1st Sunday of Lent, Year B: homily by Fr Isaac Chima

Theme: Lent: a time of covenant renewal

Reading: Gen 9:8–15; 1Pt 3:18–22: Mk 1:12–15

Dear friends in Christ, the season of Lent is a special time of preparation for the celebration of the Paschal Mysteries through the spiritual exercises of prayer, fasting and almsgiving. It is a time when Christians are invited to renew their covenant with God by approaching the sacrament of reconciliation, confessing their sins and reclaiming their sanctity to be able to encounter the risen Lord.

The first reading of today showed us God’s covenant with Noah after the deluge. This was God’s second covenant with humanity, the first was with Adam and Eve. When the first covenant was broken due to man’s disobedience to God, the entire creation was thrown into a long period of crisis and sin, which led to the destruction of the world with the flood by God. Of all families in the world, only that of Noah survived the flood and was, consequently, chosen by God for the new covenant that will include all generations. This covenant was sealed with the sign of a rainbow. The presence of the rainbow in the sky in our own world these days is a visible reminder that we all had a covenant with God through Noah.

It is good to note the reason why Noah was chosen by God to be the bearer of the second covenant. He was chosen because he never allowed the wave of evil that surrounded him to corrupt him. He lived in a sinful city, a city where everyone lived sinful life, but in the midst of sin and corruption that surrounded him and dominated the world of his time, Noah chose uprightness and lived according to it. Like Noah, we who live in a world where sin, corruption and the lure of evil surround us are challenged to choose uprightness and resist evil.

In the second reading, St Peter informed us that the water of the deluge during the time of Noah, which cleansed the world of evil, prefigured the water of Baptism with which the new people of Israel (Christians) enter into a new covenant with the Risen Jesus. Just as the water of the flood during the time of Noah cleansed the world of evil and brought forth a new human generation, the water of baptism cleanses the baptized from sin and reborns them into new creatures in Christ, making them partakers of the new covenant in Christ and coheirs of life eternal. The water of baptism becomes the visible sign of the new covenant with Christ, the Resurrection-Covenant.

In the gospel reading of today, we were told that after Jesus’ baptism, He was led to the desert to prepare for public ministry. Towards the end of His prayer and fasting, the devil tempted Him. What does this teach us? It teaches that all of us who have been baptized into the new covenant of Christ have a battle we must face before we enter life eternal. This battle is against temptations and sins in this world. Before we reach life eternal, the heritage reserved for all the baptized, we must prove ourselves worthy against temptations and sins, just as Noah did. Victory over temptation and sin keeps our covenant in Christ intact.

The season of Lent equips us with wonderful spiritual exercises with which to renew our baptismal covenant with Jesus, spiritual exercises that fortify us in order to defeat the devil and his temptations. These exercises are prayer, fasting, almsgiving, Stations of the Cross, retreats, sacramental confession, closeness to the word of God by studying the bible always, the rosary and participation at Masses. Let us make good use of these wonderful opportunities the spiritual exercises this year’s Lent offer us.

Peace be with you. Happy Sunday

Fr Isaac Chinemerem Chima