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Lent I

I don’t know about you, but for me years are definitely going by much more quickly these days. Not long ago it was Christmas and now we are already in Lent and preparing for Holy Week and Easter. Lent (Garawys) is a period of forty days, which prepares us to celebrate the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. The symbolism of the number forty is rich in the Bible. It signifies a time of trial or testing, and recalls significant biblical events. Firstly, in the story of Noah’s Ark in Genesis 7:12, God floods the earth with water for forty days. Secondly, in the story of the Exodus, the people of Israel spend forty years in the desert before they reach the Promised Land. Thirdly, Moses remains with God on Mount Sinai for forty days before giving the people of Israel the Ten Commandments. And fourthly, in 1Kings 19:8, Elijah fasts for forty days on the way to Mount Horeb, before talking to God and finding Elisha. All of these examples point to Jesus Christ and foreshadow His saving work. 

Today’s first reading from Genesis takes us back to the aftermath of the flood, and the covenant which God establishes by setting His bow, a rainbow (enfys), in the clouds, so that all humanity can rest assured that they will not be destroyed by God. We can be confident that ultimately Our Creator is interested in reconciliation and healing: God is a God of love.

Our second reading from the First Letter of Peter, draws a link between Noah and the ark as a sign of salvation, and baptism, by which humanity is saved. It is a timely connection to make since Lent is traditionally a time for preparation for Baptism at Easter. The wider account of salvation history, and the life of Jesus in particular, become our life as Christians in our baptism: we share in them, they become part of us, and form both who and what we are. We enter into the drama of salvation as we die to sin, and are raised to new life in our baptism. Through our new life in Christ, we follow His example, and prepare for our annual celebration of Holy Week and Easter by going into the desert with Him for the forty days of Lent.

Keeping with the theme of Baptism, this morning’s Gospel begins with Our Lord’s Baptism in the River Jordan by His cousin, John. Jesus does not need to be baptised, He has not committed any sins for which He needs to repent. He does not require to be washed clean. We, on the other hand, do need to be cleansed of our sins. Christ shows humanity the way back to God, so that we might follow His example, and come to share in the same intimacy which characterises the life of God. During Jesus’ Baptism we hear the Father’s voice and see the Holy Spirit: three Persons, One God. It is a glimpse of Divine Glory, which awaits us in Heaven, the end and purpose of salvation history.

Then the Spirit drives Our Lord out into the desert: to be alone, to pray, to be with God. This is also a time of trial when Satan tempts Jesus. The devil attempts to deflect Christ from His mission to bring love and healing, and to proclaim the Kingdom of God. Unlike Matthew’s Gospel, which lists the temptations, Mark simply states that Jesus was tempted. Because He is without sin, Jesus is able to withstand temptation. Our Lord’s victory in the desert points to His great victory on the Cross. Christ then preaches to ‘the spirits in prison’ ‘ac a bregethodd i’r ysbrydion yng ngharchar’ (1Peter 3: 19). He does this to save humanity from sin and death, and restore the hope of Heaven. This is what we are preparing to celebrate at Easter. 

In the garden of Eden the animals were tame, but in the desert Jesus is with wild animals. Here the second Adam is beginning the work of the restoration of Creation. Mankind who fell because of a tree, will be restored by the tree of the Cross. While He is in the wilderness Our Lord is ministered to by angels. He is the Beloved Son, in whom the Father is well-pleased. After the trial of the temptations Christ is tired, and hungry. Experiencing temptation is a trying business, both physically and spiritually. This reminds us of the need for care, especially self-care, in our Lenten observances. Rest and nourishment are an important part of our spiritual and physical wellbeing, now more than ever.

After the forty days are over, Jesus returns to Galilee and starts to proclaim the Gospel, the Good News of the Kingdom of God:

“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” 

“Yr amser a gyflawnwyd, a theyrnas Dduw a nesaodd: edifarhewch, a chredwch yr efengyl.” (Mk 1:15)

This message is the same as the one announced by John the Baptist: Repent, turn away from your sins, turn back to God, and Believe the Gospel, proclaimed by Jesus Christ. As Christians, nearly two thousand years later, we believe and proclaim that same message. Jesus calls us to turn away from sin, to turn back to God, to trust Him, and to know that He longs for our healing and reconciliation. The Kingdom is a place where we are restored, and experience life in all its fulness.

During the weeks of Lent, we pray, fast, and are charitable in order to discipline our minds and bodies, so that we may grow in holiness and become more like Jesus. The Temptation of Jesus teaches us that we have to become weak, powerless and vulnerable, utterly reliant upon our Heavenly Father, so that God is able to be at work in us. Such weakness may be perceived as foolish in worldly terms, but that is the point. As Christians, we are not meant to be conformed to the world. In seeking to grow in faith, humility, and obedience, we allow God to transform us — taking us and shaping us into His likeness. Therefore, as we undertake to follow Christ in our Lenten pilgrimage, we do so in the knowledge of our weakness, and our total reliance upon God. If we turn away from what separates us from Our Heavenly Father, and believe in a God who loves us, then healing can take place. Following Jesus’ example we spend six weeks being close to Our Lord, so that He may renew and strengthen us.

So, my brothers and Sisters in Christ, let us use this time of Lent to draw close to God in prayer. Let us be nourished by the word of God in Holy Scripture, and by God’s very self, His Body and Blood in the Eucharist, so that He may transform us. By these means, may we share in the new life of the Kingdom and be prepared for the glory of Heaven where we, and all creation, may sing the praises of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. To whom be ascribed all glory, dominion, and power, now and forever. Amen.

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Lent I

The Church has entered the season of Lent, and she goes, with her Lord, into the desert for forty days, to pray, to turn away from sin, to turn back to God, to fast, to be generous in almsgiving. We do this to prepare to celebrate Jesus’ passion, Death and Resurrection in Holy Week and Easter. We get ready to celebrate the holiest week of the Church’s year by having something of a spiritual spring clean. This is a very good thing indeed. We need to do it, so that we can be reminded where we need to put some work in.

Our first reading this morning take us right back to the start of the problem of human sin: Adam & Eve in the Garden of Eden. They are tempted by the serpent to do what God has told them not to do. Thinking that you know better than God, and choosing to do what you want to do is where the sin of pride comes from. Adam and Eve prefer to trust the serpent, who promises that they will become like God. They are disobedient: they do not listen to what God says, and act in accordance with it. But rather than knowing good and evil, all they know is that they are naked, and cover their nakedness. The serpent makes empty promises, and they are taken in by them. Such is the power of lies. 

But while we have heard how sin and death came into the world, we also hear in our second reading from Paul’s Letter to the Romans how disobedience is countered by the obedience of Jesus Christ. It is obedience which will see Our Lord die on the Cross for us. Christ will bear the burden of our sin, to pay the debt which we cannot. This is what we are preparing to celebrate: one act of righteousness which ‘leads to justification and life for all men’ (Rom 5:18 ESV). To be justified is to be declared righteous in the sight of God. We are guilty, yet God declares us innocent. We deserve punishment, and yet are rewarded. It is remarkable. Such is God’s love for us that our slate is wiped clean. Each and every one of us deserves to be cast aside, for our sins, like those of Adam & Eve separate us from God and each other. Yet God did not leave us in slavery to sin, but sent His Son, so that we might have life in and through Him. This is the Good News of the Gospel. 

In the Gospel this morning we see Jesus at a crucial point, between His Baptism and the calling of the first disciples: Peter and Andrew, James and John. Christ goes into the desert for forty days, to be alone, to pray and to fast, and the church keen to imitate our Saviour likewise goes into the desert so that we may grow closer to God, that we may be purged and prepared to celebrate the mystery of the Lord’s Passion, Death, and Resurrection. 

Jesus is led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness, a place traditionally associated with the prophets and with encounter with God. After fasting for forty days and forty nights He is hungry. This is no surprise at all. He has been fasting for forty days, Our Lord is starving – he is fully human not some superhero who is immune to human feelings and needs. So the devil tempts Him by saying, ‘If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.’ (Mt 4:3 ESV). The temptation works on several levels. By doubting that Jesus is God and asking Him to prove it the devil is continuing to mock the God he refuses to serve. It is a temptation to be relevant: Jesus is hungry and needs to eat, but is being tempted to use the creative power of God simply to serve an appetite. The world tempts us to be relevant, and to conform ourselves to it, rather than let the world be conformed to the will of God. Jesus’ reply to the devil, that man does not live by bread alone but by every word which proceeds from the mouth of God, reminds us that as Christians we are fed by Word and Sacrament, nourished by God so that we may grow in faith, and hope, and love. 

Christ is taken to the pinnacle of the Temple in Jerusalem and told to throw Himself down. This is the temptation to be spectacular, to do something for show, again something which the contemporary church seems rather keen on. But nothing should be done for show; we are called to follow Christ simply and humbly, trusting in Him. The devil wants to put God to the test, it is an act of disobedience, contrary to the humble obedience which sees us live trusting in God, relying upon Him, formed by Him.

Christ is finally tempted to turn away from God the Father, to worship a false god. He is offered much in material terms –- all the world and its splendour -– wealth and power –- a huge temptation for humanity, and one into which many people give. The Church too has given in, and continues so to do. We have to be weak, powerless and vulnerable, utterly reliant upon God so that God can be at work in us, as we humbly worship and serve Him. It may look foolish in worldly terms, but that is the point –- we are not meant to be conformed to the world, but as we seek to grow in faith, in humility, and obedience, we allow God to be at work in us –- taking us and transforming us into His likeness.

The temptation to worship a false God: money, power, or success is always there, and many in the church give in to feelings of ambition, and if they are not ‘successful’ end up bitter, cynical, and miserable. But success is itself empty, popular favour can disappear like a puff of smoke. It is fleeting, it does not last. Whereas in Christ we are offered something that will last: eternal life with God in heaven. 

So as we undertake to follow Christ in our Lenten pilgrimage we do so in our weakness, so that we may rely upon God, and Him alone. We do so joyfully, knowing that Christ’s victory which we will celebrate at Easter is total and complete – it is justification and life for all.

Let us pray that we may receive grace to follow Christ so that we may prepare to celebrate His Death and Resurrection and sing the praises of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, to whom be ascribed as is most right and just, all might, majesty, glory, dominion, and power, now and forever. Amen.

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Posted on by atfurse

Lent I Year A


This morning’s Epistle from St Paul’s Letter to the Romans really hits the nail on the head – humanity is sinful, it isn’t comfortable to be reminded of this, in fact the world around us would much rather forget this fact, but Lent is a time for facing home truths, for being confronted with the truth about the human condition – we’re not as good as we think we are. If this were the whole story then I suspect that we could and indeed should feel utterly miserable and wretched. Thankfully it isn’t – our vocation as Christians is to be joyful, even when we are penitent, for the simple reason that we can have hope in Christ, that in our baptism we share in His life, death and resurrection. Paul can rejoice in the ‘abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness’ poured out by God in Christ, who on the Cross takes our sins upon Himself, who pays the debt which we cannot, who restores the relationship between us and God, and between ourselves. The Sacrifice of Calvary is re-presented here, today, so that we, the people of God can be fed by God, fed with God, healed and restored, and given a foretaste of heaven.
            As we undertake the spiritual journey of Lent we spend forty days in prayer, in penitence, and fasting, so that we may celebrate with joy Our Lord and Saviour’s Passion, Death, and Resurrection. We enter the desert of repentance, turning away from sin, turning to God, to love Him, to trust Him, to ask Him to heal us and restore us. We do what we do because Christ has done it before. At the start of His public ministry, Jesus goes to pray and fast, and we follow His example. He was led by the Spirit, as God Incarnate He is God, and His life demonstrates the unity of the Trinity. He’s been fasting for forty days, he’s starving – he’s a human being, he isn’t some superhero who is immune to human feelings. He is tempted by the devil to turn the stones around Him into bread; it is the temptation to be relevant, a temptation into which our contemporary church seems all too willing to give. His reply to the devil, that man does not live by bread alone but by every word which proceeds from the mouth of God, reminds us that as Christians we are fed by Word and Sacrament, nourished by God so that we may grow in faith.
            Christ is taken to the pinnacle of the Temple in Jerusalem and told to throw Himself down – it is the temptation to be spectacular, again something which the contemporary church seems rather keen on. But nothing should be done for show; we are to follow Christ simply and humbly, trusting in Him. The devil wants to put God to the test, it is an act of disobedience, contrary to the humble obedience which sees us live trusting in God, relying upon Him, formed by Him.
            Christ is tempted to turn away from God the Father, to worship a false god. He is offered much in material terms – all the world and its splendour – wealth and power – a huge temptation for humanity, and one into which many people give. The Church too has given in, and continues so to do. We have to be weak, powerless and vulnerable, so that God can be at work in us, as we humbly worship and serve Him. It may look foolish in worldly terms, but that is the point – we’re not meant to be conformed to the world, but as we seek to grow in faith, in humility, and obedience, we allow God to be at work in us – taking us and refashioning us.
            So as we undertake to follow Christ in our Lenten pilgrimage we do so in our weakness, so that we may rely upon God, and Him alone. We do so joyfully, knowing that Christ’s victory which we will celebrate at Easter is total and complete – it is justification and life for all.
Let us pray that we may receive grace to follow Christ so that we may prepare to celebrate His Death and Resurrection and sing the praise of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, to whom be ascribed as is most right and just, all might, majesty, glory, dominion, and power, now and forever.