As we enter the last two weeks of Lent, the liturgy takes on a different tone. Whereas the first three weeks focused on Jesus' challenge to turn away from sin, these last two weeks focus on the other half of that challenge - to believe in the good news. Whereas the first three weeks we focused on conversion, penance and works of mercy, the last two weeks focus on faith. The first reading shows this forth in a marvelous way. God tells Jerusalem that he is finished scolding her; he has stopped punishing her for her sinfulness. He promises his people that their future will be one of prosperity instead of castigation, long life instead of untimely, violent death. He promises to re-create them so radically that their past will be forgotten, and that he can take delight in them rather than loathe them because of their sinfulness.
Of all the gospels, the gospel of John which we will be reading throughout these next two weeks stresses the importance of faith. In today's reading, Jesus is at Cana where he performed his first sign, changing water into wine. This symbolizes a new dispensation of God's grace, a new covenant. The second sign he performs is the healing of the royal official's son. A Gentile, because of his faith, benefits from Jesus' healing power. The meaning of the signs is clear - in Jesus the Father offers a new covenant which we can enter into by faith.
During these last two weeks of Lent, we celebrate the share in salvation God has given us through faith. During the first three weeks we focused on what we do to draw near to salvation, but now the focus is on what God does. If during those first three weeks we found out how week we are and how difficult it is to be faithful to the disciplines of discipleship, let us turn to God now and ask for the gift of faith that will bear fruit in our celebration of the resurrection.
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