Lent

Fourth Sunday of Lent

It’s so easy to assume that what makes sense to us logically must also be exactly how God intends things to unfold. But that’s not what happens in these passages today. In fact, what we see in today’s readings is a youngest son, still in his youth, inherit a nation, and a beggar both teach and demonstrate the power of Jesus — two people who likely never imagined themselves receiving such positions.

But as we hear in the first reading, “Not as man sees does God see, because man sees the appearance, but the LORD looks into the heart.” God did not see these men because they were in the right worldly position. He saw them because their hearts were in the right place. Their hearts were open, humble, and honest, which increased their capacity to receive Him — not perform for Him.

And even greater than this, their receptivity allowed them to be empowered in a way far beyond what they could have planned for on this earth: a shepherd becoming a king and a beggar becoming a prophet.

Let this, then, be a reminder to us of the most important focus of this Lent — to do whatever we can to open our hearts to receive more of Him. Not just to do all the Lenten things in order to “move up” in either the spiritual world or even the material world. But instead, with humility, to look deep into our hearts and accept where God has us for now and what He is calling us to in this moment.

In doing this, we allow God to restore us to Himself in the way He intends. And if these stories show us anything, it is that His way will be greater than anything we could have imagined.