First Sunday of Lent Year B 2024

Title

Jesus as Protective Ark and Righteous King

Outline

There are two images of rescue in our passages

First is the image of Noah

He served God, obeyed God and built the box or ark, and therefore survived the flood, the return to primeval chaos, along with the animals, who share his salvation and the resulting covenant.

Peter tells us that Christ suffered for us and is therefore like Noah’s ark, carrying those in Christ through the waters, to resurrection in the realm of the spirit or Spirit. And for the sacrament to be effective there must be an appeal or pledge to God from a clear conscience (translations differ) as well as the matter of water, for that pledge through the resurrection of Jesus saves us and places us in Christ as victor over the demonic and heavenly powers. As with Noah we do not return to the same world, but to a renewed world, in our case spiritual - able to participate in the realm God exists in - rather than simply material, the washing away of the dirt of the flesh.

The second is the narrative of Jesus

He, like Israel, is led by God (in his case, the Spirit) into the wilderness for testing. The agent is Satan, whom we do not find in Exodus, but unlike Israel, Jesus was victorious. How do we know? The reference to being among the wild beasts but safe and having angels ministering to him refers to what is now a text in the Testament of Naphtali 8: “If ye work that which is good, my children, both men and angels will bless you; and God will be glorified through you among the Gentiles, and the devil will flee from you, and the wild beasts will fear you, and the angels will cleave to you.” Jesus, like Adam and like Noah, lives with the wild beasts and is safe, and unlike Israel Satan flees from him (or at least is defeated) and the angels minister to him. Why? Because he is righteousness in person, he “works that which is good.” He can therefore call others into this righteousness and this kingdom of peace. Therefore after his testing and John’s arrest, Jesus starts to preach, “This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God (or Rule of God) is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel (good news).”

Now all that has implications for us

First, just because you are righteous do not think that you will avoid testing/temptation. And do not think that it will not be painful. Think of Noah, think of what Peter endured, and think of Jesus facing Satan himself as the beginning of his testings leading to the cross.

Second, do not think that either you or the community you are in will be totally faithful, unscarred by testing. Peter was not, to give one example, and yet he finished well. Noah had problems after the ark landed, resulting in his cursing his grandson (we perhaps see some of that today in Palestine; certainly Israel saw it in the Canaanites). It is only when the ark lands that we have the possibility of a new start, and new peace; it is only when we are fully in Christ in the resurrection that we will experience the new order, and, while Christ brings the new order in his proclamation, it is only after his resurrection that the disciples start of “get” what it is. We are in the ark today, so do not be surprised if it is a bit smelly and we jostle one another - trust God, for we are safe, and we will come to land eventually.

Third, we are to live in the righteousness of Christ. This is our affirmation of our baptism. It may be that our parents confessed for us, which is well and good, but we will find some “stuff” to repent of and some righteousness of Jesus to put on that they did not even know of. It may be that baptism was a teen or adult time of confession for us personally, but as in my priestly ordination I did not know the depths of what I was getting into so in our confession we did not know the depths of what it meant, what the struggle with Satan would look like, what repentance we would have to make later as we looked more deeply into the righteousness of Christ. That, of course, is what Lent is for, for looking more deeply at Jesus righteousness and therefore repenting more deeply and out of this committing ourselves more deeply.

But have no fear, as Pope St John Paul II used to say, we are in the ark. It will not break apart. It will reach land. We may be jostled but we are safe. Or, to use another metaphor, we see Jesus, we see in him that the kingdom of God has come, and as long as we cling to him in commitment we will through his resurrection participate in his victory over Satan and his grand reign in the renewed creation that is spiritual, not just material.

Amen, and may God bless you, bless us.

Test Naphtali 8

Ante-Nicene Fathers 8: Fathers of the Third and Fourth Centuries: The Twelve Patriarchs, Excerpts and Epistles, the Clementina, Apocrypha, Decretals, Memoirs of Edessa and Syriac Documents, Remains of the First Ages VIII.—The Testament of Naphtali concerning Natural Goodness

If ye work that which is good, my children, both men and angels will bless you; and God will be glorified through you among the Gentiles, and the devil will flee from you, and the wild beasts will fear you, and the angels will cleave to you. For as if a man rear up a child well, he hath a kindly remembrance thereof; so also for a good work there is a good remembrance with God. But him who doeth not that which is good, men and angels shall curse and God will be dishonoured among the heathen through him, and the devil maketh him his own as his peculiar instrument, and every wild beast shall master him, and the Lord will hate him