51st Sunday of Lent
Deuteronomy 26:4-10 Lk 4:1-13
When it comes to God’s goodness to us we often have short memories.
The Book of Deuteronomy is all about remembering. The book remembers
the Israelites’ 40 years of journeying in the desert, focusing on God’s
covenant love and protection of the people. But did you know that it was
written about 600 years after the actual events? Those earliest
listeners to the text also needed reminding their ancient history and about God's loving mercy.When it comes to God’s goodness to us we often have short memories. The Book of Deuteronomy is all about remembering. The book remembers the Israelites’ 40 years of journeying in the desert, focusing on God’s covenant love and protection of the people. But did you know that it was written about 600 years after the actual events? Those earliest listeners to the text also needed reminding their ancient history and about God's loving mercy.
The writing of Deuteronomy was completed during the Babylonian Exile, a time in which the Israelites had no land and no temple, when they lived under foreign rule. The author of Deuteronomy wanted to remind the people that, in spite of all their hardships and infidelities, they were still God's chosen people. This book was to serve as a perpetual reminder of God’s ongoing redeeming love of Israel and Israel’s call to covenant fidelity.
Deuteronomy is filled with “memorial” language: "Remember that you were a slave in Egypt… Remember how the Lord your God directed your journeying in the wilderness… Remember how the Lord your God fulfilled the covenant he made with your ancestors.”
Jesus draws from the Book of Deuteronomy as he confronts temptation in today’s Gospel. In his encounter with Satan, Jesus’ three responses will point not only to the rich remembrance of his Father’s redeeming love for Israel, but to remind Christians of the very power of those Sacred Words have to establish Jesus' authority.
God does not want us ever to forget his love. We have another perpetual reminder of God’s covenant fidelity and our redemption. Our celebration of the Eucharist, filled with memorial language, offers us a participation in the very act of God’s redeeming love, a love poured out by the supreme sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ.
As we begin our Lenten journey, mindful of that redeeming love, let us enter more deeply into God's Holy Word and the Eucharist to remember that God has loved us from all eternity.
The author, Ms. Barbara Gawle, leads Bible studies at her parish, Incarnation
Church of Wethersfield, CT. She is a CBS graduate and the 2012
recipient of the Biblical School's highest award, The Lawrence Boadt
Memorial Medal.
