As in the days of Old....1st Sunday of Lent 2024

As in the days of Old….

Lent 1st Sunday

Following the format I used for the Sundays of Advent, we will look at the many reasons and plans God set forth to take upon himself and send his only Son to redeem what was being lost in the Old Testament.

The Prophet Isaiah was living at a time when the northern kingdom was besieged by Assyria and is a forerunner of the very scenario we live in today.  “Hear, O heavens, and listen, O earth, for the Lord speaks:  Sons I have raised and reared, but they have disowned me!  An ox knows its owner, and an ass, its master's manger; But Israel does not know, my people have not understood.  This was occurring in the eighth century BC.  History has not changed very much even to this 21st century A D.  (cf Is 1: 2 - 3).  

Isaiah was called in an attempt to bring God’s word and forbearance to a drifting nation:  “Woe is me, I am doomed!  For I am a man of unclean lips, living among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts!”  Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send?  Who will go for us?”  “Here I am;” I said: “send me!”  (Is 6: 5 - 6).

A remnant of God’s justice is called to bring to his people a sign of certain forgiveness that would be theirs if they would believe and follow his Suffering  and the manner of seeking everlasting peace with him.   (cf suffering Servant Songs in Isaiah). 

“In the days to come the mount of the Lord’s house shall be established higher than the mountains:  It shall rise high above the hills, and people shall stream to it:  Many nations shall come, and say, “Come, let us climb the mount of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may instruct us in his ways, that we may walk in his paths.”  “For from Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.  He shall judge between many peoples and impose terms on strong and distant nations; They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; one nation shall not raise the sword against another, nor shall they train for war again.”  (Mi 4: 1 - 3).  

Words of peace that are yet to become a reality once Christ returns at the final battle after the Rapture of the Church.  Until then, we must seek the task that is given to us awaiting our willingness to pick up our cross and daily carry it to our own Calvary through suffering and martyrdom of our sins.  That is what Lenten observation is all about.

As was mentioned in the theme of Ash Wednesday, refusal of material items is not what God calls for.  It is mercy and forgiveness as written in the Book of Hosea:  “For it is love that I desire, not sacrifice, and knowledge of God rather than holocausts.”  (Hos 6: 6).

Ralph B. Hathaway