FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT C

[cappie]

The ashes are gone – washed off our foreheads – but their darkness still stains our thoughts and spirits as we begin Lent once again.  Being reminded that sin still exists in each one of us can be just plain annoying, not earth-shattering, nothing really to worry about, it’s just there hovering around the edges, picking at us, especially during Lent. We have 40 long days to think about it, though. Forty long days when we’re reminded to repent and be saved.

looking at our readings today.  Moses’ story today is full of light. God has given the Israelites a land flowing with milk and honey. All they have to do is show gratitude through their offerings.  The people acknowledged their rescue from the Egyptians by the God who heard their cries of affliction.

Today’s psalm says, “He shall call upon me, and I will answer him; I am with him in trouble; I will rescue him and bring him to honour.”  At the beginning of Lent, we’re reminded that we are not alone. God not only has not abandoned us, God is “so bound to us in love” the psalm says, that even when we are focused only on ourselves to the point of sin, God is with us, ready to bring us back to the light. God is ready to brush the ash from our faces.

Paul says the same thing to the Romans. “ The word (that is the faith we proclaim) is very near to you, it is on your lips and in your heart.”  Paul drops in a very salient fact: There is no distinction between Jew and Greek, the same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him. This speaks to us of God’s inclusion of all people – no exceptions. We might need to examine ourselves to determine how much we really want to include all others.

This is a good time to remember that  we don’t have to agree with everyone to love them. We don’t have to have emotional love for the person or group doing evil, we acknowledge that these too are children of God and need our prayers.  

Even Jesus didn’t send his tempter immediately to hell in our gospel story. Isn’t it interesting that Jesus only responds to the temptations by reminding his tempter that God alone is worthy of our worship and service? There was no argument, no discussion: God alone is our refuge and our stronghold in times of trial.

The three temptations are interesting in themselves. Would it have been so wrong if Jesus just turned a few stones to bread? Certainly, there’s no sin in that. What is St Luke really telling us? That we might be tempted to want to manipulate the world to our liking. That can grow into the serious sin, for example, of not caring where our food comes from. Do we care enough about those who grow the food we eventually buy in our stores to make deliberate choices about where we shop?

Jesus’ second temptation might make us think about what we feel we must own. What in our lifestyles comes before our consideration of God? If we’re honest, many things can draw our eyes away from God – things that, in and of themselves, are not bad, but things, that might fester in us until we can see nothing else.

The final piece of the devil’s  challenge of Jesus involved asking God to prove His power and influence.  Jesus simply reminds us not to “put the Lord, your God, to the test.”  This could be viewed as a warning to us.  As we go above and beyond our normal routine of focusing our lives on Jesus during Lent, we may begin to think God owes us something for all this effort.  We must continually guard against allowing such pride to seep into our hearts.  Lent is a time for us to focus upon  God who loves us unconditionally, so much more than we could ever comprehend or truly appreciate.   

Today we hear about God’s great love for us. That we live under the shadow of the Almighty.  

There is a lot to be joyful about in Lent. After all, Paul tells us, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”