Today in the Spirit: Lent 1C
We have moved now to Lent, a season of penitence in preparation for Holy Week and the careful contemplation of Jesus’ crucifixion. The propers for Sundays in Lent 1 make, as it were, an onramp to the lenten journey, which we have been invited to join from Ash Wednesday. We follow Jesus’ footsteps first through his forty days of temptation in the Judean wilderness. The Gospel accounts of our Lord’s Temptation come up on a Sunday only at Lent 1 every year.
In Year C, the Luke year, the assigned Gospel reading is from Luke 4:1-13. Except for a different arrangement of our Lord’s three encounters with the devil, the narrative in Luke is much the same as in Matthew, which comes up in Year A. One notable difference is at the start of the reading, “And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil” (1-2). Of the three Synoptic Gospels, Luke gives the most emphasis to the presence of the Holy Spirit in the heart of believers, thus in this instance we consider what it might mean that Jesus is both “full of the Spirit” and “led by the Spirit.”
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The assigned OT reading from Deuteronomy 26:(1-4)5-11 is Moses’ reiteration of the command of YHWH that the Israelites make a presentation of the firstfruits from the soil to him in an undefined central place of worship (2). The “wandering Aramean” declaration the men make on this occasion recounts the story of the deliverance of the Israelites from Egypt and their helplessness before the LORD in gaining for themselves “a land flowing with milk and honey” (9).
Psalm 91 is probably best characterized as a wisdom song, which, like the firstfruits declaration in Deuteronomy, focuses on the power of God to deliver his people through adversity–any adversity, including ”the snare of the hunter” (3a) enemy attack, “deadly pestilence” (3b), “plague” (10), etc. The Scripture which the devil uses to seek to tempt Jesus in the wilderness comes from this psalm: “For he shall give his angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways. They shall bear you in their hands, that you hurt not your foot against a stone” (11-12, BCP, New Coverdale).
In Lent we move out of ordinary time in the lectionary, so the NT readings in this season are appointed to fit thematically. For a NT reading this Sunday, we return to Romans 10, some verses of which we heard just two weeks earlier on World Mission Sunday C. The assigned selection from Romans 10:4-13 focuses on “the righteousness of God based on faith [in Christ” (6). As opposed to the alleged righteousness that comes by obeying the law, Paul teaches that faith comes by confessing with the mouth that “Jesus Christ is Lord” and believing in the heart that Jesus rose from the dead.
The assigned Collect is tied closely to the Temptation story. In contemplating Christ’s power to endure the devil, we admit in prayer our “weaknesses” to do likewise. We call upon God in prayer to show himself “mighty to save through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord.”
The Collect
Almighty God, whose blessed Son was led by the Spirit to be tempted by Satan: Come quickly to help us who are assaulted by many temptations, and, as you know the weaknesses of each of us, let each one find you mighty to save; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Wandering Aramean (Deuteronomy 26:(1-4)5-11)
1 “When you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance and have taken possession of it and live in it, 2 you shall take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which you harvest from your land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you shall put it in a basket, and you shall go to the place that the Lord your God will choose, to make his name to dwell there. 3 And you shall go to the priest who is in office at that time and say to him, ‘I declare today to the Lord your God that I have come into the land that the Lord swore to our fathers to give us.’ 4 Then the priest shall take the basket from your hand and set it down before the altar of the Lord your God. 5 “And you shall make response before the Lord your God, ‘A wandering Aramean was my father. And he went down into Egypt and sojourned there, few in number, and there he became a nation, great, mighty, and populous. 6 And the Egyptians treated us harshly and humiliated us and laid on us hard labor. 7 Then we cried to the Lord, the God of our fathers, and the Lord heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression. 8 And the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great deeds of terror, with signs and wonders. 9 And he brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. 10 And behold, now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground, which you, O Lord, have given me.’ And you shall set it down before the Lord your God and worship before the Lord your God. 11 And you shall rejoice in all the good that the Lord your God has given to you and to your house, you, and the Levite, and the sojourner who is among you.”
Deuteronomy 26:(1-4)5-11
Commentators are divided as to which formal ancient Israelite festival, if any, this liturgy of the “wandering Aramean” was attached to. Whatever the case, for the purposes of Christian worship, a couple of pertinent observations can be made from the words themselves:
- The liturgy is designed not for the generation of Israelites entering Canaan who would remember the exodus but for later generations who would not; and
- The focus of the liturgy is on not simply God’s act of deliverance but the mercy which compels him to carry it out.
A tone of humility is demanded from the person who recites the words, “Then we cried to the Lord, the God of our fathers, and the Lord heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression” (7). It did not take long for future generations of Israelites to forget God’s mercy.
Devotionally, we know humility before the Lord comes not by outward observance of the law and recitation of liturgies, but by softness of heart–and softness by the gift of Christ. The OT is essentially the story of a people who have been given everything they need on the outside to follow God but still could not do it. In his exposition in the Institutes on the difference between the OT and NT, John Calvin urges the faithful to “bring forward” from the legal and ceremonial laws of Moses “the covenant which God once ratified as eternal and unending. Its completion, whereby it is fixed and ratified, is Christ.” Christ is the “completion” in that he is the way to God and the means to finding that way (Jn. 14:6).
Today, by the Spirit, I ask you, Lord Jesus, to grant me the humility to see myself in the path of the “wandering Aramean” and make my spiritual offerings to you from the best of what I have.
Because He Has Set His Love upon Me (Psalm 91 or 91:9-16)
9 Because you have said, “The LORD is my refuge,” *
Psalm 91:9-16, New Coverdale Psalter (BCP 2019)
and have made the Most High your stronghold,
10 There shall no evil happen to you, *
neither shall any plague come near your dwelling.
11 For he shall give his angels charge over you, *
to keep you in all your ways.
12 They shall bear you in their hands, *
that you hurt not your foot against a stone.
13 You shall tread upon the lion and adder; *
the young lion and the serpent you shall trample under your feet.
14 “Because he has set his love upon me, therefore I will deliver him; *
I will lift him up, because he has known my Name.
15 He shall call upon me, and I will hear him; *
indeed, I am with him in trouble; I will deliver him and bring him honor.
16 With long life I will satisfy him, *
and show him my salvation.”
This psalm is probably a liturgical exchange between a pilgrim at the temple and a priest who attends him there. In the second part (vv. 9-16), which the Church sets apart for special attention this Sunday, the tone is almost parental with the priest giving the traveler the assurances of YHWH against every possible calamity that might come upon him on the journey. The speaker notices the child-like devotion of the pilgrim to God. Notice especially the two verses which begin “Because” in most English translations: “Because you have said, ‘The LORD is my refuge…no evil shall happen to you’ (9, the priest speaking); and “Because he has set his love upon me, therefore I will deliver him (14, God speaking?). With such words, we can feel the loving hand of God on our shoulders as he communicates his unfailing assurances.
Dear Lord, I know from these verses that you are my loving Father, and I your beloved child. I receive as an unbreakable bond the protections you offer from every possible danger–human, bestial, climatic, self-inflicted and devil-imposed. I recognize as every young child does the unfailing love of a parent toward me. Yes, I do say to you, “You are my refuge.” And I trust in the promises that will send me hurtling forward with confidence, “I will keep you in all your ways.”
On this theme, from a poem by the English war poet, Rupert Brooke (d. 1915):
War knows no power. Safe shall be my going,
Secretly armed against all death’s endeavour;
Safe where all safety’s lost; safe where men fall;
And if these poor limbs die, safest of all.
Today, in the Spirit, reciting this song in worship, I make myself a child holding your hand and go ahead “secretly armed” against every danger.
Calls on the Name of the Lord (Romans 10:4-13)
4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. 5 For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the commandments shall live by them. 6 But the righteousness based on faith says, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down) 7 “or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). 8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); 9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. 11 For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. 13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Romans 10:4-13
Consider that final line in the reading, Paul quoting Joel: “For ‘everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved’” (13, from Jo. 2:32). How do we reconcile that with Jesus’ teaching in Matthew: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (7:21)? One approach is to look at the wording of the confessing activity in the two passages. Joel’s (and Paul’s) “calls on the name of the Lord” is a Hebrew way of saying “worships the Lord” (see, for example, the description of Abram’s actions in Ge. 12:11). Jesus’ “everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord’” is, instead, a dramatization of a dialogue between a disillusioned infidel and Jesus at judgment, a plea to justify oneself and avoid punishment.
Devotionally, the question rises, “Well, how are we to know a true confession from a false one?” The answer must be that we cannot and should not judge such a thing. The passages from Paul, Joel and Matthew all point to final judgments rendered by God. As brothers and sisters in the church, we must take at face value everyone’s confession of Jesus as Lord. To the extent we must evaluate our intimate involvement with another Christian, it must be based on concrete actions that clearly contradict that confession (as in the “notoriously evil life” required in the BCP for church discipline.
At Lent, this is a line of thinking that can only lead to godly humility because we must all admit to being capable of making a mixture of true and false confessions of Jesus as “Lord” in our lives. It is the clear teaching of the NT that it is only by the Spirit of God that we can ever say “Jesus is Lord’ and mean it (Rom. 8:9-10, 1 Cor. 12:3). Today, Holy Spirit, I thank you for making in my brothers and sisters, and in me, a right confession of Jesus, and for preserving my life with him until the very end.
Man Shall Not Live by Bread Alone (Luke 4:1-13)
1 And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness 2 for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, he was hungry. 3 The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” 4 And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’” 5 And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, 6 and said to him, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. 7 If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” 8 And Jesus answered him, “It is written,
Luke 4:1-13
“‘You shall worship the Lord your God,
and him only shall you serve.’”
9 And he took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, 10 for it is written,
“‘He will command his angels concerning you,
to guard you,’
11 and
“‘On their hands they will bear you up,
lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”
12 And Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” 13 And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time.
There are discrepancies between Matthew and Luke’s versions of the Temptation narrative. One, of course, is the difference in ordering: temptations two and three in Matthew are inverted in Luke. Another not so obvious difference is that in response to the first temptation to “command this stone to become bread,” (3), Jesus’ response in Luke is simply, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone’” (4), while in Matthew it is the whole of verse Deut. 8:3, including “‘but by every word that comes from the mouth of God’’ (see Mt. 4:4). Though many Jewish readers of Luke could have easily supplied the second half of the verse from memory, most Gentile readers could not have.
Devotionally, we may consider how the Lord may speak differently in our hearts in each case. I would suggest that in contemplating Matthew’s version, our minds are made to run ahead and hear plainly that which is more important than bread: the “word” of God. By contrast, reading as we do this Sunday out of Luke, we are stopped, as it were, to make our own estimation of the importance of “bread.” We may consider food to be one in a very short list of things people absolutely need to survive–air, water, shelter and food. From there, we must ask ourselves (instead of being told), what else is equally, if not more, life-giving than those things? Is it not this person Jesus himself? See how he overwhelms the devil’s attacks like no one else can. To be stronger than Satan, to be able to thrust evil aside, is as essential to life as anything else to be imagined. In Luke’s version, without hearing the words, we “see” Jesus himself is the “word that comes from the mouth of God.”
Holy Spirit, you who “filled” Jesus with power to resist temptation even as you “led” him into it, fill me with the light and knowledge of Jesus, Son of God, to be the life-giving and life-sustaining word of God for me.
Today in the Spirit
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