Today is the third Sunday in Lent, and today’s sermon looks at the themes and purpose of this season. In Lent, we are called to repent and return to the Lord our God, to recognize and turn away from our sin, and to turn instead towards God’s mercy and forgiveness.
The Scripture readings for this week are Isaiah 55:1-9, Psalm 63:1-8, 1 Corinthians 10:1-13, and Luke 13:1-9. For this sermon, I found helpful Timothy Siburg’s lectionary preaching thoughts, and Working Preacher commentaries from Jeremy Williams, Matt Skinner, and Ronald Allen.
Two weeks ago, Christin asked me to give a brief introduction to the season of Lent to the Sunday School kids, and I realized that even though most weeks I mention in worship what church season we’re in—as I said, today is the third Sunday in the season of Lent—I don’t know that I’ve ever spent time in a sermon talking about what Lent is, what the point of this season is.
The short version—what I told the kids—is that Lent is the 40 days leading up to Easter. It’s forty days as a symbolic reminder of Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness, the story we always hear on the first weekend in Lent.
The idea is not that we are supposed to spend 40 days getting tempted, but that by taking 40 days to prepare, we will have a deeper appreciation of what Jesus has done for us, what his sacrifice for us on the cross and his victory over death mean.
More specifically, Lent is a season of penitence, a season for us to honestly face our sins and our failings. It’s an opportunity for us to admit the things we’ve done wrong and the things we’ve failed to do, not so we wallow in our sin and sink into despair, but so that we realize just how great our need for a Savior is.
If you want to get technical about it, there are actually 46 days between Ash Wednesday and Easter, not 40, but Sundays don’t count because each Sunday is a celebration of Easter, and the focus shifts from our penitence to the joy we have that God has forgiven our sins. Even as we confess, we remember the good news that through Jesus, forgiveness has already been won for us Each Sunday, even in Lent, we hear again the promise of absolution.
During Lent, there are traditionally three emphases, three areas of spiritual focus: Fasting, giving, and prayer.
Fasting is probably the most familiar Lenten theme. It’s the “giving up” something for the season, going without something, whether it’s meat, or chocolate, or social media, or whatever.
Unfortunately, especially in pop culture, Lenten fasting often gets turned into things like dieting or self-improvement, like “I’ll give up not going to the gym for 40 days!” Going to the gym more is good, I suppose, but Lent’s spiritual focus is not about self-improvement or even self-care—it’s all about our relationship with God.
We model these forty days after the forty days Jesus spent in the wilderness, fasting and preparing for his public ministry. The purpose of fasting is to drop something from your life in order to rely more on God.
By giving up food, we realize our complete dependence on God to provide for us. By giving up an activity, we create space to notice what God is doing in our lives.
The second traditional Lenten practice is alms-giving, generosity. Since our giving and our generosity is always in response to God’s generosity towards us, it makes sense that in a season of paying more attention to God, we would feel called to give more in response. And of course, we have lots of opportunities to give.
At the Wednesday services, we’re receiving offerings to pass on to Butler County Visions of Wellbeing and ELCA World Hunger, and last week we talked about giving to support refugees from Ukraine. This weekend, we’re dedicating quilts and kits for Lutheran World Relief—lots of opportunities to practice generosity.
Then the third Lenten emphasis is prayer. Again, this is about intentionally noticing what God has done for us, and expressing our appreciation for Jesus’ sacrifice by spending time in conversation with God.
Fasting, giving, and prayer are all part of our Lenten practices, but Lent’s primary theme is repentance. It’s the verse we sing on Sundays in Lent as the Gospel acclamation: “Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.”
This season is a call for us to examine our lives and return to God. We prepare to celebrate Jesus’ death and resurrection by repenting. The Greek word for repentance is “metanoia” which literally means to turn around, to turn away from yourself and towards God.
It’s realizing you’re heading down the wrong road and turning around to go the other way. Repentance is about aligning ourselves with God, getting on the path where God is leading us.
All of today’s readings have this call to repentance.
In Isaiah, it’s a positive invitation. Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters. There is enough for everyone, and there’s no need for money. Come to the Lord and the Lord will provide. Listen to God’s word, live God’s way, and live.
Isaiah calls for the wicked to change their ways, and to return to the Lord, because the Lord is loving and merciful. Why spend your money on things that won’t satisfy you? Why waste your time and effort on things that are temporary? Whatever this world seems to have to offer, God’s kingdom is better. Return to the Lord your God.
It’s a positive invitation in Psalm 63 too. Do you feel like your soul is thirsting, like your flesh is fainting, like you’re wandering through a dry and weary land with no water? Seek the Lord, and your soul will be satisfied. We cling to God, and God upholds us.
The same invitation to repentance is in 1 Corinthians and Luke, although it’s not quite as positive; it’s a little more threatening even. Isaiah calls us to “Seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near.” Don’t delay; return to the Lord while you have the chance. Don’t take God’s forgiveness for granted.
In 1 Corinthians, Paul warns us not to test God’s patience. “If you think you are standing, watch out that you do not fall.” Sin is a real thing, and it’s dangerous. God lets us choose to continue on the wrong path, lets us keep going down the road of selfishness and sin. If we want to experiment, God will let us find out that sin has consequences.
In Luke, Jesus teaches something similar. Hearing about tragedies, like some people from Galilee brutally killed by the Roman governor Pilate and 18 people tragically killed by a collapsing tower, Jesus refuses to engage in the game we so often play when we hear of tragedies, the game of debating whether they somehow deserved what happened to them. The bad things happening, says Jesus, are not meant as a particular punishment from God.
But, they do serve as a warning for us that life is short. Life is fragile. It’s the message we began this Lenten season with: “Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” Whether in some tragic, dramatic way or not, eventually our earthly lives will come to an end, and we don’t know when. So, the time to repent is now.
Repenting won’t prevent bad things from happening, but it will prepare us for whatever we experience.
Jesus tells a parable about a fig tree that’s failing to bear good fruit, but rather than cutting it down, the owner and the gardener agree to be merciful, to give it one more year, another chance to be what it’s supposed to be.
What is the good fruit in the story? It’s the consequences of repentance, the results of aligning our lives with God’s.
It’s not about earning our way to heaven by getting enough good marks on the tally sheet to make up for our sins or anything like that; it’s about recognizing our need for God, repenting, and appreciating the incredible gift of grace God has given to us.
Return to the Lord your God. Live as a citizen of God’s kingdom. Give your heart to God.
As we continue on our Lenten journey, may this season be a time for you to reflect on your life, to examine your priorities, to decide how to use the time God has given you, and to give thanks for God’s grace. Return to the Lord your God, who is gracious and merciful.
Let us pray.
Almighty God, thank you for the invitation to repent, to return to you. Thank you for coming after us when we go down the wrong path, for not giving up on us. We are sorry for the sins we commit when we turn away from you. We repent, and we turn to you, trusting in the grace and love shown in Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord.
Amen