The First Sunday in Lent: So many false starts, so many false prophets
The First Sunday in Lent
Genesis 9:8-17; 1 Peter 3:18-22; Mark 1:9-13; Psalm 25 or 25:3-9
Say to them,
say to the down-keepers,
the sun-slappers,
the self-soilers,
the harmony-hushers,
"Even if you are not ready for day, it cannot always be night."
You will be right.
--Gwendolyn Brooks
We began this long, slow walk with Jesus, up to the mountain, on Wednesday. We are getting used to our disciplines and maybe questioning the sanity of our choices. We are standing in the doorway of Lent, between the festival seasons of Epiphany and Easter. Doorways are hard places to stand for long. We must either go in, or go out, the choice to stay in the between times is not a workable option. When I think about doorway time, it’s easy for me to imagine Noah and his family, surrounded by the menagerie in the Ark. Noah had days of doorway time, just like Jesus, just like the Disciples, just like us…we are in good company, my friends.
When Noah sent out the Dove, after sending out the Crow, he must have been a little afraid. I’m sure he was tired of being in cramped quarters, and no one needs too much of an imagination to guess at the family spats that must have ensued after all that quality time together. I don’t think it’s coincidental that the story of actually being on the boat is scanty, at best. That’s just good editing. But can you begin to imagine his relief, his intense gratitude, his sheer happiness when he saw the Dove returning to the Ark with that olive branch in her mouth? Surely he must have taken a deep breath, the first really deep breath he had taken in a long, long time, and began to prepare himself, his family, and the whole menagerie to walk through the doorway of the Ark.
When the Disciples found themselves standing on the bank of the Jordan, I imagine they must have felt that same chest-tightening anxiety Noah felt when he let his little white bird fly out the window of the Ark. The Disciples, and generations before them, had been standing in the doorway of waiting…waiting for deliverance, again…waiting for the Messiah. So many false starts, so many false prophets, so many exiles, so many dashed hopes. And then, in a flash, from the windows of Heaven, this time, came the Dove to once again bring them the sign of life from the Living God. “This is my Son, my Beloved…”. And like Noah, I imagine the Disciples took their first deep breaths in many days and walked through the doorway of waiting into the very Kingdom of God.
--Rachel
