Second Sunday of Lent 2021

 

Second Sunday of Lent 2021

 

‘For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith. If it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. For the law brings wrath; but where there is no law, neither is there violation.

‘For this reason it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham (for he is the father of all of us, as it is written, ‘I have made you the father of many nations’)—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. Hoping against hope, he believed that he would become ‘the father of many nations’, according to what was said, ‘So numerous shall your descendants be.’ He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was already as good as dead (for he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, being fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. Therefore his faith ‘was reckoned to him as righteousness.’ Now the words, ‘it was reckoned to him’, were written not for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be reckoned to us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was handed over to death for our trespasses and was raised for our justification.’

Romans 4:13-25

 

‘Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, ‘Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.’

‘He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.’

Mark 8:31-38

 

Notes:

 

For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life?

Material wealth? Political power? Environmental crisis?

kosmos: the whole created order.

Emphasis on balance, harmony. Our world is currently out of balance: coronavirus outbreak, perhaps being brought back into balance; human impact on environment?

psuché: life breath, which comes from God; also, the seat of the heart and mind, or what holds our constituent parts together, in an ordered whole.

To put it another way, what benefit is it to receive a re-ordered world, if you yourself remain dis-ordered?

Which is also to say that your life being ordered is not dependent on the world around you being in order, but on God’s promise, and on aligning our lives to that promise.

This is not to say that Christians do not, or should not, experience dis-ordering; but that we are invited to repent and believe: to return to, and stay close to, the one from whom our life breath comes.

What practices help you to draw near to God? Lent is an opportunity to take them up again, or to try a new thing. Some traditional Lenten practices, such as solitude and fasting from the hospitality of communal eating, have in fact been our extended pattern since Lent last year; and it will be good to bring them back into harmony with the shared disciplines. But, what is life-giving for you right now? What practices remind you of God’s promises?

Ignatian examen? Evangelical quiet time? Charismatic sung worship? Celtic appreciation of the world around us?

Peter, representing the Church, had his mind set on human things, not divine things. What good is the Church if it is not listening to Jesus? As we begin to re-gather, how will we ensure that we do that?