 |
The Archdiocese of Cincinnati Main Page || The Catholic Telegraph || Live Letters index |
Live
Letters First Sunday of
Lent |
The Catholic Telegraph
March 2, 2001During lent our live letters again enter into relationship with the other readings. We no longer have a series of selections from one single letter for several weeks in a row. Instead, the second readings are sometimes chosen to highlight the first reading which, for the first five weeks of lent, is a review of Old Testament salvation history. Sometimes they highlight the gospel reading which is concerned with the lenten themes of baptism, repentance, and preparation for the observance of the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus.
Today’s second reading reflects the theme of the first reading. In this week’s first reading from Deuteronomy we learn that worth in God’s eyes was constituted by being a member of the Jewish people and by deliberately attaching oneself to the history of that people, being or becoming a participant in what God did for them. In our second reading, we learn that, with Christ, a new criterion of identity or membership came into play.
In this part of Romans Paul has been reflecting on the relationship of Jews and Gentiles with God’s plan of salvation. No longer is observance of the rules and regulations of the Old Law required for salvation. Now it is faith in Christ that makes us acceptable to God. This is not to say that Jews are excluded from saving grace and holiness, but that access to salvation comes to us all through the acceptance of Jesus as Lord and Messiah. Paul seeks to demonstrate his point by citing passages from the Old Testament to show that God’s present plan was already foreseen in the former covenant.
As our passage begins he quotes Deuteronomy (30.14) to the effect that God’s approach to us, His word, is not something far away but already in our mouths and in our hearts. Then he says that the word that Deuteronomy was speaking of was the word of faith in Christ that he, Paul, had been sent to proclaim. If we believe in our hearts what Paul preached about the death and resurrection of Jesus and openly profess the belief that Jesus is Lord of heaven and earth, we shall be saved or justified. That’s how salvation comes to us!
Then he offers another quote, this one from Isaiah (28.16) which he had already used at the end of chapter nine: "No one who believes in him will be put to shame." This quotation says two things: first, that it is belief that brings security (i.e., salvation); second, that belief brings security (i.e., salvation) for everybody.
It is this second idea that Paul develops now. Belief in the Lord Jesus is the source of salvation for everybody, Jew and non-Jew alike. The same Lord enriches all believers. You don’t have to be a Jew to be saved, but if you are a Jew, your salvation comes in the same way it comes to the Gentiles: through faith.
Finally, by way of summary, still another Old Testament quotation (Joel 3.5) that reflects Isaiah: it is calling on the name of the Lord that brings salvation for everyone without exception.
This reading from Romans, chosen as a commentary on the Old Testament reading for this Sunday, is also highly appropriate for the first Sunday of Lent. Lent is a time of rededication and redirection for Christian believers and of final preparation for those who will enter the Church at Easter, and this reading is about the very fundamentals of our Christian life.
We are not Christian believers because we have carried out certain ritual observances nor because we observe certain rules and regulations. We are Christian believers because of our faith in Christ, i.e., our acceptance of the truth of His teaching and our response to His offer to us of participation in His life here and hereafter. We are Christian believers because we acknowledge that Jesus is Lord. It is this commitment of ourselves to Him in mind and heart that gives our life its basic meaning and direction. Everything else about us is secondary.
But being in Christ is not just a private and secret arrangement between us and Him. It is a relationship that we are called to profess, to manifest in ways that other people can see and hear, that other people can imitate. We profess our faith in lots of different ways. The most basic is our membership in the new people of God that we call the Church. We also profess our faith by the way in which we carry out its demands in our social life, in our work, in our recreation. Our willingness to talk about our faith with non-believers and to let them perceive what the lordship of Jesus means to us are also ways in which we profess our faith. Each of us probably also has his or her own special ways of proclaiming our faith, connected with the specifics of our individual human existence. But external profession must be there if the faith that is in our hearts is to have any meaning.
Lent is a time of reflection and renewal for Catholic Christians. It’s a good time to think about what we believe, and how we believe, and why we believe. It’s a good time, too, to review the ways in which we profess what we believe.
###
Conversation Questions
What does it mean to me to say, "Jesus is Lord?"
In what specific ways do I profess my faith?
###
Main Page
|| The Catholic Telegraph || Live Letters index
Copyright © 2001 Archdiocese of Cincinnati.