The Rev. Virginia W. Nagel
Episcopal Diocese of Central NY (Retired)
Lent is here again, and many people have a sense, every year, that Lent is
boring..."same old, same old." But, really, Lent is one of the great adventures
the Church offers us! The word Lent comes from an old English word that means
spring, the time of excitement and new growth after a long, dreary winter. It's
a time when we can finally get out and get frisky, after a winter full of snow
and the resulting "cabin fever." Spring, you know, is never boring, never
"blah," never a time of deprivation...it is, on the contrary, a time of
excitement in new growth, discovering new things in corners that we thought we
knew well, a time to enjoy God's creation and learn about all its many aspects.
Today's Bible readings carry a bit of that feeling. The first reading is from
Genesis, and it takes place after the flood waters have gone down and Noah, his
family and all the animals have finally gotten out of their cramped existence in
the ark and become free to walk on the earth again. Plants have begun to grow
already, as we know. The people and animals are filled with the excitement and
opportunity to start over, start a new life, on the earth, re-populating it,
resolving to do better THIS time, after doing so poorly before. Even God has a
feeling of a new beginning, a new resolution, a new outlook. He makes a promise,
or covenant, with Noah and his family: Never again will I send flood
waters to destroy all life on earth! And he sets in the heavens a
rainbow, as a sign and seal on that promise. The word for rainbow in Hebrew is
the same word as used for a military bow, a weapon. It is as if God had set up a
gigantic weapon as a sign that the war between sinful humans and a holy God is
over. He gives a few laws to Noah, laws that are still felt to be binding on all
humankind, to help people live God's way (you can find these laws in chapter 8
of Genesis). And then, the promise and the rainbow. It is almost as if the
waters of the flood were intended to be a kind of baptism for the earth, the
creatures and the people...a baptism that washes away the sin of their evil
past, and gives the promise and the energy and strength to live a new life. And
that, of course, is what Lent is all about.
To emphasize this message, the gospel for today is about Jesus' baptism in
the Jordan River. Jesus comes to his cousin, John the Baptist, and asks to be
baptized. John is surprised: What's the big idea, you want ME to baptize
YOU? It should be the other way around! But Jesus insists: This is
the way God's purpose will be fulfilled. And so they go into the river,
and John baptizes Jesus. As Jesus comes out of the water, we get our first clear
look at the Trinity: the voice of God the Father, God the Son, Jesus, dripping
in his human flesh, and the Holy Spirit, coming in the form of a dove. Each
member of the Trinity has its own characteristics, but they are all God. St.
Augustine tells us that one way to understand the Trinity is to think of our own
minds: memory, understanding, and free will. We cannot use one without the other
two. But each is separate and has its own characteristics. This is similar to the
relationship between Father, Son and Holy Spirit...three persons, one God.
After Jesus is baptized, the Holy Spirit drives him into the wilderness to be
tempted. This is a very meaningful experience for Jesus. It is his own version
of the Jewish peoples' forty years in the wilderness, learning to put aside the
things of Egypt and become God's people. Jesus, of course, is God the Son. He
has no sin, and does no sin, but he can be tempted. Like us, he must resist
temptation, and fight and struggle to do what he knows God wants him to do. This
is part of what he accepted when he took on human flesh and came to live among
us. It shows us that Jesus is truly man, as well as truly God. The old Church
fathers tell us there are three steps to sin: the suggestion, which comes from
others, sometimes from the devil himself but sometimes from friends or family or
society in general; then taking pleasure in the idea of that suggestion,
thinking that "this time it will be all right, it's not that big a deal"; and
finally, actually doing the sin. The devil, we are told in the other gospels,
made three suggestions to Jesus, and he had to struggle to resist the
temptation. He came out of this time having committed no sin...he had won the
struggle. Lent is a time when we need to exercise our will in order to be strong
enough to resist sin, too.
The epistle for today is from Peter's first letter to the churches, and it is
exactly what we need to hear to help us resolve to be strong and resist sin.
Peter is writing to new converts to the church, newly baptized people. Their
neighbors, some of whom are Roman citizens and some of whom are Jews, keep
picking on them. Come on now, it's okay to burn incense to the king and
call him "god." It doesn't mean anything, it just keeps the army from bothering
us so much. Nobody will know, anyway. And if you don't worship the king, you'll
get arrested and probably killed. It doesn't really mean you think he's actually
a god, after all! We hear the same things from our friends and from
society now: Oh, come on with us to that movie. It's very exciting, and
you aren't going to let a little bad language and a few sexy outfits keep you
away, are you? Or, Go ahead, help yourself...nobody will know you
took it, and you really need it, anyway. The psalm for today also gives
us some help and support. It's the prayer of someone who is honestly trying to
follow God, but whose friends and family are trying to get him to go back to the
old ways. We can use a verse or two of that psalm as our own prayer, in times of
temptation. Which verse would YOU choose to learn and use?
Well, here we are, at the beginning of Lent. How will you keep Lent this
year? Will you use it for a time of growth and exploring your own soul and how
it fits into God's plan, and into the world? Will you remember that Jesus FIRST
accepted the baptism of repentance from John, even though he had no sin to
repent, and THEN was able to say, The Kingdom of Heaven is near?
Will you remember the meaning of your own Baptism, and try to live your promises
more carefully? What will you find out about God? And what will you learn about
yourself? What will grow in your heart and soul, this Lent? Are you prepared for
your great Lenten adventure? Amen.
