Sermon on the 1th Sunday in Lent  March 6, 2022 ’t Goy and Odijk

Dear brothers and sisters, today on this first Sunday of Lent, the annual quarantine begins for us as preparation for Easter. Many of us have been in quarantine in the past two years because of the Coronavirus. Either we had contracted the virus ourselves or we had been in contact with someone who was infected.
We now also understand better why the church voluntarily goes into a kind of quarantine. That is to go to Easter every year with a pure heart. To become aware of habits and thoughts that stand in the way of our relationship with Jesus and God and our fellow man, and to break with them and distance themselves from them.
Lent is a joint quarantine. For none of us want to give the impression that we are not bothered by any temptations at all. That is why we do not abandon each other but on the contrary encourage each other through this joint quarantine. That is why Jesus also begins his mission to proclaim the Good News with a quarantine in the desert *). He did not declare himself immune from sin in advance, but he endured the temptations that can separate a man from God with an open mind. As a real human being. In solidarity and communion with all mankind.
First of all, he was tempted to want to live a life without want and without compassion for the neighbor in need, by always being assured of material prosperity. He rejected this evil impulse with: “man does not live by bread alone”. Furthermore, the temptation to exercise power and to be sole ruler instead of serving and to ask God’s will in all circumstances: “It is written, Thou shalt be the Lord thy God, and him alone.” And finally the temptation of wanting to be invulnerable before God and man, kind of narcistic, instead of living by trust and as friends: “It is said, Thou shalt not put the Lord thy God to the test.” These three temptations actually encompass all temptations that can befall a person. Jesus resisted them. Not with magical incantations or superhuman effort, but as an obedient student in the school of life and suffering. For, as we heard, he answered all three temptations with a simple word of Scripture.
If Jesus voluntarily went into quarantine and did not turn his nose up for really being human, let us also enter this Lent with confidence with each other.
The first preface of Lent mentions the three most important characteristics and goals of Lent: “This is a time of greater devotion to prayer, a time of greater attention to one’s neighbor, a time of greater fidelity to the sacraments in which we were born”. In this way, the church celebrates Lent as worthwhile and positive . We as believers are not asked to look around a little anxiously all the time to see what temptations are coming our way. No, it is precisely by saying yes to God through prayer, by saying yes to our neighbor in need, by saying yes to Jesus and the community of faith, by saying yes to the living tradition of the Church, that is exactly how we discover again the joy of what it means to believe and be children of God. Just do the things we normally do: pray, do something for our neighbor, participate in the life of the community of faith and the whole church.
How can we do what we normally do more consciously and perhaps better? Maybe not even by going the extra mile. May be we’re already doing enough. First of all we can do it by acting more consciously and with more love and dedication. Breaking the routine and thoughtlessness. We can easily do that if we act like it’s the first time with everything. Like it’s completely new. Just as a loved one’s kiss still reminds of the first time and in all fairness it is no different. For example by remembering how you first personally learned to pray the Lord’s Prayer, the Hail Mary, how you experienced First Communion, how you foregoing luxury for the first time in order to be able to assist someone in need. By recalling how you first lived Lent as a quarantine on your way to Easter, full of desire to be a person after God’s own heart. How new and nice and inspiring that was and is.
Moreover, although Lent is a tradition and the words and rituals are the same, every year is different. This year we celebrate in fear of a World War **), in the two previous years in the middle of the Corona time that made normal contacts, even church attendance impossible. So every Lent is different. And in our personal lives events have also happened, some happy others sad. All this means that the surviving words and rituals are always new. All this gives us a new feeling, kind of testing negative, so that we can indeed approach Easter with a pure heart. And that we may joyfully renew the faith of our baptism, as children of God, as first fruits of the new creation. Amen

Martin Los pr.

*) Gospel of the first sunday in Lent: Lukas 4:1-13
**) Wel will always remember the atrocities of war in Ukraine at te beginning of this Lent 2022