A Change of Heart, 1st Sunday of Lent

Today is the first Sunday of Lent.  And we have a marvelous opportunity to let the Spirit of Lent drive each of us towards authentic repentance, and transforming forgiveness and a renewed belief in the immense love of God and the presence of his Kingdom. For whatever the world may want, God now reigns; now is a new time, now is a new reality and now demands a new clarified response.

 As we enter into Lent, let us embrace it as the purifying experience it can be. Let it intensely focus, through prayer, fasting and charity, on our commitment to follow Jesus, wherever he  might lead us.

Let us be open to the Spirit of Lent, as it drives us out of our safe comfort zones and into more challenging areas of life.  For, it was the Holy Spirit that drove Jesus into the wilderness.

The wilderness expereience ins in all three synopic Gospels. Matthew says, led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the Devil. And Jesus fasted 40 days and nights. Luke says, Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, was led by the Spirit for 40 days in the wilderness to be tempted by the Devil. But, I prefer Mark’s austere authority – The Spirit immediately drove Jesus into the wilderness and he was in there for 40 days, tempted by Satan.

Being driven is a response to power. The Spirit drove Jesus with irresistible force, with real purposeful and intent into the wilderness; a place beyond the ordinary, beyond safety, a place of testing and revelation. The Spirit preparing Jesus for mission. The Spirit, through love, fashioned and forged him.   

Jesus was in the wilderness for 40 days, echoing Israel’s 40 years in the wilderness. Echoing Moses and Elijah’s 40 days of testing before their own encountering God. It was in these 40 days that Jesus began to know who he was and what his mission was. It was there he faced the challenges of the ancient serpent, the deceiver and accuser. It was here Jesus tamed the wild beasts (both external and internal) all the while being ministered to by angels. This is a time and place of suffering and Grace.

With the enduring Spirit and the experience of the wilderness within him, Jesus begins his public ministry.  And his first words are -

“The Time is fulfilled and the Kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe in the Gospel”

Is Jesus pointing to something he learned from the Spirit in the wilderness? We don’t know. But, we do know that he immediately proclaimed that the Kingdom of God had come, ushering in a new time and a new reality.

Jesus says “the time” is fulfilled. This phrase gives the vague, slippery notion of time a rather specific concrete feel. Whether Jesus means; the age of man, or the present time, or a generation, or single life span, is unclear, but it certainly means that what was is now over. Something new has taken its place. Reality, our reality, cosmic or individual, has been pierced by God’s own reality.

This means for Jesus that the Kingdom of God is very near and this divine closeness requires a new authentic response from us, for nothing else will do. The light of God’s coming kingdom compels us, even commands us, to change.

Transforming change can only come through true repentance and it is through true repentance that we experience true forgiveness and it is through true forgiveness that we experience the immense love of God. This is the Good News. This is the Gospel.

This is at the heart of Jesus’ teaching and it is the source of his healing. And is at the heart of Lent.

Repentance is more than just changing one’s mind. It is certainly not just regret. It is an authentic and deliberate turning back to God, as Lord and Father.  Repentance is the first step on the journey home. Because, hidden within a true act of repentance is an extraordinary homecoming; for we are all prodigal children in need of forgiveness, healing, and the embrace of our loving father. Who is already waiting for each of us, so he can forgive, heal and love.

And when we turn back to God we must alter the direction and manner and of our whole life; our basic motivation, our attitudes and desires. We now face a new direction. Our back is towards what was before and now we face what is coming. We now are oriented towards God.

It is through repentance, and conversion, the experience of forgiveness and of love that we come to really believe. Not natural believing like accepting a fact as real. But, a supernatural, Grace filled, believing that makes what is believed present. It becomes a part of us. For we, through Grace, become what we believe.

Time has been fulfilled and the Kingdom of God has drawn near. And in this knowledge we begin our 40 days of Lent. Let each of us be driven, by the power of the Spirit, into whatever wilderness we have constructed for ourselves. Let us have the courage to be tempted by our own demons. Especially those demons we cling to! Let us have the courage and perseverance to confront and tame our own wild beasts and those not of our making. Through pray, fasting and acts of kindness let us grow closer to each other and so grow closer to God. In humility and trust let us be ministered to by God’s holy angels. And most of all, let the Holy Spirit remind us that in our darkest hour, at the heart of sacrifice and self-denial, perhaps even at the heart of suffering itself, lies hidden within, the joy and glory that is Easter.

 Repent and believe in the Gospel.