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It is a bit strange to be in Lent again, mostly because this past year has been one long, extended Lent. This has been a time of fasting where we have been removed from others and forced to change our patterns of living. Just as with Lent, we hope that in this fasting there will be growth, mainly growth in our relationship with God.
Lent, as we hear in The Book of Common Prayer, is also a time of self-examination and repentance. Jesus reflects this for us by retreating to the wilderness after His baptism to be alone with God following this momentous event. This aloneness is also something many of us can relate to and have experienced during this pandemic.
However, many of us have not taken this time to reflect, examine, and rest in the Lord. Fortunately, that does not mean that it’s too late to do so now.
For us to all be able to come back into society with one another, we must each have a necessary self-reflection, and that must include a penitential reflection on the things that tempt us, that is those things that lead us to sin. The story of Jesus’ own temptation in the desert is a good place to start.
Now Mark’s account doesn’t say how Satan tempted Jesus, only that the temptation occurred. This allows us the freedom to reflect on what tempts us and how we might withstand that temptation. At the same time, the temptations that Matthew and Luke lay out help us reflect on two main sins of humanity that are affecting us all greatly right now.
In all the temptations, Satan is trying to lead Jesus away from following the Father’s will to instead on following his own. Throughout all of Scripture, this is the temptation behind every sin: the desire to follow our own will instead of the Lord’s. In every action we take, we must ask ourselves, “Is this God’s will for us to do?” Surely it is not God’s will for us to put our own wants, comforts, and, dare I say, our own happiness above the health and safety of others. Surely God doesn’t want mammon (that’s Scripture speak for money) to win out over human lives. Surely God doesn’t want us to follow someone with only selfish desires over God Himself.
All of Satan’s temptations have another theme in common. They’re all about getting Jesus’ work done now. They are all temptations concerning a lack of patience. This is the principle sin we have seen in the world right now, particularly in our nation. Instead of waiting so that everyone can be safe, we want to get back to life as we knew it now. That impatience has been a huge factor leading to the deaths of over 400,000 people in this country at the start of this year. Unless we can learn to be patient now, it may lead to the death of possibly 200,000 more.
This time of pandemic has really been an extended Lent, a liturgical season we return to now. Like Lent, this is an opportunity for self-reflection, repentance, and growth, if only we will take the time to do so. My hope at the beginning of this pandemic was that people would heed the call to take this time as a Global Sabbath to rest, reflect, and be present with the Lord. Unfortunately, by and large that did not happen then. I hope, with the return of Lent, that it will happen now. I hope you will heed the call to reflect on your lives and remove yourselves from the common temptations of life, just as Jesus did. I hope you can learn to listen to God more and follow the Lord’s will instead of your own. Most of all, I hope that while we, as a people, have not been patient so far in this pandemic that we can be patient now. There will be a lot that we all have to repent for when this pandemic is over. My hope is that we can begin that work now before it is too late.
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