First Sunday in Lent, March 9, 2025: Deuteronomy 26:1-11; Romans 10:8b-13; Luke 4:1-13; Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16
As I was reading this week’s lessons, I was struck by the inclusion of Psalm 91. About thirty years ago, I led my a series on the psalms at my church. I remember an elderly church member who told me this was his favorite psalm. A man of great faith, Bob found “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
abides under the shadow of the Almighty” enormously comforting. And this is a psalm I have come to love. It is a psalm of great comfort. So why, I wondered this week, are we reading it on the first Sunday of Lent, a time that I don’t usually associate with comfort?
After all, in the passage from Deuteronomy, the Lord tells the people of Israel to remember their suffering, and make an offering of thanks that it is over. “A wandering Aramean was my ancestor; he went down into Egypt and lived there as an alien. . . the Egyptians treated us harshly and afflicted us”. Yes, God delivered them, but not before “affliction” and “oppression”.
And then there is the Gospel. Jesus has just had a powerful experience when being baptized, where “the heaven was opened” and the voice of God recognizes Jesus as his son, “the beloved, with you I am well pleased.” So what happens next? The “spirit” leads Jesus into the wilderness, and he is tempted by Satan. In two of those temptations, Satan wants Jesus to test God: “if you are the Son of God”, you can do these things. And Jesus refuses.
How often when terrible things happen do we say, “why me?” We pray for help, often for some miraculous event to protect us from grief, pain or loss. Sometimes we try to bargain with God: if you do this, I will do that. Yet the message of these readings is that we cannot escape hard things. They will happen. The Israelites were enslaved in Egypt. Jesus was tempted, and later was executed. His disciples were all executed for preaching the Gospel. Somehow, even those who dwell in the shelter of the most high suffer. That shelter may be less immediate than the words might suggest.
We live in a world where bad things regularly happen to those who have loved God. Does God not love the children killed in a school shooting? Why do some people die of cancer and not others? Fires, floods, war and famine are notoriously indiscriminate in their killing. As we look around, we know that suffering is common and not a response to individual merits or failures. And what Jesus reminds us in today’s Gospel is that our response should not be to test God: if you love me then you will do X. Instead, our response is to remember that God will be with us whatever happens.
This helps me think about why Bob loved Psalm 91. He was probably in his 70s at the time, a man of mixed Native American and Black ancestry. He had seen more than his share of suffering and grief. Life had not been easy. The promise that “he who dwells in the shelter of the Most High abides under the shadow of the Almighty” is a comfort. We are not protected from pain and grief, but we are not alone in it. The words of the spiritual, “I want Jesus to walk with me”, sum this up:
I want Jesus to walk with me;
I want Jesus to walk with me;
All along my pilgrim journey,
Lord, I want Jesus to walk with me.
In my trials, Lord, walk with me;
In my trials, Lord, walk with me;
When my heart is almost breaking,
Lord, I want Jesus to walk with me.
When I’m troubled, Lord, walk with me;
When I’m troubled, Lord, walk with me;
When my head is bowed in sorrow,
Lord, I want Jesus to walk with me.
Lent is a time when we try to focus our lives so that we listen to God. But it’s not just about giving up chocolate, or wine, or dessert. When we listen to God, we know that we are loved by God, not because we have done something special, or are special. It is because of the promise that we are saved. It does not mean our lives are easy, any more than Jesus’ was. It does mean we are not alone. Jesus walks with us.
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