The First Sunday of Lent
“Remember me according to your love…” Psalm 25:4
How do you remember?
How do you remember your past?
Your childhood?
Your relationships?
Your successes and failures?
In this week’s lectionary readings, the psalmist prays that God “remember not the sins of my youth and my transgressions; remember me according to your love.” I know that the way I remember the past affects the way I will act in the present. I find in each story this week examples of how we can remember according to God’s love.
In the story of Noah, the early Jews made sense of a huge natural disaster, the flood. They remember this event as an act of God that ended with a covenant, the covenant to never destroy the earth again. God is seen as benevolent, compassionate, and forgiving. I can imagine that after a major flood, it would have been much easier to see God as vengeful and hateful.
In Peter’s Epistle, we find the early church making sense of the death of Jesus. Again, I can imagine it would have been easy for them to understand Jesus’ death in negative ways; but, they chose instead to understand that, “Christ suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God.”
In Mark’s gospel, Jesus is baptized and then, “the spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness.” I understand from this that temptation isn’t something we can avoid, but very much an important part of our life in Christ. Our baptism leads us into temptation, in order that we can be purified and integrated with Christ. I can remember my trials and temptations as events that I wish had happened differently; or, I can understand them as key points in my life that brought me closer to God.
“All the paths of the Lord are love and faithfulness to those who keep his covenant and his testimonies.” Psalm 25:9