promised land, many will be denied access to eternity with Jesus in heaven. When we are living for this world—for money, success, fame and gratification—it is easy to lose sight of who we are and whose we are. When that happens, our sins don’t feel all that impactful and it is easy to forget they yield a severe consequence. As Rick Warren says in his book The Purpose Driven Life, “Every act of our lives strikes some chord that will vibrate in eternity”. When we are living for Jesus, our priorities are refocused so we are not tempted by the same sins.
 
Let us pray:
Heavenly Father, help us to heed the warnings of Saint Paul; to become aware of the sins in our lives to which we have become complacent. We pray that You would reveal those sins to us in order that we might seek Your forgiveness and use this time to re-orient ourselves toward You.

​Tammy LeBlanc

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