Even In The Messiness

A Reflection on the Second Reading for March 20th, 2022:
Third Sunday of Lent

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1 Corinthians
10.1-6, 10-12

I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud; all passed through the sea; all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea; all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ.

Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them, and they were struck down in the wilderness.

Now these things occurred as examples for us, so that we might not desire evil as they did. And do not complain as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer.

These things happened to them to serve as an example, and they were written down to instruct us, on whom the ends of the ages have come. So if you think you are standing, watch out that you do not fall.
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Doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results is the definition of insanity. Some smart person somewhere along the way doled out this bit of wisdom. However, what if you do the same thing over and over again and indeed get different results? For example, my brother and I were brought up in the same home, by the same parents, fed the same thing (whether we liked it or not!), went to the same schools, were taken to the same church, even had some of the same friends. But we are very different people. How do we account for that?
 

We don’t. But God does.
 

God has created all of us the same… but different. He places all the pieces in our lives to create the unique life He has dreamed for us. It is up to us to recognize those pieces. How? By seeking out God. By intentionally seeing, hearing, and receiving God every day. The twist: we can only do so if we seek to know who God is, not who we think God is. That’s where we mess up. 
 

While we change in light of the ever-changing circumstances of our lives, God doesn’t change. God is constant. And God is present. Do I see God? Do I hear God? Do I allow myself to encounter God personally with my heart and not just my head? Not always. Even in the mess that I feel my life is at times, God seeks a personal relationship with me. It is up to me to choose that relationship above and beyond the mess. Thankfully, God doesn’t leave anything to chance when it comes to messes. He puts people, places and experiences in my path, and yours, to help us see, hear and receive Him.
 

Saint Paul’s letter to the community in Corinth reminds us, quite frankly, that there are many before us who screwed up, who made different choices, who chose not to see, hear and receive God. We learn from their stories — hopefully! Even in the messiness that they created, God still offered Himself through His Son to them and for them. For Moses and the Israelites. For Mary, Joseph, the Apostles, and many many disciples. For countless saints and sinners of the past. For us today. And for those who will follow us.
 

God offers the same relationship to everyone. We all have the choice every day to lean into that relationship: to build it or take it for granted or forget about it or to return to it. Each day I can recall those who came before me and learn from their part in our shared salvation story. As an equally imperfect follower of Christ, I add to that living story of a community of believers in the hopes that it may help those who come after me; help them to believe in the same God who was, is, and will be present. Always. Even when we mess up.


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​Aurea Sadi

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