February 21, 2021. First Sunday of Lent, Year B.

 

Readings: Gen. 9:8-15; 1 Peter 3:18-22; Mk. 1:12-15 

The God of a Second Chance - Are you on God’s Side?

1.     In the first reading God said to Noah and his sons, “See, I am now establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you…that never again shall all bodily creatures be destroyed by the waters of a flood.” (Gen.9:8-11). A covenant is an agreement entered into by two people with a promise and commitment to each other. It marks the relationship and the expectations they have for one another. God always made a covenant with his people in the Old Testament and enjoined them to remain faithful to Him while he would be their God, always providing and protecting them. God is faithful to his promises.

2.     The passage in Genesis speaks of a covenant God made with Noah and his sons after the disastrous flood. This new covenant demonstrates that the first one in Genesis 1:28-30, where God commanded Adam and Eve to go and multiply and fill the earth, was shattered by human sinfulness. “When the Lord saw how great was man’s wickedness on earth, and how no desire that his heart conceived was ever anything but evil, he regretted that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was grieved. So the Lord said: “I will wipe out from the earth the men whom I have created, and not only men, but also the beasts and the creeping things and the birds of the air, for I am sorry that I made them.” (Gen. 6:5-7). The flood was seen as the divine reaction to the human rejection of God. But there was a note of hope, for “Noah found favor with the Lord.” (Gen.6:8). So with Noah and his descendants God made a new covenant, but this time around, God demanded nothing from Noah, but promised what he will do for his people while asking nothing in return. According to Peter in the second reading, the covenant between God and Noah’s family prefigured baptism which is God’s pledge to us of salvation and eternal life.

3.     With this covenant, God seems to have said to Noah, now the past is done with, “Let us forget the past and forge ahead together. We will begin anew with peace between myself and humankind and, indeed, between myself and all creation. The rainbow will be its sign.” “Through the rainbow, God shows that he wants to be connected to his creation – all of it – in such a way as to create confidence in him and peace among his creatures…Light and darkness, wind and fire, water and earth, the tree and its fruit speak of God and symbolize both his greatness and his nearness” (CCC 1147). The new covenant includes all creatures, showing that God makes all things good, and in the end, all creation will be transformed (Rom. 8:18-22). This bond between God and us and all of nature is a mark of this new beginning.  

4.     Lent invites us to begin a new relationship with God. “Come now, let us set things right, says the Lord: though your sins be like scarlet, they may become white as snow; though they be crimson red, they may become white as wool.” (Is.1:18). Lent is God’s second chance to humanity. Do we always give a second chance to people who wrong us? Temptation and sins are roadblocks to a healthy relationship with God and one another; but like lovers’ quarrel that is capable of renewing love, we can strengthen our relationship with God by removing those blocks from our paths. We are invited to enter into a new covenant with God and rediscover the outpouring of God’s grace into our hearts on the day of baptism. God is always true to his covenant; we must be true to ours as well. What about temptation and sin?

5.     The Gospel of today presents us with the temptation of Jesus. We are not immune from the same temptation. Temptation comes in many ways. We may be tempted to be something that we are not, to assume the personality and status we don’t deserve. The attraction to this kind of life may turn us into liars, egoistical and proud. We may begin to think that we are everything to everyone as such our services to God, the church and humanity may become sterile and shallow. We may even forget why we do the things we do. Mother Theresa told Father Le Joly, a Jesuit priest who was writing a book about her “Father, when you write a book about me, tell everybody we are not here for work, we are here for Jesus. We are religious not social workers, or nurses, or teachers; we are religious Sisters. All we do, our prayer, our work, our suffering, is for Jesus. He gives me strength. I love Him in the poor and poor in Him. Without Jesus our life would be meaningless…incomprehensible…” If what we do is not done for Jesus our work is nothing more than false spirituality; and our work will draw us away from the covenant of God. Therefore, the Psalmist cries out, “Not to us, Lord, not to us but to your name give glory.” (Ps. 115:1). Let me conclude with this reflection from Fr. Eugene Maly, “What is important for us is not so much that we actually do during this Lenten season, whether it be attending daily Mass, visiting the sick and the elderly more often, or foregoing some special pleasure. All these are fine. But what is essential to Lent is our resolve to begin anew. One thing is certain: God’s covenant love is here to strengthen and comfort us.”  

Rev. Augustine Etemma Inwang, MSP