Sunday February 21 – First Sunday in Lent

So far we’ve spent a lot of time talking about “the mess we’re in” and how Lent is about recognizing that.  We read yesterday about how Jesus humbled himself even to the point of death on a cross and how we are called to emulate that humility.

This mess  and this call to being like Jesus is a hard task.  It seems daunting especially because the more we try to follow him the more we seem to fall.  But fear not, failure is not the end.  Just as Paul’s description of Jesus’ humility doesn’t end with the cross so our journey doesn’t end in staying in our mess.

Let’s look at the same passage we read yesterday but continue a little further.

Philippians 2:1-11

If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,

who, though he was in the form of God,

did not regard equality with God

as something to be exploited,

but emptied himself,

taking the form of a slave,

being born in human likeness.

And being found in human form,

he humbled himself

and became obedient to the point of death–

even death on a cross.

Therefore God also highly exalted him

and gave him the name

that is above every name,

so that at the name of Jesus

every knee should bend,

in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

and every tongue should confess

that Jesus Christ is Lord,

to the glory of God the Father.

In Christian tradition every Sunday is a little mini-Easter.  We gather together to remember the resurrection and to celebrate the full work of Christ.  In this passage we get a glimpse of where our Lenten journey is taking us.  Yes, it is taking us to the cross and but it is also taking us beyond that.  It is taking us to Easter Sunday – the day we fully celebrate the resurrection of Christ.

To truly get to Easter we must walk the way of the cross these 40 days.  We must remember the mess that we are in and we must remember continue to say no to our self-will.  Sure the task seems daunting and we seem that we will always fall, but the bible continues to assure us that it can be done.  Jesus us calls us to perfection (Matthew 5:48) and though it may be a long way off that is the goal to which we strive.  Lent reminds us that Christian perfection comes through denying our self and taking up our cross.

Let us celebrate the resurrection today as we get a glimpse of the glory of Easter in the midst of this Lenten Journey.

Amen.