The ashes are gone \u2013 washed off our foreheads \u2013 but their darkness still stains our thoughts and spirits as we begin Lent once again. Tiny grains of ash, like the darkness of sin, may have fallen in our eyes or down our faces. Annoyed, we may have rubbed our eyes or brushed our cheeks. Maybe the ash was wet \u2013 a big stain on our heads, right between our eyes. How can we get it off, without looking insincere, before we get in our cars and go to work out in the real world where most people don\u2019t even know it\u2019s Ash Wednesday, where most people no longer remember the word \u201cLent\u201d or what it means?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sin is like that most days, a bit of an annoyance, a speck in our eyes that must be rubbed away. For heaven\u2019s sake, we don\u2019t want to talk about it \u2013 it\u2019s annoying \u2013 oh my, that word again. Being reminded that sin still exists in each one of us can be just plain annoying, not earth-shattering, nothing really to worry about, it\u2019s just there hovering around the edges, picking at us, especially during Lent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We have 40 long days to think about it, though. Forty long days when we\u2019re reminded to repent and be saved. Our hymns are melancholy. In many churches, they hide a banner with the word \u201cAlleluia\u201d on it until Easter Day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Is that what Lent is all about? A surface look at it, a few memories from Sunday school in our youth, a desire to get it over with and get back to the real world, might make it so. But look at our readings today. If we really pay attention to what we\u2019re hearing, there is a whole lot more light than darkness \u2013 a whole lot more graciousness poured on us by our God, than punishment. Yes, we\u2019re reminded about the temptations of sin, but we\u2019re offered the unstopping gift of forgiveness and a chance to model Jesus. Lent can help us go deep into ourselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Moses\u2019 story today is full of light. God has given the Israelites a land flowing with milk and honey. All they have to do is show gratitude through their offerings. \u201cA land flowing with milk and honey\u201d is an image of peace and beauty. The people acknowledged their rescue from the Egyptians by the God who heard their cries of affliction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Today\u2019s psalm says, \u201cHe shall call upon me, and I will answer him; I am with him in trouble; I will rescue him and bring him to honor.\u201d This is another image that should remind us that God continues to hear our cries, even when they\u2019re moaned from the depths of our sinfulness. At the beginning of Lent, we\u2019re reminded that we are not alone. God not only has not abandoned us, God is \u201cso bound to us in love\u201d the psalm says, that even when we are focused only on ourselves to the point of sin, God is with us, ready to bring us back to the light. God is ready to brush the ash from our faces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Paul says the same thing to the Romans. \u201cThe word is near you, on your lips and in your heart.\u201d That is not only the word of faith, but the capital W \u201cWord\u201d of God. \u201cYou will be saved,\u201d he says, \u201ceveryone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.\u201d Is there any better news than that?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Paul does put in front of us, however, one type of sin we may need to think about during Lent \u2013 because after all, this good news of salvation is reliant on the fact that we actually want to repent and return to the Lord. Paul drops in a very salient fact: There is no distinction between Jew and Greek, the same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him. This speaks to us of God\u2019s inclusion of all people \u2013 no exceptions. We might need to examine ourselves to determine how much we really want to include all others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Is that part of the ash that has fallen in our eyes? We might need help getting that out. We might need to read over and over again Jesus\u2019 words all through the gospels that call us to love even our enemies. \u201cOur enemies?\u201d we might want to ask. It\u2019s hard enough to love our own families sometimes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But if that ash is left in our eye, it could fester and make us blind \u2013 blind to our responsibility to share God\u2019s love with everyone. This is a good time to remember that for the Jews, \u201clove\u201d doesn\u2019t mean the Valentine\u2019s-Day-card emotional kind of love. Love, when Jesus talks about it, also means \u201cloyalty.\u201d We don\u2019t have to agree with everyone to love them. We don\u2019t have to have emotional love for the person or group doing evil. \u201cLoyalty\u201d means we acknowledge that these too are children of God and need our prayers. They need us to want them to see the light, not for us to judge them as worthy only for hell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Even Jesus didn\u2019t send his tempter immediately to hell in our gospel story. Isn\u2019t it interesting that Jesus only responds to the temptations by reminding his tempter that God alone is worthy of our worship and service? There was no argument, no discussion: God alone is our refuge and our stronghold in times of trial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The three temptations are interesting in themselves. Would it have been so wrong if Jesus just turned a few stones to bread? Certainly, there\u2019s no sin in that. What is Luke really telling us? Perhaps, that we might be tempted to want to manipulate the world to our liking. That can grow into the serious sin, for example, of not caring where our food comes from, or the environment from which it grew. Do we care enough about those who grow the food we eventually buy in our stores to make deliberate choices about where we shop?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jesus\u2019 second temptation might make us think about what we feel we must own. What in our lifestyles comes before our consideration of God? If we\u2019re honest, many things can draw our eyes away from God \u2013 things that, in and of themselves, are not bad, but things, such as that annoying speck of ash that fell in our eyes, that might fester in us until we can see nothing else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The gospel reminds us that Jesus, too, was faced with temptations. He was, after all, fully human as well as fully divine. He knows what we face. He knows the power that tries to turn our hearts from God. Our ashes remind us of the same thing, but today we hear about God\u2019s great love for us. We\u2019re reminded even more about the fact that we abide under the shadow of the Almighty. We, too, have been promised a land flowing with milk and honey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There is a lot to be joyful about in Lent. After all, Paul tells us, \u201cEveryone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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