Last week Jesus got the thumbs up and those present were told to listen to Him as the time for Him to be betrayed and put to death came near. Well today we are reminded of the ‘thumbs up’ given at the start of it all. A helpful reminded of the nature of Jesus’ ministry. Add to this the Holy Spirit getting into the act and you’ll see the commitment of the Godhead (the Trinity) – and so commissioned, Jesus goes off into the wilderness to encounter the enemy.
Perhaps this is a good time to point out that one commissioned and following the party, the battle is engaged with. Take a look at the Bible and you’ll find commissioning in the shape of calling, covenants made and anointing. Is this not the same for us with Lent? Pancakes and full bellies give way to mortality and Ash and the enemy within (sin) is engaged with.
Jesus, filled with the Spirit, goes off to begin the war – but we must take care not to consider Jesus, the man, filled and now charismatic or Pentecostal and made more than He already was. This is adoption and is no more an error than that of considering Mary to be co-redemptrix (she and Jesus sharing the salvation of the world). It's just plain wrong!
We are called to battle against satan. God made man comes to overturn the rule of sin and the penalty of death (sin’s power) and we, His followers, take up that mission by accepting His call and the victory won for us. But faith is not a safe place or lifestyle, we contend with the things that oppose God around us, and in this Lent we especially consider that back within our own lives.
And Peter helps to remind us as he reminds us of the power of the Christ’s death for us and the reconciliation with the Godhead that this makes real for us. Eternal life is ours in a sacrifice that was made ‘once for all’. But we must not lose the trials and temptations that daily came knocking at Jesus’ door in the shadow of the Cross. That one final act was encountered after a journey whose path was paved with trials, temptations and conflict (right from the start).
So what do we make of Noah being added to our readings today? What is there in this for us?
Could it be that Noah in the covenant between him and God after the flood something important is being communicated? I think so, because God in this we get a sign that God will never again take direct action as God. No matter what, He’s going to stand back from reaching down and moving things or doing stuff to make it work like He might like.
So if God cannot directly act as God (and He can't because He's made this a covenant promise) then He has to leave the job to man, but not just any man but a man without sin, a man who will make the invisible God visible: Jesus!
And this makes for us a full circle moment as in this completeness of the readings combined we find something consistent and comforting for us.
The Collect
Almighty God, whose Son Jesus Christ fasted forty days in the wilderness, and was tempted as we are, yet without sin: give us grace to discipline ourselves in obedience to your Spirit; and, as you know our weakness, so may we know your power to save; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Genesis 9.8-17
‘I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you and with every living creature that was with you – the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you – every living creature on earth. I establish my covenant with you: never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.’
And God said, ‘This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.’
So God said to Noah, ‘This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth.’
1 Peter 3.18-22
Christ also suffered once for sins.
The one who did what is right suffered for those who don’t do right.
He suffered to bring you to God. His body was put to death. But the Holy Spirit brought him back to life. After that, Christ went and made an announcement to the spirits in prison. Long ago these spirits did not obey.
That was when God was patient while Noah was building the ark. And only a few people went into the ark. In fact, there were only eight. Those eight people were saved through water. The water of the flood is a picture. It is a picture of the baptism that now saves you too.
This baptism has nothing to do with removing dirt from your body. Instead, it promises God that you will keep a clear sense of right and wrong. This baptism saves you by the same power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead. He has gone into heaven. He is at God’s right hand. Angels, authorities and powers are under his control.
Mark 1.9-15
At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptised by John in the Jordan. Just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: ‘You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.’
At once the Spirit sent him out into the wilderness, and he was in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him.
After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. ‘The time has come,’ he said. ‘The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!’
Post Communion Prayer
Lord God, you have renewed us with the living bread from heaven; by it you nourish our faith, increase our hope, and strengthen our love: teach us always to hunger for him who is the true and living bread, and enable us to live by every word that proceeds from out of your mouth; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
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