First Sunday in Lent
March 9, 2014
The liturgical season changes from revelation to repentance in preparation for the celebration of Jesus' Passion and Resurrection at Easter. The colours of the candles and drapes on pulpit and table reflect this change too. Purple symbolizes repentance.
GENESIS 2:15 17; 3:1 7. "In Adam's sin, we sinnèd all," said an old New England catechism based on the alphabet. That is the thrust of this passage. A modern interpretation adds that our consciousness of good and evil is what makes us truly human. The choice between good and evil, right and wrong, creativity and destructiveness, is always ours to make. Ours too is the responsibility for making that choice and being accountable for the consequences.
PSALM 32. This is a witness to the assurance of God's forgiveness for the penitent soul. It acknowledges both the universal sinfulness of humanity and the prevenient mercy of God, a grace that precedes even our willingness to repent or confess.
ROMANS 5:12 19. Here Paul describes the universal sinfulness of humanity in terms of the myth of the disobedience Adam and Eve as we read in Genesis 2 3. And then he gives God's antidote: the free gift of forgiveness that makes us right with God (justification) through the obedience of Jesus Christ in his life and death which were affirmed by God in the resurrection and exaltation.
MATTHEW 4:1 11. Lent recalls the forty days in the wilderness Jesus spent in preparation for his ministry. However the experience of his being tempted may be interpreted, Jesus had to make some very meaningful choices. How was he to carry out his mission? The three temptations were options he had to consider and reject because they were not God's will for him. Had he chosen any of them, he would not be our Saviour and Lord.
No comments:
Post a Comment