Sunday before Lent

Exodus 24.13-18; 2 Peter 1.16-21; Matthew 17.1-9

Today as we come to the Sunday before Lent our readings take a different turn. It's a pity that we couldn't stay to the conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount. But Lent is at hand now and we need to focus the mind and heart more closely on what is in front of us in this coming season.

We've been listening to Jesus' teaching and thinking about our response to it. The teaching is directed to each and every one of us to help us undertand more fully what is required of us as Jesus' disciples. And it is with this in mind that we enter the Lenten season, a season of reflection. We didn't finish the Sermon; there's the final chapter, chapter 7 of St. Matthew's gospel with the conclusion which is the very well known parable about building on rock and on sand; and that those who hear Jesus' words and act on them are like the man who built his house on rock and nothing could topple it because it's foundation was so strong. When we build our life on Jesus teaching, not only listening to it but living our lives in accordance with it then we build a strong foundation to our life so that the devil and all his works can't, finally, move us.

But we have to act. Just listening is no good. Earlier in that chapter 7 Jesus says that 'not every one who calls me Lord, Lord, will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but only those who do the will of my Father'. Coming to church, listening to the Word of God, doing our Bible study isn't enough. We might be intellectually and emotionally convinced and firm believers in Jesus Christ. But that belief is no good if it isn't transformed into action, if it doesn't show forth the Good News in our own lives to others; and if it doesn't build up the Body of Christ, the Church and the Kingdom of God.

And so with this message we look forward now to moving into Lent and beginning to think more seriously still about our relationship with God; what God means to us in our lives and in the world. We are being called in the season of Lent to think about how we as Christians can become more Christ-like and play our part in bringing in the Kingdom of God. And we are called to do that especially through an enhanced spiritual discipline of prayer, fasting and almsgiving.

We heard about these three disciplines in Jesus' Sermon on the Mount and we discovered that Jesus seemed to take it for granted that these were already part of his disciples life. You'll remember that He said 'when you pray....; when you fast....; when you give alms...' And so it must be with us too if we count ourselvs as Christ's disciples. Unfortunately in this day and age, we tend to live our Christian life as though it's simply another aspect of our life; something we do alongside all the other aspects of our life. We forget that our Christian life is meant to fashion and shape and colour all that we do. Our Christian life is meant to be the start, middle and end of the whole of our life, containing everything else that we have, do and are in life. And so when we begin to live our life in this way then these spiritual disciplines become an essential feature of our life, all through the year but especially in this time of Lent. Because it's through this prayer, fasting and almsgiving that we come closer to God, that we become more Christ-like; we begin to put God's will before our own will; and we grow into God and see and know His presence.

But this is a very hard task. Growing into God, becoming Christ-like, putting God's will before our own will means that we have to put to death the 'self', the ego that demands constantly to put itself first, before God. The whole point of prayer, fasting and almsgiving is to turn this around so that we can say along with Christ, 'not my will but thy will be done'. And as I said, it is a difficult task, very difficult indeed. And so the Church gives us this yearly opportunity of 40 days to try again to turn ourselves to God; to repent in the truest sense of the word; to make real what we promised in our baptism, for some of us so long ago, to turn to Christ and submit ourselves to His will.

Knowing that this is a very hard task, the Church, today, in our readings, sets before us the destination towards which Lent is the journey. And the destination of course is Easter and the resurrection and the vision of Christ glorified. There's a very real sense in which as we come to do God's will, as we become more and more Christ-like then we see much more the glory of God, and we see that in Christ Himself. And so we read today of the time when Jesus took His three closest disciples up a mountain and before them He was transfigured. They saw His glory. It's significant that He did this just before He set off on His journey towards His crucifixion. Those disciples needed something to help see them through the ordeal that lay before all of them. Even then, having seen this they in some ways failed to keep up, the task was so difficult. But maybe because they had this foretaste of the fuller glory to come they were able at least to hold out to the conclusion in spite of all the hardship.

And so this is what the message is for us today; for Lent and for the whole of our Christian journey. We see Jesus transfigured and it's a promise if you like of the glory to come; the glory of God we will see in all its fullness if we will hold out until the end. As we come to this season of Lent, let us go into it determined to make the best use of this opportunity to come to know God more and to turn to Christ and submit to Him anew.