Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for March 3, 2019

First Reading: Deuteronomy 26:1-11

On Ash Wednesday, we read in the Book of Common Prayer, all Christians are invited “to the observance of a holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God’s holy Word.”

Christ Tempted by the Devil (1818), oil painting on panel by John Ritto Penniman (1782-1841). Smithsonian American Art Museum. (Click image to enlarge.)

Sunday’s readings, though, turn away from talk of punishment and guilt, gently guiding us into the season with reminders that God loves us, protects us, and calls us to follow God’s way. Our first reading comes from an ancient Jewish liturgy of thanksgiving for the harvest, in which the people tithed the bounty of their land in remembrance that God had led them from slavery in Egypt to a rich and fruitful land.

Psalm: Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16

Pay close attention as we chant verses 11 and 12 of Sunday’s Psalm: This, in slightly different wording, is the source of Luke’s words in Sunday’s Gospel, “He will command his angels concerning you … On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.” This promise underscores the Psalm’s hopeful message: Even when bad things happen, from plague, injury, even attacks by lions and venomous serpents, we live in God’s shadow. God will answer when we call. God is with us when we are in trouble.

Second Reading: Romans 10:8b-13

Paul’s pastoral advice to the early Christian community in Rome, a mixed body of Jewish and pagan Christians, continues the theme of Sunday’s other readings. In the Psalm we sing of our trust in God’s protection. Now Paul reminds the Romans that accepting Jesus and the Resurrection opens the pathway to salvation. In the first reading we remember that our spiritual ancestors were foreigners, slaves in Egypt. Now Paul reminds us that there is no Jew or Greek, no insider or outsider. all together in one God for all.

Gospel: Luke 4:1-13

Fresh from his baptismal encounter with John the Baptist in the Jordan, Jesus fasted in the desert for 40 days, a time span that is echoed in the 40 days of Lent. Famished at the end of his long fast, Jesus meets the devil, who tempts him first with food, then with visions of power and glory, if only he would turn from God. But Jesus resists each of three temptations, warning the devil not to put God to the test. The devil then leaves him “until an opportune time.” In the verses immediately following these, we find Jesus giving his first sermon in the synagogue at Nazareth (as we heard at the end of January), proclaiming good news to the poor, release to the captives, sight to the blind and freedom to the oppressed.