First Sunday in Lent - A Covenant is Built

Welcome Statement

Good Morning Everyone, I hope you all had a Great Ash Wednesday. A couple facts for you if you are curious about Ash Wednesday and Lent as I know not everyone gets to make it to Wednesday services. Ash Wednesday is always 46 days before Easter. as Easter is determined as the Sunday following the first full moon that happens on or after the March Equinox. Why is it 46 Days? Because we don’t count Sundays in the season of Lent, as they are considered a sort of Mini-Easter where we Rejoice during the weak of solemness. So Lent then starts on Ash Wednesday, and ends on Holy Saturday. Another thing to Note is, the first

We Typically see Lent, as this solemn time, if you went to Ash Wednesday, you are read or read the 2nd part of Genesis 3:19

Genesis 3:19 ESV

By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

Old Testament Reading - Genesis 9:8-17

Genesis 9:8–17 LEB

And God said to Noah and to his sons with him, “As for me, behold, I am establishing my covenant with you and with your seed after you, and with every living creature that is with you—the birds, the animals, and every animal of the earth with you, from all that came out of the ark to all the animals of the earth. I am establishing my covenant with you, that never again will all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, nor will there ever be a flood that destroys the earth.” And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I am making between me and you, and between every living creature that is with you for future generations. My bow I have set in the clouds, and it shall be for a sign of the covenant between me and between the earth. And when I make clouds appear over the earth the bow shall be seen in the clouds. Then I will remember my covenant that is between me and you, and between every living creature, with all flesh. And the waters of a flood will never again cause the destruction of all flesh. The bow shall be in the clouds, and I will see it, so as to remember the everlasting covenant between God and between every living creature, with all flesh that is upon the earth.” And God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant which I am establishing between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.”

The First of the 5 Major Covenants

There are from my own studying, about 7 or so Different Covenants we can find in the Bible of varying importance from the Beginning of Genesis, all the way to Jeremiah, where the New Covenant is proclaimed, that Jesus Fulfills. Today we are presented with the First of what I call the Major Covenants. The Noahic Covenant. This Covenant has no prerequisites for its fullfillment, it’s actually pretty onesided, where God is both the holder, and the executer, of the Covenant. Promising to never flood the entire earth again. Of course, some people might struggle with this Covenant, by pointing out floods and natural disasters still occur, God did not promise that the world would be perfect, these are struggles we have to deal with on a daily basis, is reconciling this problem of natural pain, it’s one Job had to reconcile with! But what we do see is a story of redemption, no longer does Humanity see itself as exclusively evil save for 3-4 noble people, we begin to see a whole Nation start to set itself apart, through the Israelites, simply by God Loving us first. This actually sort of makes the point to, that God really in all covenants, is the heavy lifter. We really aren’t doing much, even in the new Covenant, we are just professing faith, and letting God doing work through us!, that is the beauty here. God reiterates 3 times this Covenant, to point, how important, this promise is to him, and to Noah, and why it will be for the rest of Humanitie’s life here on earth. It sets the stage for Lent, I think, in a better tone, We’ve already rafted through the waters of the first week, We already have the promise God isn’t going to physically flood us, he is our protector and redeemer, so while Lent is this solemn time, there is still this tension, that we are supposed to hold out Hope for Easter, and see God through it all, and not totally despair. That is the theme we see coming through here with the Covenant. When we find ourselves fasting, or in prayer, or whatever other Lent practices you do, you are doing a sort of mini-covenant or promise, with God, that you are going to faithfully follow a tradition in the season, with God as your witness. Now thankfully the stakes aren’t so high, but it does make one feel as though we should take it seriously when we view these practices. So next we Turn to the time Jesus struggled in his time in the Desert:

New Testament Reading - Mark 1:9-15

Mark 1:9–15 LEB

And it happened that in those days Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized in the Jordan by John. And immediately as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens being split apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” And immediately the Spirit drove him out into the wilderness. And he was in the wilderness forty days being tempted by Satan. And he was with the wild animals, and the angels were ministering to him. And after John had been taken into custody, Jesus went into Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God and saying, “The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe in the gospel!”

New Testament Point #1

We had already talked about Verse 15, but I find it interesting, how, after being in the desert for 40 days, the same time as our Lent season, (not including Sundays, which we consider mini-easters), he was still emboldened to yell boldly about the Good News that the time was fullfilled, and to tell all people to turn around, and believe the Good News! I just imagine, finding oneself tempted in this desert, for food and drink, even with the help of Angels as pointed out here, and feeling quite exhausted after pushing away Satan, I wouldn’t feel proud, I would feel quite sad and possibly even shameful from the temptations. That’s just it isn’t it, we find a lot of shame from the Lent season. From the broken promsies we make to God that we will avoid something, give up something, etc. As if we forget that God himself came down and experienced our human condition in the desert for 40 days. That isn’t to say he gave into those temptations, but we believe he has both a fully human and fully divine will, that means he had to experience hunger, he had to experience thirst, and by the third temptation, I believe his Divine will is what was required to deny Satan. That Divine connection is what we need, to deny ourselves, to deny that ego that the adversary preys on. We rely on the Holy Spirit more than we realize. We don’t Give God enough credit in our lives! So let’s not be solemn, let’s Rejoice God is seeing through this solemn time after Christmas and before Easter! If you are feeling like you want to do anything for Lent, but like me, cannot fast, I don’t blame you, it is really tough, (Talk about calendars).

New Testament Point #2

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New Testament Point #3

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Closing Statement

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Closing Prayer

Heavenly Father, adfs asdfa

Amen.

Doxology / Benediction / Closing

May you Have a Blessed Sunday, and rest of your Week! Amen!