Second Sunday in Lent (Year B)

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 Mark 8.31-38 (TIB):[1]

Then Jesus began to teach them that the Promised One had to suffer much, be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and religious scholars, be put to death, and rise again three days later. 32Jesus said these things quite openly.


Peter then took him aside and began to take issue with him. 33At this, Jesus turned around and, eyeing the disciples, reprimanded Peter: “Get out of my sight, you Satan! You are judging by human standards rather than by God’s!”


34Jesus summoned the crowd and the disciples and said, “If you wish to come after me, you must deny your very self, take up your cross and follow in my footsteps. 35If you would save your life, you’ll lose it, but if you lose your life for my sake, you’ll save it. 36What would you gain if you were to win the whole world but lose yourself in the process? 37What can you offer in exchange for your soul? 38[Whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this unfaithful and sinful generation, the [Promised One] will be ashamed of that person when he comes in the [Abba’s] glory with the holy angels.”


Other Readings: Genesis 17.1-7, 15-16; Psalm 22.23-31; Romans 4.13-25


Gathering Prayer:

O God, whose glory it is to always have mercy: Be gracious to all who have gone astray from your ways, and bring them again with penitent hearts and steadfast faith to embrace and hold fast the unchangeable truth of your Word, Jesus the Christ your Only Begotten; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, now and ever, and to the ages of ages. Amen.



                                   



On this second Sunday of Lent, we’re told that in order to follow Jesus, we have to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow his Way. But what does that actually mean?


I think it relates to our way of being. As we saw last week, Jesus came proclaiming God’s Good News — the long promised Realm of God had finally arrived somehow through the life of Jesus of Nazareth. He said we had to “change our hearts and minds” (the old word is “repent”) to “see” this new Realm, this new Way of living and being.


This Lesson is a continuation of that. In order for us to “change our hearts and minds” we’ll need to put to death our old way of viewing the world and live in this new reality. Part of that death is to realize that all people are God’s people. The Psalm for today says that very thing — 


Psalm 22.27-31 (CEB):[2]

27 Every part of the earth

will remember and come back to the Lord;

every family among all the nations will worship you.

28 Because the right to rule belongs to the Lord,

he rules all nations.

29 Indeed, all the earth’s powerful

will worship him;

all who are descending to the dust

will kneel before him;

my being also lives for him.

30 Future descendants will serve him;

generations to come will be told about my Lord.

31 They will proclaim God’s righteousness

to those not yet born,

telling them what God has done.


To see that “every part of the earth” is sacred is difficult for some of us. We’ve got it in our heads that the earth is ours and we can do with it as we wish. We see the fruits of such understanding as the weather becomes more and more extreme. We need to “change our hearts and minds” about the earth and see it for what it really is — God’s “very good” creation that needs to be nurtured and protected. To live in God’s Realm, we would need to crucify that old way of seeing the world as something to be used for our own benefit.


The old way of seeing some people as less than human is a real struggle for some of us, too. To see everyone as equal, as our family members, is quite a heavy cross to bear for some of us. But as we see in the Psalm, “every family among the nations” and “all who are descended to the dust” will bow and worship God. As we see in the New Testament, this is the work of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12.3; 1 John 4.2), who was poured out on “all flesh” (Acts 2.17-18; Joel 2.28-29). This is a major shift for a lot of us who’ve been taught to fear others. We need the grace of God’s Spirit to “change our hearts and minds” to see all people as our siblings.



~~~

In the Love of the Three in One,


Br. Jack+, LC


_________

[1] Scripture quotations marked (TIB) are taken from The Inclusive Bible. Copyright © 2007 by Priests for Equality. Used by permission.


[2] Scripture quotations marked (CEB) are taken from The Common English Bible. Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible. Used by permission.

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