1ST SUNDAY IN LENT

FIRST READING:  Genesis 9:8-17

It all began with a word… with God’s Word moving over the waters, shattering the darkness, bringing forth life out of chaos. The book of Genesis tells us that God spoke, and things happened. And so God spoke and there was light… and then there was separation between sky and land… and then there were all sorts of vegetation… and then there was the sun and moon and stars… and then there were many creatures in the sea, in the air, and on land. And then God spoke and created humanity – man and woman, our ancestors, unique and special in God’s eyes, somehow made in God’s image, filled with God’s own breath, and given status and authority and, yes, responsibility for the rest of creation. This was, it seems, God’s greatest act, God’s crown of creation, what God was most proud of. Man and woman, you and me.

But then something went wrong with humanity. God had given humanity free will… God had allowed humanity to choose whether or not, how, to respond to God and to each other and to the environment. And it didn’t go so well. Soon the world was suffering under the weight of human disobedience and indifference and INHUMANITY. God was so sad that he cried and cried, so mad that God turned his tears into a mighty flood. But God was unwilling to destroy it all, to let the dream go. God flooded the world but saved a few. God decided to begin again.

Today’s reading centers on the conclusion to the flood story. The Lord destroys the earth by flood, except for Noah, his family, and the animals on the ark. Divine destruction gives way to divine commitment. As in the first creation (Genesis, Chapter 1), God blesses the human community. God also establishes a covenant with all living creatures, using a rainbow in the sky as a self-reminder of the promise not to ever try to destroy the earth again with a flood. That covenant, the first in the Old Testament, is an assurance of God’s abiding love.

Have you ever had to start over? Can you imagine what it was like for Noah and wife, his sons, daughters-in-law, and even the creatures of the earth to start over with God on behalf of all creation? Do you think you would be afraid of God’s power… or would you trust God’s promise? Do you think your life’s journey is mostly fear? Or is it faith?

“Survivor guilt” is a mental and emotional condition when a person believes she or he has done something wrong by surviving a traumatic or tragic event when others did not, often feeling self-guilt. It is sometimes difficult to accept that one is not at fault for what has happened – did not actually do anything wrong – and to move on with the rest of one’s life. Do you think Noah or his kin had to deal with survivor guilt? Did you ever have to face this in your life?

The rainbow was a sign, a symbol, a reminder – both for God and for Noah and all of humanity and creation – of the promise that God has humanity and creation’s best interest at heart. If not a rainbow, what signs and symbols remind you of God’s covenant love, God’s promises to us?  

 

SECOND READING:  1 Peter 3:18-22

In this reading the author emphasizes God’s saving action on behalf of Noah, his family, and the creatures. This saving presence continues to be manifested through Christ in the act of baptism. The author proclaims that Christ suffered for our sins – “once for all” of us – and that our baptism is not unlike the ark that carried Noah and kin to safety.

The author – who might have been the apostle Peter with assistance from Silas – is apparently writing in a difficult time for the Christian faith. In the summer of 64AD, a great fire destroyed much of Rome. Emperor Nero is believed to have been responsible, but he falsely blamed those Christians. Up to this point, Christianity had been viewed simply as a variation of the Jewish faith, which had legal status as a religion. Now it was judged to be its own religion and was forbidden. Suddenly there was much oppression and persecution, losses of life. It was during this period that Paul was beheaded and Peter was crucified upside down. This letter is written for circulation throughout the provinces of the Roman Empire to offer hope in the midst of the suffering and uncertainty.

Christ’s death for us and resurrection victory give us hope, And our baptism is not unlike the deliverance and fresh start that Noah experienced.

 

GOSPEL READING:  Mark 1:9-15

In the rapidly paced Gospel of Mark, immediately after Jesus’ baptism, the Spirit immediately drives him out into the wilderness. Jesus has no choice here; it is as if the Spirit entered and “possessed” him when he was baptized. So off to “wilderness school” he goes.

You might remember hearing or reading distinct tempting challenges that Satan offered Jesus in that wilderness time. But not in Mark. Mark is mostly silent. Very few details are given here about Jesus’ encounter with Satan. He was tempted and tested. There were wild beasts around him, but there were also angels to give him some sort of support. He faced the challenge of the wilderness, he faced the temptations of Satan, he endured, he “triumphed”, he was tested and tempered – toughened like steel – in preparation for his mission. Then he went forth to proclaim the good news of God’s reign, God’s kingdom. He was willing and he was able to undertake this mission.

As a moment of side commentary, the details aren’t always necessary, are they? In our own interactions with others – when we are going through some hard times, when we are struggling, trying to survive, trying to make it through, trying to change for the better – do we always have to tell every gory detail, relieve the pain or the embarrassment or the shame… and sometimes again and again?  Can it sometimes be enough to simply and honestly say that I am going through some real difficult times right now, I am going through hell right now, without going into real detail?  Could someone tell me or tell you that they are struggling and ask me, ask you for prayer or some other sort of ministry without me and you becoming perhaps too suspicious or too curious or even voyeuristic? I’m just wondering. Sometimes people ask you how you’re doing and you don’t want to get into all the stuff, but you do want to be affirmed and loved, prayed for. Sometimes, in our conversations as Christians to and about others, we run the risk of being too newsy and too nosey, looking for dirt. Anyway, Mark simply tells us that Jesus was tempted, out there in the wilderness.

Understand that all of us are tempted in some way or another, all of us are tested, each of us is challenged in our Christian journey. And sometimes it seems to come right after a high, bright, happy, victorious moment in our lives as Christians. How many of you have ever experienced that – just when you thought everything was fine… just when your journey as a human being and as a Christian seemed smooth?

Hear and believe that none of us is completely abandoned, completely alone in our time of trial, tribulation, test, and temptation, none of us! You might feel all alone, and you might even think that you are undeserving of God’s presence and concern. But no desolation is so complete that God is not there with us. In your sorrow, you are not abandoned. In your suffering, you are not alone. In your dying, you don’t walk through the shadow of death unattended. Even when you are sinning pretty good, God has not written you off as a complete loss. God is present. The living Christ is present. The Church of Christ tries its best to be present. The Spirit, the Gospel of Mark suggests, accompanies us into the wild as well as the settled places in our lives. Like Jesus, we may find that we are being strengthened by even the most trying times along the way. God’s Spirit dwells in us, just as it did with Jesus, and remains with us even in the most difficult places. Angels watch over us.

Jesus was tempted and Jesus suffered just as we are tempted and we must suffer. All this he did for us, for us and our salvation, for us and for this world.