The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today invite us to contemplate the signs in our life that are inviting us to join Jesus in a Lenten journey to rediscover the Good News.
Sign of the Covenant
The reading from the Book of Genesis offers the rainbow as a sign of the Covenant between God, people and Nature.
* [9:8–17] God makes a covenant with Noah and his descendants and, remarkably, with all the animals who come out of the ark: never again shall the world be destroyed by flood. The sign of this solemn promise is the appearance of a rainbow.1
Psalm 25 is a prayer for guidance and for deliverance.
* [Psalm 25] A lament. Each verse begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Such acrostic Psalms are often a series of statements only loosely connected. The psalmist mixes ardent pleas (Ps 25:1–2, 16–22) with expressions of confidence in God who forgives and guides.2
The reading from the First Letter of Peter appeals to God for our good conscience.
* [3:13–22] This exposition, centering on 1 Pt 3:17, runs as follows: by his suffering and death Christ the righteous one saved the unrighteous (1 Pt 3:18); by his resurrection he received new life in the spirit, which he communicates to believers through the baptismal bath that cleanses their consciences from sin. As Noah’s family was saved through water, so Christians are saved through the waters of baptism (1 Pt 3:19–22). Hence they need not share the fear of sinners; they should rather rejoice in suffering because of their hope in Christ. Thus their innocence disappoints their accusers (1 Pt 3:13–16; cf. Mt 10:28; Rom 8:35–39).3
The Gospel of Mark relates the Temptation of Jesus and the beginning of the Galilean Ministry.
* [1:14–15] After John had been arrested: in the plan of God, Jesus was not to proclaim the good news of salvation prior to the termination of the Baptist’s active mission. Galilee: in the Marcan account, scene of the major part of Jesus’ public ministry before his arrest and condemnation. The gospel of God: not only the good news from God but about God at work in Jesus Christ. This is the time of fulfillment: i.e., of God’s promises. The kingdom of God…Repent: see note on Mt 3:2.4
Kyle Lierk comments that we suffer from spiritual amnesia when you consider all the distractions and disordered attachments (as St. Ignatius of Loyola would call them) we have in our lives. The Jesuit poet Gerard Manley Hopkins eloquently describes it this way in “God’s Grandeur”: “Nor can foot feel being shod.”
Let’s be honest (and gentle) with ourselves. This Lent lands amidst the tattered mess of a pandemic that has taken so much from us as a global family. The very thought of making additional sacrifices right now might feel like more than we can bear. Similar to Jesus in today’s Gospel, we have found ourselves having our own encounters in a desolate place with darkness in all its forms. Wild beasts torment and taunt us in the form of sickness and death, fear and doubt, abuses of power and unearned privilege, and a pervasive tribalism that daily fractures our human family.5
Don Schwager quotes “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)6
The Word Among Us Meditation on Genesis 9:8-15 shares that there is a promise hidden in God’s covenant with Noah. By vowing never again to destroy the earth in a flood, he pointed toward a better way to overcome sin and evil: Jesus’ death and resurrection. And Lent gives us forty days to prepare for it!
So find extra time to pray this Lent. Give more of your time and money to people in need. Choose to fast, either from food or from a negative activity or habit. You might feel like Noah on the ark sometimes, and it might get messy. But the journey is worth it because when you finally reach the joy of Easter Sunday, you’ll be stepping into a fuller understanding and experience of God’s faithfulness and his salvation. Lent has just begun. Let’s get on the boat! “Lord, help me follow you into new life this Lent.”7
Friar Jude Winkler discusses the promise of God not to destroy the world by flood. The Letter of Peter is an entry to contemplation of Jesus outside of space and time bringing life to the underworld. Friar Jude reminds us of the difficulty that Jesus has with the faith of His disciples in Mark’s Gospel.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM quotes Teilhard de Chardin in Hymn of the Universe that to understand the world knowledge is not enough, you must see it, touch it, live in its presence. Jesus teaches his disciples through his lifestyle, a kind of “seminary of life.” He takes them with him (Mark 1:16–20) and watching him, they learn the cycle and rhythm of his life, as he moves from prayer and solitude to teaching and service in community. As Cynthia Bourgeault explains in her book The Wisdom Jesus, he taught as a moshel moshelim, or a teacher of wisdom. [1]
Luke tells us that Jesus walked the journey of faith just as you and I do. That’s the compelling message of the various dramas where Jesus needed faith—during his temptation in the desert, during his debates with his adversaries, in the garden of Gethsemane, and on the cross. We like to imagine that Jesus did not doubt or ever question his Father’s love. The much greater message is that in his humanity, he did flinch, did ask questions, did have doubts—and still remained faithful. This is the path of wisdom.8
Our desire to live as modelled by Jesus is an initial nudge from the Spirit to be disciples of the Good News.
References
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