First Sunday in Lent: February 17, 2013

Creating God

you sculpted a people for yourself
out of the rocks of wilderness and fasting.
Help us as we take up your invitation to prayer and simplicity,
that the discipline of these forty days
may sharpen our hunger for the feast of your holy friendship,
and whet our thirst for the living water you offer
through Jesus Christ. Amen.

• Deuteronomy 26:1-11 • Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16 •
• Romans 10:8b-13 • Luke 4:1-13

Deuteronomy 26:1-11

The book takes the form of Moses’ final speech to the Israelites before they cross into the Promised Land; however Deuteronomy is also a reinterpretation of the Exodus legal tradition for a later generation, who now live a settled life. Exodus23 and 34  say only: “The choicest/best of the first fruits of your ground you shall bring into the house of the Lord your God.” Our passage expands on this.

The commandment here is pointed: the first fruits are to be taken in a “basket” to “the priest who is in office”in a central location. Earlier, there were several shrines to God but now there is only one – at Jerusalem. Here the giving is linked to Israelite history: God swore to Abraham to give the Promised Land to Israel. Jacob, the “wandering Aramean” and his children moved to Egypt in a time of famine. There they multiplied, were oppressed and enslaved. When they prayed to God to help them, he used his power to free them. No longer are they “wandering” semi-nomads; now they live in a prosperous “land flowing with milk and honey”. In thanks for God’s gift of both the land and abundant crops, Israelites are to give produce to God in recognition of God's sovereignty over the land, they are to prostrate themselves before him. God’s gifts are cause for celebration by both  Israelites and foreigners who live in The Land.

For reflection:

• The land belongs to God. The first fruits of harvest are offered to God because the land the crops come belongs to God. The Land is also the land of Promise; its the land of Abraham and Sarah, Jacob and Rachel.The land that Moses speaks of is different, special...Is there a land that is sacred to you? What is Holy Ground for you? Which spaces do you find to be qualitatively different?
•  Do we offer our first fruits to God? In what spirit do we give to God?

Psalm 91

Perhaps a priest or temple prophet speaks the opening verses of the psalm. Worshippers (the faithful) will trust in God to protect them. God will protect them day and night ; God `will shield them as a mother hen guards her chicks. Many may succumb  but not the faithful . Those who trust in God will see wrongs made right . God will ensure that no harm comes to those who live rightly. “His angels”  will be his agents, guarding the faithful in whatever they do. The roads of Palestine were rocky so the metaphor in verse 12 uses that fact . Not only will the faithful be safe from accidents, but they will also take the offensive in defeating injustice . God speaks in verses 14-16. Knowing God’s name includes realizing that God will help those in need. When they seek help, God will “answer them”. Perhaps the “long life”  is the king’s: political uncertainty ensued when a king died, so a long lived king was good for all.

For reflection:

• This Psalm is often sung: Eagle's Wings. God is a mother eagle carrying her young to safety. God is a mother hen shielding her chicks from harm. Do you like these images? What other images of the divine are you fond of and why do your favorite images speak to you?
• Do you see God as a protector? Do you think that God favours some people over others? Why or why not?

Romans 10:8b-13

Paul has written that the Israelites did strive for law-based righteousness  and a right relationship with God, but failed to achieve it because they sought it through “works”  rather than faith. By tweaking Isaiah 28 Paul says that God is the impediment that lay in their way. He desires that they be part of God’s plan of salvation because of their “zeal for God” ; however, they lack the right relationship with God that now comes from God: that revealed in Christ. They missed the real meaning of what God has done through Christ, thus failing to embrace Christ as the model for living. Moses said that union with God comes through obedience to the Law but this is close to impossible: it is like a Christian being expected to bring about his own resurrection  and ascension , which we are not asked to do!

Rather God’s “word”, his freely-given gift of love and right living, is readily available (“near you”) through faith. We need only acknowledge that “Jesus is Lord” and believe in Christ’s resurrection by the Father. One who believes this and recognizes Jesus as sovereign is godly  and will have new life when Christ comes again. In verse 11 Paul again massages Isaiah: “no one” who believes, whatever his or her ethnic background, will be condemned (“put to shame”) at the Last Day. There is one Jesus – for all people. Everyone who sincerely believes will be saved .

 For reflection:

• This passage is part of the Roman road, the collection of verses from Romans that are sometimes used in the Bible belt as a road map to salvation. How do we come to be "saved?" By faith? Are there particular words we have to say, a formula to be followed? Are there things we have to do?
• What is the relation between faith and works? Can we say we believe if our lives do not reflect what we say we believe?

Luke 4:1-13

Luke has told us of Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan, of “a voice ... from heaven”  saying “You are my Son ...”. On that occasion “the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form”, but is this what we today, living in an age with supposedly only one reality, would consider bodily? Ancient people conceived of several levels of spirit worlds with occasional contact between them and earth.

Perhaps Jesus transcends between earth and a spirit world in the story of his testing by the devil. During his time there (“forty days”,  meaning a significant period of time), the Holy Spirit sustains him ; human as he is, Jesus is totally dependent on the Spirit being with him, for “he ate nothing”. (Moses ate nothing during the time he was on the mountain to receive the Ten Commandments.) In this dependence, Jesus is humanly helpless; he humbles himself before God.

The devil speaks, but is this like “a voice from heaven” speaking? The devil recognizes him as “Son of God” , the one who fulfils God’s plan in creation and, given Luke’s genealogy Chapter 3,  in Israel’s history. Jesus answers the devil’s questions with quotations from the Law, i.e. Deuteronomy, then considered to be the words of Moses.

In verse 4 Jesus, hungry as he is, says: God sustains humans through other means than eating. Whether the devil has the authority to offer Jesus world-wide political power is unlikely ; however Jesus’ answer is plain: God is the ultimate master; only he is to be worshipped. In verses 9 to 11, the devil invites Jesus to do something extraordinary – a thing not in accordance with God’s plan of salvation. Again Jesus refuses to be taken in . Jesus opposed the forces of evil throughout his ministry, but the greatest chance (“an opportune time" the devil had was on the cross. There he again faces identified temptations.

 For reflection:

• Jesus goes to the wilderness? Why? Is it a special place? Can God be more easily found in the wilderness? 
• Why does the Spirit lead Jesus out to be tempted? Remember "lead us not into temptation?" What is going on here?
• What are you tempted to do? How do you resist temptation?