A Thousand Generations
First Reading
In those days, God delivered all these commandments:
“I, the LORD, am your God,
who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery.
You shall not have other gods besides me.
You shall not carve idols for yourselves
in the shape of anything in the sky above
or on the earth below or in the waters beneath the earth;
you shall not bow down before them or worship them.
For I, the LORD, your God, am a jealous God,
inflicting punishment for their fathers’ wickedness
on the children of those who hate me,
down to the third and fourth generation;
but bestowing mercy down to the thousandth generation
on the children of those who love me and keep my commandments.
“You shall not take the name of the LORD, your God, in vain.
For the LORD will not leave unpunished
the one who takes his name in vain.
“Remember to keep holy the sabbath day.
Six days you may labor and do all your work,
but the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD, your God.
No work may be done then either by you, or your son or daughter,
or your male or female slave, or your beast,
or by the alien who lives with you.
In six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth,
the sea and all that is in them;
but on the seventh day he rested.
That is why the LORD has blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.
“Honor your father and your mother,
that you may have a long life in the land
which the LORD, your God, is giving you.
You shall not kill.
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not steal.
You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
You shall not covet your neighbor’s house.
You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife,
nor his male or female slave, nor his ox or ass,
nor anything else that belongs to him.”
Responsorial Psalm
R. (John 6:68c) Lord, you have the words of everlasting life.
The law of the LORD is perfect,
refreshing the soul;
The decree of the LORD is trustworthy,
giving wisdom to the simple.
R. Lord, you have the words of everlasting life.
The precepts of the LORD are right,
rejoicing the heart;
the command of the LORD is clear,
enlightening the eye.
R. Lord, you have the words of everlasting life.
The fear of the LORD is pure,
enduring forever;
the ordinances of the LORD are true,
all of them just.
R. Lord, you have the words of everlasting life.
They are more precious than gold,
than a heap of purest gold;
sweeter also than syrup
or honey from the comb.
R. Lord, you have the words of everlasting life.
Second Reading
Brothers and sisters:
Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom,
but we proclaim Christ crucified,
a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,
but to those who are called, Jews and Greeks alike,
Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom,
and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.
Gospel Reading
Verse Before the Gospel
God so loved the world that he gave his only Son,
so that everyone who believes in him might have eternal life.
Gospel
Since the Passover of the Jews was near,
Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
He found in the temple area those who sold oxen, sheep, and doves,
as well as the money changers seated there.
He made a whip out of cords
and drove them all out of the temple area, with the sheep and oxen,
and spilled the coins of the money changers
and overturned their tables,
and to those who sold doves he said,
“Take these out of here,
and stop making my Father’s house a marketplace.”
His disciples recalled the words of Scripture,
Zeal for your house will consume me.
At this the Jews answered and said to him,
“What sign can you show us for doing this?”
Jesus answered and said to them,
“Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.”
The Jews said,
“This temple has been under construction for forty-six years,
and you will raise it up in three days?”
But he was speaking about the temple of his body.
Therefore, when he was raised from the dead,
his disciples remembered that he had said this,
and they came to believe the Scripture
and the word Jesus had spoken.
While he was in Jerusalem for the feast of Passover,
many began to believe in his name
when they saw the signs he was doing.
But Jesus would not trust himself to them because he knew them all,
and did not need anyone to testify about human nature.
He himself understood it well.
Catechesis At Home – A Thousand Generations
Third Sunday of Lent – Year B
God says, “For I, the LORD, your God, am a jealous God, inflicting punishment for their fathers’ wickedness
on the children of those who hate me, down to the third and fourth generation; but bestowing mercy down to the thousandth generation on the children of those who love me and keep my commandments. (Exodus 20:5) [Emphasis added]
Does God give us a clue here when the end of time will happen? Is this when Jesus’ Second Coming will occur, when He will come to “judge the living and the dead.” (2 Timothy 4:1)
We know neither the time nor place (Matthew 25:13) when the Master will return. But as parents we tell our children when we will return. And though we may be delayed or get done sooner than we expect, there is some general understanding. Maybe we won’t be home by 5:30, for instance, but we can be expected in the evening.
How many years are a thousand generations? A generation is about 20 years, as a general rule. It is the time between one set of parents having children and those children having children. It averages to about twenty years throughout history, though it will be longer or shorter for each specific family.
This makes the math easy: A thousand generations in 20,000 years. That must mean we are close to the end of times and all of us getting to heaven, right?
Nope. The Ten Commandments were given to Moses somewhere between 1500 and 1400 BC. At the most, that’s 3500 years ago. That’s only 175 generations. Jesus and the Apostles were only 100 generations ago. Priests have practiced celibacy for only about 45 generations.[i] The American Revolution was only twelve generations ago. Saint Pope John Paul II reigned one generation ago. If we use this phrase in the Ten Commandments to figure out when The Judgment is coming, we still have 16,500 years to go…825 generations.[ii]
DISCUSSION
This is an opportunity for parents to be honest with the kids so the kids will be honest with themselves. Would we feel better if we knew Jesus was coming tomorrow, or would we feel better if He was coming in 16,000 years? Why? Does it matter when Time ends, or does it matter when OUR TIME ends?
ACTIVITY
We know Jesus is actually coming for us in one generation – when we die. This week’s activity is important and can be a bit daunting, so parents should be ready to help: Let’s pretend Jesus is asking us to audition for Heaven. Nobody gets to prepare, just like we don’t know when we are going to die. A parent should setup the smartphone or video camera and just press record. Each person has two minutes to make their case to Jesus on why they should get into heaven. You know your family dynamic, so you know if parents should go first or if kids should. Parents should be honest (HINT: Do we REALLY deserve Heaven?)
This should be difficult and introspective. The younger the child, the more innocent the resulting video will be. There will be boisterous and poignant claims of “I’ve been good” as if Jesus were Santa Claus, so parents should be well-prepared for their two minutes, so as to allow for and open up discussion when they are done.
FOLLOW-UP ACTIVITY
The follow up activity is for parents: Heaven is not a checklist, and neither is our Final Judgment. We know that our good deeds are not weighed against our bad – one bad always outweighs all good.[iii]
Each night, at dinner or bedtime, or before prayers, parents should express a moment during the day when they dropped the ball – committed a venial sin – and want to make amends. Only forgiveness from The Lord offers this, which cleanses us and allows us to start over. If life were a checklist, we would all be doomed to Hell. And then remind the children that because God loves us, He sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to take the punishment that we deserved, and put it on Himself, and that’s why He died on the cross. Otherwise, no matter what good we did, it would not, justly, make up for or erase the bad. The bad still happened and needs to be paid for, which Jesus did. This is called Justification. To read more about it you can look in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 1987-1995, and others.
Children need to know that EVERY sin is forgivable. So parents, in their revealing of this sin, should ask the children to forgive them for not being as good as they should be.
FINAL NOTE
Parents should recognize that their example, how they live their relationship with God, is the only way they can teach their children. No amount of lecture, discussion, activity, or This Week’s Free Things, will substitute for the parents’ example. It is important for parents to admit, through their example, if not in actual word, that they are not perfect.
This process and approach will help the children know that they can come to the parent before and after making mistakes, to get the best guidance and forgiveness. And through the parents who seek the perfection that God calls them to, the children see God and how He works.
[i] The Church was over 1100 years old before it definitively took a stand in favor of celibacy in the twelfth century at the Second Lateran Council held in 1139, when a rule was approved forbidding priests to marry. In 1563, the Council of Trent reaffirmed the tradition of celibacy.
[ii] Please understand that we are not making a prophetic claim of when Jesus will return. Scholars tell us this is an example of hyperbole meant to show that God’s covenant will last forever – longer than Man can count, and it does not imply that God’s covenant ends at a certain time. It tells us that God’s mercy is endless for those who love Him. Remember, Paul tells us that “we know partially and we prophesy partially,” (1 Corinthians 13:9) so the best guess is that Jesus will be here today, and we need to be ready!
[iii] The Bible tells us that God is a good judge, and He will punish the guilty, not for what they did right, but for what they did wrong. In Genesis 18:25, Abraham said to God, “Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?” Because God is a righteous and just Judge, He must ‘do what is right’ and punish all sin. Romans 3:23 says that we have all sinned. God hates sin and His Law says that “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). It is precisely for this reason that we need Jesus, who paid those wages of death for our sins, and that we not take Him for granted but instead take advantage of frequent reconciliation and true repentance.
Was this helpful? How? Or was it a little too deep for the kids?
Other Help on HOO
Lust And Love – Episode 133
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:04 — 24.0MB)
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What is the difference between lust and love?
During this “season of Valentines” Beth and Kristofer cover this (often unknowingly) confusing and vitally important topic before we dive headlong into the pink and roses and hearts and whatnot.
Beth and Kristofer share how to tell the difference between lust and love, and how to teach that to impressionable minds and hearts.
And they do this in the context of Mortal Sin and Theological Virtue: Lust and Love, respectively.
They also, right out of the gate, point to Nick’s seven-part series about Love as a great resource on our web site for this discussion, which is linked to in the show notes.
Living in this world, but not of it, is difficult, and Beth and Kristofer offer us some pointers on how to do that, particularly in this day and age.
And, no, there is no inappropriate or “parental discretion advised” content in this episode.
But they do get attacked by a tree!
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