MARCH 05^th, 2006

FIRST SUNDAY IN LENT 2006

Genesis 9:815  Psalm: 25:    1 Peter 3:1822   Mark 1:1215

1. Writing a homily on the readings today proved a bit of a problem, because there seemed to be a whole number of things that seemed contradictory.  We start of our readings with God speaking after the DESTRUCTION caused by the flood. God assures Noah and his family. The word Covenant comes us four times in that short passage. I will establish a covenant with you. Never again will God destroy the earth. God says that twice even though Man will continue to sin. What?



But that is the reason why the earth was destroyed int he first place. It was because Man sinned. God will establish a covenant because man is naturally inclined to sin and cannot help himself. How many of us can attest to that as truth. Paul would say in the letter to the Romans, the good I want to do, I do not. The evil I want to avoid is precisely what I do.

2. And so we move on the Letter of Peter. Here we have our second apparent contradiction. The flood waters destroyed the Earth. But the Letter speaks of the family of Noah being saved by the Waters - not from the waters as we would expect. The Letter goes on to tell us that these waters which caused the destruction of the earth, a prefigurement of the Waters of Baptism that saves.

3. The Gospel introduces us to the third difficulty. We find Jesus who has just been baptised. And the question arises: what is the Saviour doing, standing in line with people who need to be saved. In fact the Gospels find it difficult to explain the Baptism of Jesus. Matthew has a dialogue which shows John struggling with the idea and Jesus telling him to go ahead so as not to make a scene. While Luke, puts John in prison, at the time of the baptism. Jesus is baptised together with others, when and by whom is left a mystery. John neatly slides around the issue and speaks of the Spirit descending on Jesus when he is in the water. But John does not mention the Baptism.

4. But the Baptism of Jesus whatever that was - did two things to Jesus according to Mark. In three short sentences Mark gives us the entire pattern of the life and work of Jesus.

•   Jesus is baptised.
• Jesus is driven by the Spirit into the Wilderness. Symbolically the Wilderness is where one meets God.
• Jesus begins his ministry which is to tell people to “Repent and Believe in the Gospel.”

• Repent and Believe in the Gospel is what we do in the Liturgy of the Word at each Eucharist. We begin “in order to prepare ourselves to celebrate the Eucharist, let us call to mind our sins”. Then we prepare ourselves to Believe in the Good News.

5. But do we listen? We often have an idea of the first reading especially if it is a story. The Gospel story is also familiar to us. But the second reading is often totally lost even if we read it several times. Unless we know who has written it and for whom, and to what purpose, the second reading is often just a list of words. To make matters worse, sometimes - as in the reading today, we have a whole paragraph which makes One sentence.

• The waters were a prefigurement of Baptism, which does mean merely washing away physical dirt, but rather it is an appeal to God for a clear conscience through Jesus who rose from the dead and is now seated with the angels in heaven.

• And you ask yourself what does that all mean.

6. And so in order to Believe in the Gospel, there is need to study the whole text, put it in context - and do some serious study. For most people it is all Greek to them. For me it is like all those figures on the Stock Market page, the three quarters and three eighths - I understand the individual words...but put them together and it makes neither cents nor dollars for that matter.

7. So I get back to the first part: Repent. Does it mean to turn away from Sin, to be sorry for my sins. The answer is Yes, but it means more than that. For Jesus - this invitation to Repent is an invitation to make a U-Turn on a One way street, when we are heading in the wrong direction. It is to put on the mind and heart of God. It is according to the first Psalm: To walk in the path of the Lord, and not in the Path of the Wicked. As we walk in the path of the Lord, we will at times stumble, at times fall, at times sin. But we can get up and go in the right direction. The Direction of God, who said to Noah and to all of us: “I have established a new covenant with you.” I will never again destroy you - even though I know you will sin.

8. Now those apparent contradictions fall in place. The new Covenant was made with me at the time of my baptism. I promised to turn away from sin, to reject Satan and all his empty works and all his empty promises. Even as I made those promises, God in Mighty Wisdom knew that I would turn away. But God establishes a new covenant and never again will destroy us. The rainbow in the Sky is a promises of God’s continual love for us.

9. And so as we Believe in the Good News we should be very conscious of the Translations. a story is told of four theology students discussing different translations. One said, I love the translation of the King James Version, the Second said he preferred the Douay-Rheims version, a third said he preferred the Jerusalem Bible. The fourth was strangely silent. And what is your preference the others inquired. Oh, I prefer the translation of my mother, - the one by which she translates the Good News into her every day life.

Repent and Believe the Good News.