From the Gospel: Prepare for the unpredictable
Christ calls us to be prepared, embracing our fragility with humility, cherishing life for it is precious, by focusing on that which is essential
Third Sunday in Lent. Today’s readings: Exodus 3:1-15; Psalm 103:1-11; 1 Corinthians 10:1-12; Luke 13:1-9
In 1966, during the so-called Khrushchev Thaw, Andrei Tarkovsky created the remarkable film The Passion of Andrei Rublev, based on the life of the renowned Russian medieval iconograph, to critically comment on the political turmoil and oppression resulting from the Soviet ideological framework, where, among others, freedom of expression faced rigorous censorship. Tarkovsky emphasises historical graphic portrayals of violence suffered by the Russian people from various external – such as the Tatars – and internal oppressive forces, presenting Rublev as an individual, an artist, a saint caught between traumatic silence from disillusionment, intense spiritual turmoil, and artistic stagnation, along with vibrant iconographic creativity, creating lasting masterpieces for future generations to contemplate on for their sublime beauty.
It’s unnecessary to mention that the film faced censorship in the Soviet Union. Only a modified version was shown at the 1969 Cannes Festival. It was ultimately completely unveiled in the 1980s amid Gorbachev’s glasnost and perestroika reforms. In The Passion of Andrei Rublev, Tarkovsky illustrates that human life is fragile and often unpredictably beyond our control. In a world unfortunately marred by turmoil, where no divinity steps in to halt the atrocities of wickedness, and where humanity, blinded by the delusion of arrogance and overwhelming self-assurance, perpetually strives to rise only to crash down, a casualty of its own pride. Rublev is consumed by a helpless, desperate silence as he witnesses the torment of his fellow monks, the slaughter of innocent civilians, betrayal within his own community, and is ultimately compelled to kill in order to save a woman from brutal assault.
Redemption finally comes with Boriska, a hesitant and doubtful young bell-maker, who trusting his craft, succeeds in casting a bell, triggering Rublev to break his vowed silence and to return to iconography, the vibrant colours of which shine against the black-and white backdrop of the film.
Authentic faith is less about being preoccupied with standing secure in our self-righteousness than with opening our eyes and ears to compassionately see and hear the affliction and the cry of the people, and to come to their rescue
In today’s Gospel narrative, Luke presents us with the tragedies of the collapse of the tower of Siloam and Pilate’s bloodbath in the Temple during worship, where Jesus points to the unpredictability of life, where suffering and tragedy can befall upon the just and the wicked alike. Suffering is not always a result of the victim’s moral failure as people in Jesus’ time believed. Coming to grips with the unpredictability of life, Christ calls us to be prepared, embracing our fragility with humility, cherishing life for it is precious, by focusing on that which is essential. The apostle too warns against “desiring evil things” and against being overconfident in thinking we are “standing secure”, lest we suffer a tragic fall. Authentic faith is less about being preoccupied with standing secure in our self-righteousness than with opening our eyes and ears, like Moses, to compassionately see and hear in godlike fashion the affliction and the cry of the people, and to come to their rescue. In other words, to be harbingers of new life stemming from a deep-rooted faith in God whose name is “the one who is and who brings into life”.
Like the compassionate and patient gardener, people of faith and goodwill are called to be catalysts of care and protection, allowing the necessary space and time for transformation to take place, and new life to arise. Pope Francis, in Lumen fidei (completed from Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI’s draft), Evangelii gaudium, Laudato si’ and Amoris Laetitia, repeats the principle of “time is greater than space” when dealing with challenges related to an impasse in evangelisation, environmental and relational issues.
Time “enables us to work slowly but surely, without being obsessed with immediate results. It helps us patiently to endure difficult and adverse situations or inevitable changes in our plans. It invites us to accept the tension between fullness and limitation, and to give a priority to time.” (EG, 223).