A sermon/reflection for The First Sunday of Lent – Year B
The readings for this Sunday are those of the First Sunday of Lent:
- Genesis 9.8-17
- Psalm 25. 1-9
- 1 Peter 3. 18-22
- Mark 1. 9-15
You might like to use the link below to find the above readings, and click on any of the reading above that you wish to use: http://www.katapi.org.uk/CommonWorship/CWLectionarySelV.php
Collect of the day
Let us first spend a few moments in silence to centre ourselves,
to gather ourselves in our souls,
to come before the Lord just as we are with our joys and sorrows,
our hopes and our fears, our loves and our pains.
Let us just focus our minds and hearts on Jesus
who is the answer for every problem.
Let us pray that the Spirit will work through our lives
to bring Christ to the world.
Silence is kept
Almighty God,
whose Son Jesus Christ fasted forty days in the wilderness
and battled with the powers of darkness,
and was tempted as we are, yet without sin:
give us grace to discipline ourselves in obedience to your Spirit
and to use these days of Lent to grow in wisdom and prayer
that we may witness to your saving love
in Jesus Christ our Lord
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen.
Prayer before the Sermon
Loving Heavenly Father,
we thank you
for the words you have given us today.
We know they are words of life and salvation.
Open our hearts Father,
touch our souls,
help us to respond to your word
and know that you are indeed our Lord and Saviour.
May we experience in our hearts
your love and your presence always.
Amen.
A homily based on the readings of today is given below:
“Lent is a 40-day journey of return to God…”
Introduction
A priest walked into a pub, indignant to find so many of his parishioners there. He rounded them up and shepherded them into the church.
Then he solemnly said, ‘All those who want to go to heaven, step over here to the left.’ Everyone stepped over except one man, who stubbornly stood his ground.
The priest looked at him fiercely and said, ‘Don’t you want to go to heaven?’
‘No,’ said the man.
‘Do you mean to stand there and tell me you don’t want to go to heaven when you die?’
‘Of course, I want to go to heaven when I die. I thought you were going now!’
We are ready to go all the way – only when our brakes don’t work!
(cf. D’Mello, The heart of the Enlightened, 16)
The Kingdom of God has come!
Hoping that you have read the gospel reading using the link on the previous page, let us go through the key phrases of the gospel of today Mark 1. 9-15. Please
Mk 1. 15 : ‘The time has come,’ he said, ‘The kingdom of God has come,’ he said. ‘The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!’
Our friend in the story thought of heaven and the Kingdom of God as something at the end of one’s life, as something in the future, quite like the belief of Judaism of Jesus’ time that the Kingdom of God referred primarily to God’s future display of power and judgement, that it referred to the future establishment of God’s rule in all creation. Instead, Jesus can’t be clearer than what he has declared : He speaks of fulfilment – occurring now!
Jesus tells us that this kingdom is ‘at hand’, here, now!
‘The time has come,’ he said, ‘The kingdom of God has come,’ he said. ‘The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!’ God’s ‘kingdom’ will demand a re-orientation of life, as John had already made clear. That is why Jesus clearly declares: ‘Repent and believe the good news’.
Repent and believe the good news!
These are the first recorded words of Jesus! Repenting and believing! The focus of ‘Lent’ is ‘conversion of life’. It is not just about some practices, although they are, of course, useful.
If the religious practices help in our conversion of life, like fasting, helping the poor, fine. ‘Repent’ and ‘believe’ in the ‘good news’ is something more fundamental that actually touches our Christian existence and our Christian life. This is an intense struggle that lasts not just 40 days but a lifetime.
The essential task for us is confronting evil through repenting and believing in God in a new way – that is a total turning of oneself away from evil and toward God, believing is embracing God and living in God’s Kingdom.
40 days in the desert!
Verse 13 : And he was in the wilderness 40 days, tempted by Satan –
We speak about the forty days of Jesus in the desert. Rather than recalling Israel’s wandering in the desert for 40 years, the number was an echo of the 40 day testing undergone by Moses a(Ex 34.28) and Elijah (1Kgs 19.8) 40 days of Lent before the Resurrection of Jesus! 40 days after Easter before the Pentacost!
Satan is a symbol of opposition to God’s people. The reality of evil is a fact in the world and in our lives.
Conclusion: Lent, a time to grow closer to God!
We need a new focus on God! Totally and absolutely turning and restoring our focus on God! It’s opening our hearts so that his grace and blessings can flow freely into our hearts and souls. It is removing the hurdles, the blocks, the obstructions so that God is sovereign in our hearts, in our thoughts, in our actions, in our relationships, in our families. It is remembering again our identity, ‘who’ we are by our baptism, which is a covenant of relationship with God making us ‘sons and daughters’ of God!
Lent is not popular quite like medicine. But we have no choice. If we want to get well we need to take medicine! It is the same with Lent. We need the time of Lent to get closer to God, to leave habits or ways that have blocked our Christian life, a ‘Pilgrims’s Progress’ as John Bunyan wrote!
Lent is a time of renewal, of restoration, of ‘conversion’, a time to grow closer to God. For some it may be the time even to return to God! Lent has to do with conversion of life through repentance and believing.
Lent is a journey back to God!
[Revd Dr ST Mattapally, Rector, Springline Parish, Diocese of Lincoln]
Pause to pray …
A further Prayer you can say now:
Lord Jesus,
I believe you are the Son of God.
Thank you for becoming one of us.
Thank you for dying on the cross for my sins.
Thank you for rising from the dead
to give me hope and the gift of eternal life.
I repent of my sins
and invite you into heart and life
as my Lord and Saviour.
Please grant me your Holy Spirit
so that I may know you, love you
and follow you every day of my life.
Amen.