Repent and
Believe in the Gospel
Introduction: May the Lord Jesus bless you, especially this Lenten season as you are renewed in your covenant relationship with GOD.
Lent comes
from an old English word, “lencten” which means “springtime” or “lengthening” of
the day. Springtime is when the deadness of winter begins to blossom with new life.
It happens each year. We see signs that what seemed gone is brought back. After
they have the dead branches clipped, trees begin to sprout leaves. Bulbs that have
shown no life are buried in the ground so that flowers can bloom.
Lent is
a time of spiritual re-birth. GOD who has promised to give new growth to plants,
has also promised new spiritual growth to us if we take the time and “lengthen”
our time with GOD. We are given the opportunity to focus on what is essential in
our covenant relationship with our GOD. That which is dead and non-productive must
be removed and buried so that new life which comes from the death and resurrection
of Jesus can take effect in our lives. If we make good use of the next 40 days,
we will be able to celebrate the paschal mystery of our salvation during the Triduum
of Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Easter Vigil.
The focus of our readings not only for today, but for all the Sundays of Lent this year, is the relationship GOD establishes with the people through covenants. Covenants are the binding agreement between GOD and those whom GOD has chosen. The covenant of old that takes center focus today is the covenant between GOD and Noah after the Flood. Thus, our First Reading is an account of that covenant. The psalm is a prayer asking GOD to continue to reveal the compassion and love that was manifested in old. In his First Letter today, Peter speaks of the Covenant with Noah as a type (pre-figurement) of the relationship that comes about through the waters of Baptism. In the Gospel today, Jesus is tempted by Satan. That is followed by Jesus beginning His public ministry of proclaiming the Good News of GOD – the Good News that GOD is establishing a new Covenant (Testament) with all people through Jesus.
First Reading Genesis 9:8-15
'There shall be no flood to destroy the earth again'
Commentary:
Lent is a time when the first reading really comes into its own. On the Sundays
of Lent, the Church leads us step by step through the preparation of the People
of God for the supreme event of Easter, the Resurrection of Christ. In each
year of the three-year cycle of readings, the first Sunday starts with the Bible
story before Abraham. This year it is the promise to Noah that God will never
again let a destructive flood devastate the earth. The first thing Noah does on
emerging from the ark is to sacrifice to God in thanksgiving for his
deliverance. To this, God replies with his promise, guaranteed by the
reassuring sign of the rainbow, which binds together earth and heaven, a sort
of glorious pathway to heaven.
Each of the
covenants God makes with his people emerges from evil. There is no pretense
that we are not fallible, sinful human beings. Time after time the human
partners fail and break the covenant. Time after time God forgives and offers a
covenant again, until the new covenant in the blood of Christ. A good way to
start Lent, acknowledge our sin and welcoming God’s invitation to start again.
Responsorial Psalm 25:4-6,7b-9
Your ways, Lord, are faithfulness and love for those who keep your covenant.
The psalmist
today prays that he might come to a better awareness and knowledge of GOD’s
plan. This is a promise of obedience – hearing GOD’s message and acting on it.
It is also an act of faith in the fact that GOD will be as loving and
compassionate as when GOD established the covenants of yesteryear.
Second Reading 1 Peter 3:18-22
The water on which the Ark floated is a type of the baptism which saves you now
Commentary:
Lent reaches its climax with the renewal of our baptismal promises at the
Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday night. This reading begins to prepare for it.
Noah’s emergence to new life from the waters of the Flood (amid devastation and
destruction) is compared to, or made a symbol of, the emergence of new life
from the waters of baptism. Water is the source of all life. Just look at the
way people so often carry a little water bottle around with them! Though you
don’t really appreciate water as the source of life until you have been lost in
the desert without any water, getting more and more desperately thirsty and
weaker. See a drooping flower revive when it is given a few drops of water! The
waters of baptism are a symbol not only of washing away sin but more
importantly of new life in Christ. To ‘baptise’ means to ‘dip’ in water. By
baptism, we are ‘dipped’ into Christ’s death. We emerge from the water soaked
through with the risen life of Christ so that henceforth Christ is our life.
The reading encourages us to prepare for the renewal of this life at Easter by
getting our conscience in order. This needs thought, commitment, and prayer so
that we are ready with ‘the pledge of a good conscience’.
Gospel Mark 1:12-15
Jesus was tempted by Satan, and the angels looked after him
Commentary:
Each year the gospel reading for the first Sunday of Lent is about Jesus’
testing in the desert. Mark’s emphasis is distinctly different from that of
Matthew and Luke. No details of the testing, but rather Jesus’ sojourn in the
desert is almost a return to the peace of the Garden of Eden. The desert of
Judaea, between Jerusalem and the Jordan Valley, is a noble and dignified
solitude of smooth, sandstone hills. Nothing grows, of course, but wild camels
and the occasional leopard prowl around. There Jesus was ‘with the wild
animals’ as led by the Spirit, he made his preparation for his mission. In what
way was he tested? We may presume that in solitude and prayer, he was working
out the implications of the Voice from Heaven at his Baptism. How was he to run
his course as the beloved Servant of the Lord? Precisely how was he to bring
the presence Kingship of God into people’s lives? The ‘forty’ is often used in
biblical accounts for a period of preparation, such as Israel’s forty years in
the desert, or the apostles’ forty days of preparation between Easter and
Ascension. We may use our forty days to reflect on how we may bring God’s
presence to bear in and through our lives.
Reflection: What is the significance of Jesus
spending 40 days and nights of solitude, prayer, and fasting in the Judean
wilderness? In the Old Testament, 40 days was often seen as a significant
period of testing and preparation for entering into a covenant relationship
with God. In the days of Noah, God judged the earth and destroyed its
inhabitants in a great flood because of their idolatry and total rejection of
God. Noah and his family were spared because they obeyed God and took refuge in
the ark for 40 days. When the flood subsided God made a covenant with Noah and
promised that he would not destroy the human race again. Jesus came to fulfill
that promise.
Forty days of retreat to seek the face of God
When God freed
the Israelites from slavery in Egypt he brought them into the wilderness of
Sinai. Moses went to the mountain of the Lord at Sinai and remained there in
prayer and fasting for 40 days (Exodus 24:18). At the conclusion of this 40-day
encounter, God made a covenant with Moses and the people. After the prophet
Elijah had confronted the sin of idolatry (the worship of false gods) in the
land of Israel and destroyed the 400 priests of Baal (1 Kings 18:20-40), he
fled into the wilderness and journeyed for 40 days to the mountain of God at
Sinai (1 Kings 19:8). There God spoke with Elijah and commissioned him to pass
on the work of restoring the worship of the one true God in the land. After
Jesus was anointed by the Spirit in the waters of the Jordan River, he
journeyed to the wilderness of Judea for 40 days to prepare himself for the
mission which the Father sent him to accomplish - to offer up his life as the
perfect atoning sacrifice for our sins. Through the shedding of his blood on
the cross he won for us a new and everlasting covenant which fulfilled and
surpassed all the previous covenants which God had made with his people.
God's Word and Spirit sustains those who seek God's will
Matthew, Mark,
and Luke tell us in their Gospel accounts that Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit
into the wilderness. Mark states it most emphatically: "The Spirit
immediately drove him out into the wilderness" (Mark 1:12). Why was Jesus
compelled to seek solitude for such a lengthy period? Was it simply a test to
prepare him for his ministry? Or did Satan want to lure him into a trap? The
word tempt in English usually means to entice to sin or wrong doing. The
scriptural word here also means test in the sense of proving and purifying
someone to see if they are ready for the task at hand. We test pilots to see
that they are fit to fly. Likewise, God tests his servants to see if they are
fit to be used by him.
God tested
Abraham to prove his faith. The Israelites were sorely tested in Egypt before
God delivered them from their enemies. Jesus was no exception to this testing.
Satan, in turn, did his best to entice Jesus to choose his own will over the
will of his Father in heaven. Despite his weakened condition, due to fatigue
and lack of food for 40 days, Jesus steadfastly rejected Satan's subtle and not-so-subtle
temptations. Where did Jesus find his strength to survive the desert's harsh
conditions and the tempter's seduction? He fed on his Father's word and found
strength in doing his will. Satan will surely tempt us and will try his best to
get us to choose our will over God's will. If he can't make us renounce our
faith or sin mortally, he will then try to get us to make choices that will
lead us, little by little, away from what God wants for us.
As soon as John
the Baptist had finished his ministry, Jesus began his in Galilee, his home
district. John's enemies had sought to silence him, but the Gospel cannot be
silenced. Jesus proclaimed that the time of restoration proclaimed by the
prophets was now being fulfilled in his very person and that the kingdom of God
was at hand. What is the kingdom of God? The word "kingdom" means
something more than a territory or an area of land. It literally means
"sovereignty" or "reign" and the power to "rule"
and exercise authority. The prophets announced that God would establish a
kingdom not just for one nation or people but for the whole world. God sent us
his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, not to establish an earthly kingdom but to
bring us into his heavenly kingdom - a kingdom ruled by justice, truth, peace,
and holiness. The kingdom of God is the central theme of Jesus' mission. It's
the core of his Gospel message.
Two conditions for the kingdom - repent and believe
How do we enter
the kingdom of God? In announcing the good news of the Gospel Jesus gave two
explicit things each of us must do in order to receive the kingdom of God:
repent and believe. Repent means to turn away from sin and wrong-doing in order
to follow God's way of love, truth, and moral goodness. When we submit to God's
rule in our lives and believe in the Gospel message the Lord Jesus gives us the
grace and power to live a new way of life as citizens of his kingdom. He gives
us the grace to renounce the kingdom of darkness ruled by pride, sin, and Satan,
the father of lies (John 8:44) and the ruler of this present world (John
12:31). Repentance is the first step to surrendering my will and my life to
God.
Repentance
means to change - to change my way of thinking, my attitude, my disposition,
and the way I choose to live my life - so that the Lord Jesus can be the Master
and Ruler of my heart, mind, and will. Whatever stands in the way of God's will
and plan for my life must be surrendered to him - my sinful pride, my
rebellious attitude, and my stubborn will to do as I please rather than as God
pleases. If I am only sorry for the consequences of my own sinful ways, I will
very likely keep repeating the same sins that control my thoughts and actions.
True repentance requires a contrite heart and true sorrow for sin (Psalm 51:17)
and a firm resolution to avoid the near occasion of sin. The Lord Jesus gives
us the grace to see sin for what it really is - a rejection of his love, truth,
and wisdom for our lives and a refusal to do what he says is right and good for
us. His grace brings pardon and freedom from guilt and breaks the power of
bondage to sin in our lives through the strength and help of the Holy Spirit
who dwells within us. If we yield to the Holy Spirit and not to our sinful
inclinations, we will find the strength and help we need to turn away from all
wrong-doing and whatever else might keep us from living in his truth and love.
To believe is
to take Jesus at his word and to recognize that God loved us so much that he
sent his only begotten Son to free us from bondage to sin and harmful desires.
God made the supreme sacrifice of his Son on the cross to bring us back to a
relationship of peace, friendship, and unity with our Father in heaven. He is
our Father and he wants us to live in joy and freedom as his beloved sons and
daughters. God loved us first and he invites us in love to surrender our lives
to him. Do you believe in the Gospel - the good news of Jesus Christ - and in
the power of the Holy Spirit who transforms each one of us into the likeness of
Christ?
Lord Jesus,
your word is life, joy, wisdom, and strength for me. Fill me with your Holy
Spirit that I may have the strength and courage to embrace your will in all
things and to renounce whatever is contrary to your will for me.
Daily Quote from the Early Church Fathers: The
call to repentance, by Chromatius (died 406 AD)
"The voice
of the Lord urging the people to repentance - the Holy Spirit made it known to
the people that they might take heed, saying, 'Today, when you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, as in the day of testing in the
wilderness' (Psalm 95:8). In the same psalm above, he made clear that he was
urging the sinful people to repentance and showed the state of a repentant
soul, saying, 'Come, let us fall down before him and lament before the Lord who
made us, for he is our God' (Psalm 95:6-7). The Lord urges the people to
repentance, and he promises to pardon their sins, according to Isaiah's words:
'I, even I, am the one who wipes out your iniquities, and I will not be mindful
of your sins. But you be mindful, declare first your iniquities that you may be
justified' (Isaiah 43:25-26). Rightly then does the Lord urge the people to
repentance when he says, 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand,' so
that through this confession of sins they may be made worthy to approach the
kingdom of heaven." (excerpt from TRACTATE ON MATTHEW 15.3)
LENT ON TRIAL
“He stayed in
the wasteland forty days, put to the test there by Satan.” —Mark 1:13. Lent is
a time of special testing. The Lord lets us be tested by Satan so that we will
grow in holiness. Then we will have a strong faith by which we can renew our
baptismal promises this Easter time and receive the glory of the risen Christ.
“There is cause for rejoicing here. You may for a time have to suffer the
distress of many trials; but this is so that your faith, which is more precious
than the passing splendor of fire-tried gold, may by its genuineness lead to
praise, glory, and honor when Jesus Christ appears” (1 Pt 1:6-7).
We often have
“many trials” throughout our lives. However, there’s something unique about
Lenten trials. There may be more trials in Lent than at other times, or the
combination of trials may be more challenging. Possibly the timing of our
Lenten trials may seem exceptionally bad or even mysterious.
If we pray more
than ever through these trials and fast as Jesus did in the desert, trials will
bring out the best in us. If we repent and do penance, trials will not warp,
twist, poison, confuse, or weaken us. Rather, God will use these trials to
greatly strengthen our trust in His providential, faithful, and perfect love
for us. However, if we endure trials without praying, fasting, and repenting,
we can become lifelong slaves because of the fear of death (Heb 2:15); or
bitter, unforgiving, resentful shadows of our former selves. If we mix sin and
trials, we will become slaves of compulsions, self-deception, and self-hatred. Thank
the Lord for trials. Be holy and become holier.
Prayer: Father, no matter what it takes, makes
me holy. “The reason why Christ died for sins once and for all, the just Man
for the sake of the unjust, was that He might lead you to God.” —1 Pt 3:18. Praise
the Lord, for His lovingkindness will never fail. Alleluia.
The personal action for today: What is my response to the New Covenant GOD has made
with me through the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus? How will
I spend the 40 days of Lent? What will be the desert into which I will go, so
that I can draw closer to the Lord Jesus? How will I handle the temptations
that I will face during this special time in the “desert”? How can I help
others make good use of the next 40 days so that they will realize the
importance of the covenant GOD has made with all of us?
[Note:
Chromatius was an early Christian scholar and bishop of Aquileia, Italy. He was
a close friend of John Chrysostom and Jerome. He died in 406 AD. Jerome
described him as a "most learned and most holy man."]