Reclaiming Lent

For this first Sunday in Lent, we hear the story of Jesus being tempted in the wilderness by the devil (Luke 4:1-13). For many this symbolizes the start of our forty days in the wilderness being tempted by the devil but maybe this text has a different meaning, which is what this sermon explores.

I really can’t say that I am a fan of today’s gospel reading. I think my dislike for it does not stem from the story itself, Jesus being tempted by the devil, but my dislike for it has developed after hearing many a sermon about how Jesus was tempted by the devil and resisted so we can resist the devil and all evil too. Umm last time I check Jesus was fully human but also fully God; I think God might have an easier time resisting the devil then us humans.

Plus I can’t say that the devil has personally appeared to me and tried to convince me to do his bidding. Normally temptation comes more in the form of little daily things, consuming more than my share of natural resources, running a red light, boasting about something I do not deserve credit for, putting things of this world – sports, movies, money, work – higher than God in the list of my priorities, putting God to the test. These are the ways temptation seeps into my life, not through a vision or physical appearance of the devil.

But maybe that is what this gospel text can tell us, instead of the “Jesus resisted the devil, you can too” mantra. Jesus had just been baptized, he had just started his public ministry. But he didn’t start his ministry by curing the ill and raising the dead. He didn’t even start his ministry by teaching and preaching. He started by going out into the wilderness to be alone with God. Jesus needed time to pray, to commune with God, to discern his ministry, his calling, his path in life. And this is not the last time Jesus finds time to be alone with God in prayer. He walks on water to catch up with the disciple who he sent on ahead of him while he stayed back on the shore to pray. He prayed in the garden before he was captured by the authorities and was put on trial. Throughout the gospel we get these brief lines, these transitional statements like: “at daybreak he departed and went into a deserted place: (Luke 4:42), “But he would withdraw to deserted places and pray” (Luke 5:16) or “Now during those days, he went out to the mountain to pray and he spent the night in prayer to God” (Luke 6:12). A quick glance through Luke I found at least 10 different references to Jesus being alone in prayer. Jesus did not just prayer during these forty days in the wilderness and then continued on with life never stopping to pray, to commune with God, to discern his calling, to hear God’s will. Instead he was constantly praying, constantly in communication with God.

And this time of prayer, of discernment is what the season of Lent was historically about. The word Lent actually means spring and after living in Minnesota and Wisconsin and now Connecticut for over 10 winters, I have learned to love spring. Spring is a season of hope, of seeing the ice and snow melt away, of seeing the flowers start to pop out of the ground, of enjoying longer periods of daylight and warmer temperatures. In fact this Lent, between this last Wednesday, Ash Wednesday and Easter on April 4th we will gain over 2 hours of daylight each day. And our average high temperature will increase from 39 to 53 degrees. Oh isn’t that something to hope for. But yet even with the word Lent meaning spring and us living in this hope warmer temperatures, and more daylight, Lent has come to mean something completely different.

Starting the middle ages Lent became a time of penitence, or confession without absolution, of giving up good things in life, things like fat and butter and meat in your diet but also joyous celebrations. In the medieval church there are no baptisms during Lent, no weddings, no flowers. Lent became this 40 day long Ash Wednesday or Good Friday when you focused on the fact that you are this sinful human creature doom to the depths of hell. Lent was a season of shame, of guilt, of seeing a bloody, emaciated, dejected Jesus on the cross, of pretending that there was never a resurrection, of pretending that we are people without hope. And this sad, depressing version of Lent is still found in many churches to this day.

This isn’t what the early church had in mind during the 40 days before Easter. In the early church, in the churches founded by Peter, James, John, Paul and the other apostles, in the church before it became a hierarchy of power, Lent was a time of preparation. Lent was a forty day period before Easter when the new converts who were going to be baptized on Easter morning would spend intense time in prayer and reading the scripture. They would spend time discerning their call as Christians, opening their hearts and minds to hear God’s will in their lives. It was also the time when church leaders would spend time discerning God’s will for the individual congregation. Who was God calling them to preach to? Was it time to split into two separate congregations in order to reach more people? How could they demonstrate God’s love to the community around them? This is what Lent was for. A time of prayer and discernment, a time of abated expectations, a time to prepare and wait in hope for Easter and the promised resurrection.

And that is what Lent is and should be for us today. Lent is not about giving up the joys in life. It is not about pretended that Easter never happened or never will happen. Lent is not about focusing on the pain that we caused Jesus or shaming and guilting us because we are not always able to resist the devil like Jesus was able to.

Lent is a time to prepare, to step back and be in prayer and communication with God. A time to discern God’s will for our lives and our church. A time to wait in hope of the resurrection, in hope of the Easter promise, to wait in hope for Christ’s glory, knowing that at our baptism as water was poured out upon us, we were claimed as daughters and sons of God, marked with the cross of Christ and filled with the Holy Spirit. This Lent we are a hopeful people, waiting with great expectations for the joy and celebration that will come in the Easter promise. Lent is a time for preparing our hearts and minds to hear God’s will for our lives. A time of prayer and discernment. So let us begin this Lent in prayer.

Let us pray: Lord of all hopefulness. Be with us this Lenten season, open our hearts and minds to hear your will for our lives, our church and our community. Turn us from shame and guilt and instead allow us to show your love to others and wait in hope and expectation, as we prepare for your resurrection. In your holy and everlasting name we pray, Amen.