First Sunday in Lent! The paraments will be purple until Easter (April 1), and we have put away our Alleluias until Easter Sunday morning. You’ll notice a few changes to the liturgy, too, as it becomes more penitent. Lent is a more somber version of Advent, a time of preparation and reflection. Instead of the arrival of a king, though, we prepare our hearts for Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection. This is a time to consider the human condition, and the condition of each of us, that required the tremendous sacrifice of Good Friday. Whatever you choose to do during Lent is to enable you to grasp that in a more meaningful way. It isn’t to “earn” your right to salvation. Often I think of this as taking on a discipline to make room in my life, fasting from something, rather than just denying something without a specific reason.
Incidentally, the forty days of Lent mirror the forty days of Jesus testing because we get a “day off” from Lenten fasting on Sundays. Just FYI.
Gospel: Mark 1:9-15
The first reading during Lent is always Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness. Actually, the word “temptation” is better translated as testing. We are familiar with the beginning and end pieces of today’s reading since we just read them a few weeks ago, but we had skipped the wilderness. (Don’t ever skip the wilderness! Things happen there!)
In this passage, Mark moves very quickly through several scenes. Jesus is baptized, where God pronounces him “My Beloved Son.” That beloved Son is then promptly sent out to the wilderness where he encounters the Devil and his testing. So much for not getting tested if you are in God’s good grace. If anyone ever says that to you, this is the passage you can point to to show them how wrong they are! Jesus had God’s confidence, not His guarantee of an easy life.
Next, John is arrested and Jesus begins his earthly ministry. “Repent and believe, for the Kingdom of God is at hand.” I’m really glad we came back to this because I’ve been thinking about the dual command—“Repent AND believe.” We’re commanded to do both. Do you remember a couple of weeks ago when Jesus cast out the demon from the man in the synagogue? The demon had identified Jesus as the Son of God. That demon KNEW who Jesus was—he believed. But he doesn’t repent. (I’ve thought about this and I don’t know if he even could repent. At any rate, he only believes.)
On the other hand, it’s possible to truly turn from bad behavior on your own willpower. But without believing that Jesus is the Son of God and that the Kingdom of God is breaking through, it is just an act of will. It’s useless to God.
I encourage you to use the testing time of Lent to help you repent from something.
Old Testament: Genesis 9:8-17
This is the end of the Noah flood story, where God lays out his covenant with all flesh of the world. The Old Testament tells the story of a series of covenants with God:
Noah—God with “all flesh”
Abraham—God creating a “great people”
Moses—God choosing the Hebrew people in particular
David—God promising a kingly line which will never go away
Jesus—God’s promise of salvation to individual people
This is the only covenant that God makes that is completely one-sided. We read earlier in Genesis that God has been grieved by the sinfulness of humans, but also by the destruction of his beautiful creation by the flood, and has decided to change his relationship with all living creatures to create a new way to handle the brokenness of the world.
It is shocking to think that God’s heart can be grieved, I think. It speaks to a sense of regret, and to think that the creator of the universe can feel regret is shocking. It is, however, Biblical. Take advantage of this passage to read the entire Noah story.
The science nerd in me likes to reflect on God’s choice of the rainbow as his sign. He created the laws of the universe. Rainbows were just a by-product of how he created light and water. But he looked on that beautiful reflection and chose it as the sign. He didn’t create a rainbow for the first time and say here it is. He said when this happens, think of Me and this promise.
Psalm 25:1-10
This passage could well serve as a theme for Lent!
In verse 1, “Lift up” is the verb used for actually putting the sacrifice on an altar. Think of this verse as saying “I will sacrifice to You, O Lord, the most precious thing I could possibly offer.”
In verse 9, the Hebrew word for “way” and “lead” are the same, just as noun or verb. This verse makes the humble the object of the entire verse. “Lead the humble, give the humble His leading.”
Verse 10, where our reading ends, makes it sound like this is only available to those who are perfectly obedient. But read verse 11! The writer knows his failings and still asks to be included. And we know that God will be faithful to that request.
New Testament: 1 Peter 3:18-22
The beginning of this chapter is very familiar. Peter gives instructions for how wives should treat husbands, and how husbands should treat wives. (Lots has been written on this, but it just occurs to me: we know Peter was married. His advice is remarkably similar to that given by Paul, the lifelong bachelor.) Then Peter extends the argument and says, in fact, that we should all live together in humility and love. And then we come to this passage.
This passage is just flat-out strange. I spent a long time reading about it until I found out that Martin Luther himself considered this to be the most challenging passage to interpret in the entire New Testament! I’m off the hook.
The passage does reference the covenant with Noah. Ancient church fathers Tertullian and Clement used these verses to develop the idea that Jesus descended to Hell to rescue those who had died before Jesus’ earthly ministry. Since they were writing just a few years after Peter wrote these words, I think they were able to hear something in these references that has been somewhat lost to us in the 2000 years since.
There is evidence that these verses also directly reference Genesis 6:1-4, a time before the flood when evil increased greatly in the world. Go back and read those verses if you have a minute this week.
I would LOVE to hear what you think about these verses.