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Year - B

Homily for First Sunday of Lent

READ: (Gen 9: 8-15; 1 Pet 3: 18-22; Mk 1: 12-15)

REFLECT: God always desires to be with us and never disowns us…

Dear friends, today we are in the first Sunday of Lent. The liturgy of the word invites us to understand how God always desires to be with us, his children.  We read in prophet Isaiah, “Can a woman forget her nursing child, or show no compassion for the child of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. See, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me,” (Isa 49: 15-16). Yes, the desire of God to be with us and to own us as his children by his constant presence is what we see in the liturgy of the word. Therefore, based on the liturgy of the word, I would like to share with you three points of reflection;

1. The covenant of God with Noah;

The covenant with God is an unconditional love expressed by God to his people. God always desires to come close to his people, although we don’t deserve such merits or benefits. The Old Testaments has four covenants that God makes. The first covenant is recorded in today’s first reading, with Noah and all creation (Gen 9: 8-15); the second one is made with Abraham (Gen. 15 & Gen. 17); the third one is made with Israel at Sinai (Exod. 19-34), and the fourth one is made with David (2 Sam. 7). We all know that covenant is a sacred agreement or mutual promise between God and a person or a group of people. In making a covenant, God promises a blessing for obedience to particular commandments. In a covenant, there is an agreement between two different parties, content of the agreement and the means of maintaining the agreement.

The covenant that’s recorded in the first reading from Genesis is made between God and all creation. The content of the covenant is that God would never again destroy the earth by flood. The means of maintaining the covenant is God’s faithfulness and the people are to remain faithful to God and follow his statutes or commandments. The passage of the first reading from the book of Genesis (Gen 9) we have a new world order. In Gen 6:5-7, Yahweh regrets for having created man on earth for their wickedness and wishes to destroy all creatures on earth. But he is well-pleased with Noah, as he was just and true to God. Yahweh creates a new world order and now establishes covenant with the people that he would never again destroy the earth with water and rainbow over the sky shall be a sign to remind ourselves of the promise that God has made.

Some of the biblical scholars too comment that God’s choice of the rainbow as the sign of this covenant is appropriate, because it is something that human beings cannot do anything about it. It has a natural connection with the contents of the covenant, because the rainbow over the sky is a sign of the end of a storm, it now is intended to be a reminder that there will be no more world-destroying floods. Yes, we might have noticed over the sky too that whenever heavy rain or storm ceases, we see the rainbow over the sky, giving us an indication that there will no more heavy rain or heavy disaster as such. So whenever, we see the rainbow over the sky, it is a reminder for us from God that he stands by his word and fulfills his promises.

Indeed, the first reading from the book of Genesis speaks of the very first covenant made by God through Noah and to the entire creation reminding us that God always desires to be with us and never desires to disown us in our moments of waywardness and wandering, faults and failures, sins and weaknesses. Thus, the first reading reminds us of God’s covenant to ever remain close to us and the responsorial psalm first reading, “All your paths O Lord, are mercy and faithfulness, for those who keep your covenant,” too recalls the blessings in store for those who keep God’s covenant always. The covenant that God makes is purely inclusive. It is not only the human beings part of the covenant that God establishes rather the entire creation. It regards that for God everyone and everything God created is important and has a purpose or plan.

Today, it is a reminder for us to check as how far we remain loyal to the covenant that God established long before. By this covenant God assures us his presence and faithfulness. If we wish to obtain blessings from God then we need manifest our faithfulness to God and follow his commands. One thing is certain, whether we are faithful or not, God remains always faithful to his people, he forgives us, gives us opportunities, accepts us as we are and assures us of his presence. So let us remain loyal to God and to his commands, so that we may obtain blessings for eternity.

2. The commitment of Christ:

As we have seen that there are four important covenants that God has made with his people in the Old Testament, Yet, in the New Testament God makes a new covenant with us through Jesus Christ. The covenant is sealed by the shedding Jesus’ blood for us, for our salvation. That’s what we see in the Second Reading from St. Peter’s First Letter that Christ suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in spirit. Yes, this reveals the love of God to the world, the commitment of Christ to God and to the world. Although Christ is righteous, he died for us unrighteous so that we come to be in union with God

The previous passage of today’s reading from letter to St. Peter speaks of suffering for the sake of righteousness and if one suffers for the sake of righteousness, one needs to be happy. It is better to suffer for doing good, if it’s God’s will than for doing evil (1 Pet 3:13-17). After having spoken about suffering for sake of righteousness, the letter of St. Peter introduces in the second reading that Christ stands as an example for all Christians, because, although he was righteous he suffered, for doing good to humanity and to make us all righteous before God by his righteousness. Perhaps, the suffering of Christ is not for doing evil but for doing good, that is, to bring salvation to entire human family. it is by the shedding of Jesus’ blood that we have won over our place with God; it is by the shedding of Jesus’ blood that we have reconciled with and God and have eternal life as a gift from God.

The passage of St. Peter’s letter lays before us a challenge to accept suffering to do good for others, just as Christ suffered for the good of us all. We can be confident that just as Jesus’ death did not destroy him, so also the death we face will not destroy us because we all would be made alive in Christ, by Jesus’ resurrection. Today, most of us won’t accept or prefer sufferings personally, because it hurts and we don’t wish ourselves to be hurt. Imagine, if one is asked to suffer for others’ good, there won’t be many volunteers who would be ready and willing or come forward to suffer for, because we all of us like to be safe and secure without any hurt or pains. Sometimes, we might wish that others suffer for our good than we undergoing sufferings for others good. We would find rarely people stepping into such courageous venture to suffer for good, although one would never be at fault. But Christ has proved that Christian life could be worthwhile and meaningful, when we suffer for good at times. Such a good heart and daring heart requires courage, commitment and grace from God.

As Pope Francis would say, “In Christ, suffering is transformed into love.” Yes, Christ suffered, it was true and a painful reality, but suffering was bearable to Christ and he accepted it willingly, because he loved us truly and desired to take us back to God to enter into eternity with God. Sometimes, we complain a lot even when we have to suffer for our own sins and failures; fail to accept sufferings as part of life. So let us make efforts to accept sufferings for our own good and for the good of others. So that, our sufferings for sake of others would have genuine value and manifest real and genuine love.

3. The constant presence of God:

God is constantly present with us both in joys and sorrows. In moment of dryness and temptations of life, God assures of us his presence and comes to our rescue. In today’s gospel reading we find that Jesus is taken to the desert by the spirit of God. We all know that desert is a dry and a desolated place. There are lots of temptation we could go through like fear, doubt, emptiness, desperation, desolation and loneliness; difficult to find green pasture; difficult to find someone to walk or talk with. However, Jesus was able to win over the tempting hours of the devil as he was in union with God always and now in unison with God, Jesus makes known to the people the mind of God “to repent and believe in the Gospel as the Kingdom of God is at hand.” This is the call for transformation and faith of every Christian.

If we could observe, every year, the first Sunday of Lent presents to us the account of Jesus’ forty days experience in the desert, the devil’s temptation and Jesus’ victory over the desert experience and devil’s encounter. However, forty is a significant number throughout the Bible. we have the following episodes; In Gen 7:4, the flood in Noah’s time; In Exo 34:28, Moses at Mount Sinai was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water; In 1 Kings 19:8, prophet Elijah fasts for 40 days as he travels, after the angel of the Lord tells him to eat and drink to help him make a spiritual journey; For forty years the Israelites wandered in the desert before entering the Promised Land (Josh 5:6); In Jonah 3:4,Prophet Jonah preached for forty days to the Ninevites for conversion; Jesus spent forty days in the desert or wilderness before his public ministry; After the resurrection Jesus spent forty days appearing to the people and to his disciples before his ascension into heaven;

So forty days is a period of time that God gives to people go through challenges in order to grow spiritually strong, strengthen one’s faith and rely on God’s help always. That’s what we see in the gospel reading of the day as well. After Jesus’ desert experience and victory over devil’s temptation, Jesus begins his public ministry, manifesting the purpose of his coming, “Repent and believe in the gospel, the kingdom of God is at hand.” However, by the desert experience that Jesus underwent, he shows us that trials and temptations are common and natural. They are not meant to fail us or feel defeated rather it is a time to strengthen our bond with God, relying on his presence and promises. Perhaps, we all of us go through the tempest called test and temptations in life but what makes difference is how we deal with them. We have two choices either to fight against the devil and its tempting ways or to give consent to the devil and its tempting hours lose our affinity and peaceful relationship with God.  

That’s where, Pope Francis very beautifully comments on today’s Gospel passage from Mark that “when we read about the desert and temptations, Christians are reminded that by following in the Lord’s footsteps, our lives also are a struggle against the spirit of evil, where the devil can tempt us. We must be fully aware of the presence of this astute enemy who seeks our eternal condemnation, our failure, and prepare to defend ourselves against him and to combat him. He also added that Jesus never dialogued with the devil. Rather, Jesus always sent him away or responded with the Word of God. We also should never enter into dialogue with the devil and his temptations.”

Yes, if we wish to be victorious from tempting hours of the devil or the ways of evil, we should not enter into dialogue with devil. The devil need not be a figure in the form of persons, it could be an object, habit, place, time that is devilish and lead us to temptation and evil. When we put an end to such dialogues with the devil and the evil powers, we will be able to overcome our daily temptations of life. Further, let us also remember, we are not left alone at the time of trial or temptation, the Lord sends his angels to guide and guard us. That’s what we read in the gospel reading of the day, that the angels of God ministered to Jesus during the time of devil’s temptation.

Yes, the Lord assures of us his presence always. It is we who don’t clasp his hands tight or it is we who don’t realize God’s presence in our lives. Jesus was tempted by devil but he did not give consent to the power of the devil or the evil ways rather consented to the ways of God. The gospel clearly mentions that the angel of God was there with Jesus to minister to him or to assist him. This is the assurance of God for us in moments of temptation and test. The angel of God is always with us, but we don’t realize or don’t pay attention to the guidance and presence of God through the angels that God sends us. So let us believe in God’s constant presence with us and be delivered from every sin and sorrow, trials and temptations.

RESPOND:

Do we remain loyal to God in covenants established by God through people, prophets and Jesus Christ in the bible?

Do we commit ourselves to suffering for the good of others in the human family?

Do we realize the constant presence of God in times of daily trials and temptations?

Let us realize that God always desires to be with us and never disowns us, for we are his own always. Amen.

God bless us all! Live Jesus!

Fr. Ramesh George MSFS

rameshvkmsfs@gmail.com

9500930968