First Sunday of Lent, Cycle B

1st Reading- Gen 9:8-15
2nd Reading- 1 Peter 3:18-22
Gospel: Mark 1:12-15

Reflection: “This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel. “

The usual Gospel reading on the 1st Sunday of Lent is on the Temptations of Jesus. We are reminded here that our journey to conversion is never easy, it takes a lot of courage to face the many temptations that come our way. These temptations can come from three sources, the world, the flesh, and the devil. And the hardest to fight is when the temptations come from within us and which the devil intensifies and makes us feel helpless and hopeless at the same time.

However, the Gospel of Mark does not dwell so much on what temptations Jesus encountered and how He dealt with them all. Mark emphasized, rather, in the message that the Kingdom of God is at hand. God is with us and He will never allow us to fall. The strength that Jesus mustered is His relationship with the Father. He was able to subdue the devil’s tactics through His constant connection with the Father in heaven. And so He calls each one to repentance and faith. The coming of God’s kingdom should be founded on the relationship of each person to God the Father who calls each one to reconciliation.

St. Peter in our 2nd Reading reminds us of Christ’s gift to us, the grace of salvation through our incorporation to Him in Baptism. He says, ” Beloved: Christ suffered for sins once, the righteous for the sake of the unrighteous, that he might lead you to God. Put to death in the flesh, he was brought to life in the Spirit.” We who were once sinners are made heirs of the heavenly kingdom, became children of God. The waters of Baptism cleansed us from sin brought by the disobedience of our first parents. Like the flood in Noah’s time, it separated those who welcomed God’s invitation to salvation through the ark, from those who shun it away and made fun of the ark as an instrument of salvation.

In this time of Lent, let us remember that the ark of salvation is the baroque of Peter, the Church. We have to make the decision whether to accept God’s offer of salvation through the Church or choose our own way of salvation. Lent is a time of embracing God’s salvation and of walking on the path repentance and faith. Temptations come and go in our lives, but the true test of faith is in our desire of always choosing to stand for God and His Church. Temptations desire to bring us away from God and His means of salvation for us, we should, therefore, live the life that Christ the Lord has shown us, a life of a faithful and loving child trusting in the Father’s unwavering love and devotion.