First Sunday in Lent, February 22, 2015

Collect for the Day 

Almighty God, whose blessed Son was led by the Spirit to be tempted by Satan: Come quickly to help us who are assaulted by many temptations; and, as you know the weaknesses of each of us, let each one find you mighty to save; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

 

Reflections: The readings are united by themes of vocation and temptation. Paradoxically, our sense of God’s invitation to us seems to be linked to the experience of temptation. It is a truism that once we set ourselves in the way of Christ—here comes trouble! Yet our struggle is tempered by divine assistance; as Paul reminds us elsewhere, the Spirit itself accompanies us and provides the way through. 

First Lesson: Genesis 9:8-17

God said to Noah and to his sons with him, "As for me, I am establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you, and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the domestic animals, and every animal of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark. I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth."

God said, "This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living the creature that is with you, for all future generations: I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth." God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth."  

Reflections: We naturally think of the “Old” Testament (or Covenant) and the “New.” But covenant theology points out as many as seven. I find the Noahic covenant (the second) of special interest.

We Christians know that God is concerned about human beings, and—beyond Creation in Genesis—we give little thought to the rest of the natural world—except where it affects people. The Noahic Covenant, however, clearly testifies to God’s intentional relationship to the whole of creation.

 

Psalm 25:1-9 Ad te, Domine, levavi

To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul; my God, I put my trust in you; *

     let me not be humiliated, nor let my enemies triumph over me.

Let none who look to you be put to shame; * let the treacherous be disappointed in their schemes.

Show me your ways, O LORD, * and teach me your paths.

Lead me in your truth and teach me, * for you are the God of my salvation; in you have I trusted all the day long.

Remember, O LORD, your compassion and love, * for they are from everlasting.

Remember not the sins of my youth and my transgressions; *

     remember me according to your love and for the sake of your goodness, O LORD.

Gracious and upright is the LORD; * therefore he teaches sinners in his way.

He guides the humble in doing right * and teaches his way to the lowly.

All the paths of the LORD are love and faithfulness * to those who keep his covenant and his testimonies.  
 

Reflections: The first reading challenges our knee-jerk reaction to interpret “covenant” in the last line as Torah—the Law. It is true that the Noahic covenant is between God an all life, to never again destroy all living things. Surely fidelity to that covenant is up to God. It is not our business. Or is it? Is it incumbent upon us to respect what God values? What would it look like if we took the Noahic covenant seriously?

Epistle: 1 Peter 3:18-22

Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, in which also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison, who in former times did not obey, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were saved through water. And baptism, which this prefigured, now saves you-- not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers made subject to him. 

Reflections: Two ideas from this reading really catch my attention. First, St. Peter’s interpretation of the Flood as a prefiguration of baptism. Through Noah, God gives a fresh start to creation:  humans, mammals, reptiles, creepy-crawlies and all. There is no eligibility requirement whatsoever, and—in this respect—no bias towards humanity.

Second, Peter makes the stupendous claim that Christ “went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison.” While many of us are willing to grant that Christ’s salvation extends back in time to righteous people who lived before Jesus, the apostle goes further. Christ’s proclamation was addressed “to the spirits in prison, who in former times did not obey . . . during the building of the ark.” In other words, here is a startling statement that Christ offers salvation even to those who were deliberately wiped out for their wickedness. To those who don’t deserve it.

The claim is bound to trigger contrasting responses. First perhaps, indignation that those people get another chance. Second, relief that God is merciful: We . . . get another chance.  

Gospel: Mark 1:9-15

In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased."

          And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.

Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news."
 

Reflections: Mother Karen pointed out that the “wilderness” represented a real, geographical area that did not support life; the land lacked any support for human life, and the wild animals there were hungry. Nevertheless, Jesus—God’s chosen—is “driven” there by the Spirit. Jesus remains in that brutal environment 40 days (the time that the arc floated on the waters). And like the inhabitants of the arc, who emerged a new people on a renewed earth, Jesus is purified by his ordeal.

          Purified? Surely Jesus doesn’t need purification. (But by the same token, he surely didn’t need baptism . . .). Nevertheless, both occurred, and both may signify something more than historical events. What if there is a relationship between baptism and entering the wilderness?

This may seem bizarre, but when Jesus rose up out of the water, his deepest identity was revealed. Perhaps this very revelation brought temptations, for example, the temptation use his power or influence to satisfy his needs or his yearnings.

We know that the temptations must have been real because Jesus was as fully human as we are. Therefore, we can’t read the story of the wilderness as “Satan suggested a devilish idea, but Jesus discarded it easily.” No, instead, it seems that Jesus felt the temptations.

And that means, to me, at least, that struggling with temptation is normal. (If it’s not a struggle, it’s not temptation.) In other words, we aren’t bad people because we suffer temptation. What matters—and in fact what helps us mature spiritually—is our ultimate response to temptations. Perhaps we experience the impulse to take advantage of others or of our situation, the inclination to hang back in fear or to aggressively push our point of view, the lure of surrendering to despair . . .

But we can take heart because Jesus, as it says in Hebrews, he “was tempted as we are.” Christ was there with the wild beasts, yet he was ministered to by angels—right there in the thick of it, right there where you’d think no self-respecting angel would dare set foot. And there—maybe especially there—God waits to minister to us. He who was tempted, though he did not sin, is with us right there in the worse of it, ready to strengthen and to forgive.