Today’s readings again speak about the covenant relationship between God and humanity. In the first reading, God delivers the ten commandments to Moses, and through him to the Jewish community. In return for God’s abundant blessing upon them, the Israelites were told how they needed to relate to Him. The “rules” were not meant to be a burden to the people, but to show them how to live in harmony with both God and each other. Both the psalmist and St. Paul extol the virtues of God’s wisdom. By Jesus’ time, the rationale behind God’s commandments was lost. The commandments had been turned into a long list of rules, a legalistic interpretation designed to both put the “rule makers” (the Pharisees) in power over the people and to turn a profit for some (like those using the temple as a marketplace). In today’s Gospel reading (and indeed throughout His ministry), we hear Jesus, who is the ultimate fulfillment of God’s covenant with humanity, call foul. He called the Jewish community then, and He calls us today, to turn back to God and His covenant. Forget the long list of enslaving rules, and simply love God and each other as He intended from the beginning. As Jesus pointed out, all the commandments boil down to two things: Loving God above all else and loving our neighbors as ourselves. It seems so simple, and yet…look at our world. We don’t need to look much beyond our own communities, families, and workplaces to see that we’re not doing a great job…not to mention the state of world affairs. Lent is the time, the very acceptable time, to look at our lives. How are we doing with those two simple requirements of being a Christian? This is the time to acknowledge our failings and to repent of them; to return to living as people in a loving relationship with our God.