“Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, 9 “As for me, I am establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you, 10 and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the domestic animals, and every animal of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark. 11 I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.” 12 God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: 13 I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14 When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16 When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” 17 God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.”” – Genesis 9:8-17
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To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul. 2 O my God, in you I trust; do not let me be put to shame; do not let my enemies exult over me. 3 Do not let those who wait for you be put to shame; let them be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous. 4 Make me to know your ways, O LORD; teach me your paths. 5 Lead me in your truth, and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all day long. 6 Be mindful of your mercy, O LORD, and of your steadfast love, for they have been from of old. 7 Do not remember the sins of my youth or my transgressions; according to your steadfast love remember me, for your goodness’ sake, O LORD! 8 Good and upright is the LORD; therefore he instructs sinners in the way. 9 He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble his way. 10 All the paths of the LORD are steadfast love and faithfulness, for those who keep his covenant and his decrees. – Psalm 25, Of David
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“In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. 11 And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” 12 And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. 13 He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him. 14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, 15 and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.’” – Mark 1:9-15
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Welcome to the first Sunday of Lent! Lent is starting so early this year – I don’t know about you but we still have a few straggly Christmas decorations around that haven’t been put away yet!
A lot of people observe Lent by giving things up… and that’s not a bad idea if there are things we would benefit by giving up. But the tradition of ‘giving things up’ for Lent is actually rooted in an older tradition of fasting. We were talking about this at the Thursday night Lenten study the other night – how people a long time ago used to move away from society and fast, or form communities that were like monasteries that practiced fasting. There is something about going without food for a day, or for a few days – that’s a very effective way of bringing prayer to the forefront of life. There is something about not eating – something about telling our bodies to ‘just hush’ for a minute – that brings spiritual life into focus.
The practice of fasting was common in Jesus’ day as well. In Matthew 6:16 Jesus says “when you fast…” (do such-and-such) – but he doesn’t say “if you fast”. Jesus assumed that people who love God would fast now and then.
In today’s world some Christians still fast; and some fast only from specific foods (for example from meat on Fridays); and some fast from things that aren’t food at all (for example, giving up social media for Lent).
In the church, for the past 1000 years or so, Lent has also traditionally been a time when new Christians prepared for baptism or for joining the church. So it’s very appropriate that Pastor Dylan is in the process of putting together a new members’ class. If you know anyone who would like to be part of that, please let one of the pastors know.
Turning to our scripture readings for today, the general theme – the concept in common between all of them – is wilderness. Unbridled nature. Our reading from Genesis today talks about Noah and the flood; and our reading from Mark talks about Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness after he was baptized. On the surface these two events don’t seem to have much in common but as we dig deeper we will find a number of common threads.
Starting with Genesis: In today’s reading we are listening in on a conversation between God and Noah that happens after the flood. At this point in the story, the flood is over; the ark has come to rest on a mountain top; and all the people and animals have disembarked. And God is promising that a catastrophe like this will never happen again. So we’re coming in at the end of the story. We need to back up to the beginning.
One of the most common questions people ask about the flood is: “why would God do this?” Why would God – who loves people and loves creation – wipe out every living thing on the face of the earth?
The reason God gives us was that the hearts of all the people were all evil all the time. I know sometimes our own world feels like that – but the evil we see around us now, apparently, was nothing compared to what was going on back then. In Genesis 6:1-4 we read:
“When human beings began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, the sons of heaven saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. Then the Lord said, “My Spirit will not contend with humans forever, for they are mortal; their days will be a hundred and twenty years.” The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of heaven went to the daughters of humans and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.”
The Bible is describing a group of super-beings, not-quite-human, not-quite-gods – possibly fallen angels – we don’t know for sure. But they were physically large and very strong; and the Bible says these beings caused great evil on the earth, way beyond what mere mortals could do. You and I have never seen evil on this scale.
God would have been evil if he had not done something about the evil. So God looked around for an honest human being who respected God, and he found only Noah. Noah preached God’s word to the people of his generation for 120 years – and nothing changed.
So God told Noah to build the ark. The people asked Noah what he was doing, and he told them and warned them about the destruction that was coming, and they just laughed at him. Anyone who was living at that time could have believed Noah and gotten on the ark and been saved – but they chose to turn their backs on God and do whatever they felt like.
So God, as a last resort, wiped the slate clean and made a new start. And when the ark, with Noah and his family, and all the animals, finally came to rest on solid ground again, God made a covenant: “this will never happen again”. This is what God said:
“I am establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you, 10 and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the domestic animals, and every animal of the earth with you… that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.” 12 God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: 13 I have set my bow in the clouds…” (Genesis 9:9-13)
It has been said that a covenant – or a promise – is only as good as the parties who make it. We know that God’s word is good. As for us –whenever we see a rainbow in the sky, do we remember God’s promise? Do we uphold our part of the agreement, and remember God’s words?
The psalm we read a moment ago is a psalm of lament. It was inspired when King David’s heart was moved because people who knew God refused to keep God’s covenants – not just this one with Noah, but many other covenants as well. David is mourning and grieving over the fact that people are not keeping the promises they’ve made to God. In order for a covenant to be good, both parties need to be faithful. During this time of Lent, it’s good to think about the promises we’ve made to God – in our baptism, in our worship – and think about how we can be faithful.
One other interesting note on this passage in Genesis: this particular covenant – unlike many covenants in the Old Testament, did not involve any animal sacrifices – because the animals are included in the covenant. The animals are named participants.
We’ll come back to that thought in a little bit. For now, we move on to the Gospel of Mark.
The events we read about in Mark – surrounding Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan River – are also found in Matthew and Luke’s gospels. But Mark, as usual, is a man of few words.
Mark starts out by telling us that Jesus came to John the Baptist and was baptized. The question is: why? John preached a baptism of repentance – but Jesus, being the Son of God, had nothing to repent of.
Jesus is standing in solidarity with us – in a way that looks forward to the cross. Jesus takes our place in both situations. Jesus identifies with us, even though he had no sin that needed to be washed away. And God’s response to this was, “this is my son, my beloved, in whom I am well pleased.”
In doing this, Jesus also demonstrates that confession of sin can be communal as well as individual. That is, it’s possible to confess sin as a group rather than one person at a time. When we pray the prayer of confession in the bulletin on a Sunday, there may be times when we think to ourselves, “I know I’m not perfect, but I’ve never committed that sin” – and this could be very true. But in church we confess as a group. We pray “forgive us our sins” rather than “forgive me my sins”. Of course we can and should also confess individual sins to God privately. But when we pray together in church we stand in solidarity with each other.
In a similar way, Jesus identifies with us in being baptized, and stands in solidarity with us, and God is well pleased.
Immediately afterwards the Holy Spirit leads Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted or tested by Satan. This is another question that people often ask: “Do you really believe in the Devil”?
First off: I do not think it is wise to spend too much time thinking about evil beings. It’s enough to know the basics. But having said that, probably one of the best books on the subject is CS Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters – which is fiction but speaks a lot of truth! In the introduction to the book, CS Lewis writes that when he is asked if he believes in the actual Devil, he says:
“…if by “the Devil” you mean a power opposite to God and, like God, self-existent from all eternity, the answer is certainly No. There is no uncreated being except God. God has no opposite. No being could attain a “perfect badness” opposite to the perfect goodness of God…”[1]
But Lewis goes on to say that:
“The proper question is whether I believe in devils. I do. That is to say, I believe in angels, and I believe that some of these, by abuse of their free will, have become enemies to God and, as a corollary, [enemies] to us.”[2]
So Lewis is saying the devil was originally a created being like an angel, and rebelled against God, and is trying to tempt humans to join in the rebellion and disobey God the way it does.
The devil comes to Jesus in the wilderness, because if the devil can get Jesus to fall, to join in the rebellion against God, to do things his own way instead of going to the cross, then God’s plan to save the human race will fail.
But Jesus does not fall. In fact he doesn’t fall for even the tiniest bit of it.
Jesus was in the wilderness for 40 days. The number 40 is significant in Jewish history because the flood lasted 40 days; Moses was on Mt. Sinai for 40 days; and the trip from Egypt to the Promised Land took 40 years. All these sets of 40 included times of testing before something big happened. And now that Jesus has been tested, something big is about to happen again.
One other common thread between these two readings is that the animals play a key role in both events! Humanity’s fall into sin back in Genesis had horrible consequences for the animal kingdom as well as for people. Before the fall, the animal world was not at odds with itself or with people.[3] In fact, in Genesis we see Adam giving names to all the animals.
The Jewish Torah gives instructions on how to take care of animals. And there’s a passage in Hosea where God says:
“…in that day will I make a covenant… with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven, and with the creeping things of the ground: and I will break the bow and the sword and the battle out of the earth, and will make them to lie down safely.”
That’s God’s promise to the animals of the earth. All of creation – all of it – waits for the redemption of humankind.
Mark says that during the temptation, “Jesus was with the wild animals”. Jewish scholars point out that “wild animals often assist the heroes of God”; and they point out that “Adam was at peace with the animal kingdom in the Garden of Eden. […] And the New Testament refers to Jesus as the Second Adam, [so it would make sense that] Jesus would enjoy a [good] relationship with the animal kingdom.”[4]
So one side-effect of this whole event is that, through Jesus, the fellowship between humans and animals that existed in the Garden of Eden is being restored. Isn’t that great news?
Jesus tells us later on to share the good news not only “with all people” but “with all creation”. St Francis of Assisi was famous for going out and preaching to animals and to birds. Some people thought he was nuts. But you know what? Those of us who have pets… have you ever mentioned the name of Jesus to them? Have you ever told your pet that God loves them? My cats purr like crazy when I talk like that. Try it sometime with your animals!
Of course we are also called to share the good news with our fellow human beings. What we see in these passages is that being God’s people begins with listening to Jesus. So this Lent, we should take every opportunity we can find to be in God’s word, and listening to Jesus.
Secondly, Jesus calls us to repentance. This does not mean that we are horrible terrible people. It just means that, in some areas of our lives, we need to change direction. Remember the word repent means “to change course” or to change direction.
In a way I kind of think of repentance as being almost like spring cleaning for the soul. I’ve been doing some major spring cleaning in my office lately – getting rid of stuff I don’t use to make way for some built-ins. As I’ve been doing this I’ve been finding things I haven’t used in a decade or two… and I’ve also been finding about two decades’ worth of dust that flies into the air every time I move something!! Makes it tough to breathe.
That’s kind of how things are with our souls as well. We need to let the fresh air in. We need to clear out the stuff we don’t need any more – the habits that aren’t working for us any more. And we need to re-focus our attention on God and what God is calling us to.
Whatever disciplines we decide on for Lent – whether it be fasting or prayer or volunteering or giving – whatever God is calling each of us to do, we need to be doing that. It will be different for every person, but we will be going through Lent together and we can encourage each other as each one of us focuses on hearing and doing God’s word and God’s will.
The end result will be a closer walk with God, which will bring joy to us and our loved ones – and to our animals. In the name of God, I invite you all to the observance of a Holy Lent. AMEN.
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[1] CS Lewis, The Screwtape Letters, p. vii
[2] Ibid
[3] CMJ
[4] CMJ
Getting Started 