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1^st SUNDAY IN LENT

Several threads conjoin our lessons for this Sunday. First, for example, the theme of Scripture looms central in the hymn of Psalm 91 which includes the very words that Satan will misquote in his attempt to gain an upper hand on Jesus in Luke 4 and to which Jesus himself will appeal to in his rebuffing of Satan. Trust in God’s faithfulness is another theme that surfaces in these lesson-in Deuteronomy 26, for instance, and the temptation to distrust God’s faithfulness that forms the core of the temptations.

PSALM 91:1-2, 9-16-IN THE SHADOW OF GOD’S WINGS

What an inspiring GreatIsThyFaithfulness hymn of trust and confidence! No wonder this psalm has inspired courage in people venturing into perilous places -whether onto battlefields or entering surgery. The psalm offers unqualified divine protection and guidance for the righteous. The psalm divides into three coherent parts: vv. 1-10 offers assurance and protection to those in danger; vv. 11-13 speak of God’s angels who will protect in times of warfare or pestilence or danger from wild beasts; and vv. 14-16 shifts to the 1st person singular assuring the supplicant of God’s constant, continual, and faithful protection.

DEUTERONOMY 26:1-11-CELEBRATING BOUNTY: FIRST FRUIT OFFERINGS

This lesson includes instructions for the offering of thanksgiving to the God who promises and provides. In part, this passage describes an early worship service in which the worshiper returns a central worship place to offer a portion of God’s abundant blessing from the harvest of crops. Liturgically, the worshiper recalls God’s fulfilled promise of land and bounty; the priest then receives the goods and places them on the altar before the divine presence. Now the priest responds: "A wandering Aramean was my ancestor . . . "

ROMANS 10:8b-13-CALLING ON THE NAME OF THE LORD

This is an early-perhaps even pre-Pauline-Christian confession that describes faith in Christ and the resurrection as both an internal conviction and outward verbalization. The confession of "Jesus is Lord," conspicuously locates Israel’s God in/with Jesus since Paul equates calling out, "Jesus is Lord" and calling upon the name of the Lord (Joel 2:32) as one and the same. This may have formed part of an early baptismal affirmation that would have immediately preceded the baptism of a new convert.

LUKE 4:1-13-THE THREE TEMPTATIONS OF CHRIST

In this section of Luke’s gospel, Satan and Jesus are locked in combat out on the eremos. The context of this lesson follows immediately Luke’s lineage of Jesus that moves behind Jewish genealogical lines all the way to back to humanity’s beginning. Jesus rises from his baptism in water with the descent of the Spirit (v. 14) and he will end the temptations "filled with the power of the Spirit" (v. 14); but in the meantime, however, in this Sunday’s lesson, Jesus will face-and successfully repel-the temptations that seek to shortcut his journey to free humanity from the present evil age.