1st Sunday of Lent: A Radical Beginning
At the beginning of Jesus ministry, the Holy Spirit led him into the desert and remained there for forty days. Jesus did not begin his ministry in Jerusalem, the seat of religious and political power of Israel, but in an unknown desert far from the city and from everyone’s reach. He did not rush into a frenzied activity building the Kingdom of God. Before anything else, Jesus retreated into the desert where he was confronted by the devil.
The Spirit drove Jesus out into the desert,
and he remained in the desert for forty days,
tempted by Satan.
He was among wild beasts,
and the angels ministered to him (Mark 1: 12 – 13).
The first reading from Genesis also tells us of a new beginning. After 40 days of flood (150 days according to Genesis 7:24), God wanted to begin anew God’s covenant with humanity through Noah and his family. God gives Noah the rainbow as a reassuring sign of his goodness: God will never again destroy everything with a flood.
Saint Peter in our Second Reading speaks of another beginning. Peter recalls the story of Noah and reinterpret it as an antecedent to baptism. Baptism is the beginning of the Christian journey. Peter tells his audience of newly baptized Christians about the meaning of their baptism,
This (story of Noah) prefigured baptism, which saves you now. It is not a removal of dirt from the body but an appeal to God for a clear conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers subject to him (1 Peter 3: 21-22).
After 40 days in the desert, Jesus begins proclaiming the good news. Jesus begins proclaiming the good news just after the bad news about John the Baptist’s arrest by Herod. This indicates that Jesus’ proclamation signals a new even radical beginning in the life of the people. Jesus’ proclamation of the good news is a radical departure from the sorrows and tribulations and ushers a new dawn for the people graced by God’s benevolence.
As followers of Jesus, we are called to proclaim the demands of the radical beginning of the good news of God’s Kingdom for the world today. We are to proclaim the good news of the beginning of the fulfillment of God’s kingdom despite all the bad news we hear daily in our world today–killings, war, sickness, poverty, corruption, disasters, death, and many others.
The radical beginning of the fulfillment of God’s kingdom proclaimed by Jesus demands a radical response. Thus, Jesus called for repentance: “Repent, and believe in the gospel.” Real repentance is not just to be sorry for the consequences of sin and evil but to hate and struggle against sin and evil itself.
Lent is a season that the church established as preparation for the renewal of our baptism. During Lent we begin anew our journey of fulfilling our baptism. In commemoration of the 40 days of Jesus’ retreat into the desert as well as the 40 years that the people of God spent wandering in the desert in preparation for its entry into the promised land, the church has allotted 40 days for our preparation for the renewal of our baptism.
As we prepare for the renewal of our baptism, let us ask the Holy Spirit to lead us into the desert. This does not mean that we have to look for the nearest desert and remain there during the whole Lenten season although some people may have planned to do something like this. The desert is anywhere and whenever we can stand alone before God. The desert is an inescapable dimension of the journey of our faith. It might be a church or a mountain or a garden or our room or any place where we can empty ourselves of obstacles towards God. It is a time when we can reflect on our faith in God and examine our values. So that in the emptiness of our hearts, God’s power and goodness becomes overwhelming. Thereafter, we become strengthened and ready to proclaim the good news just like Jesus after his desert time.
Our retreat into the desert during Lent, however, is not just a private spiritual exercise for individual spiritual nourishment. Lenten journey into the desert has a missionary goal. Lent is a preparation for the proclamation of the good news as we have seen in Jesus. Lent is a retreat for mission. We fast, we pray, we help the poor ultimately to proclaim the good news and build God’s kingdom.
Let us now ask the Holy Spirit to help us empty ourselves as we enter into our Lenten desert.
I am passionate about the intersection between new media and technology. I continue to research and apply new media in theology and vice-versa. I am also a fan of Our Mother of Perpetual Help and her continuing relevance in today's digital world.
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