Sermon Notes

In this Sunday’s sermon, Father John began by reflecting on the Old Testament reading that describes the end of the story of Noah and the ark and notes that the verses selected unfortunately “cleaned-up” some of the important points from the story…it shows God magnanimously promising that He will never destroy the Earth with a flood again.  Fr. John points out that earlier in chapter 6 that the Lord “saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.”  However, rather than God becoming angry and sending the flood as punishment, he expressed grief.  He created us, he gave us everything and even walked with us and we let him down.  Father John noted that in spite of his disappointment, God was just in his grief.  He sees Noah is just and tells him to build an ark.  And Noah, in his faith and obedience, obeys this direction. 

The Gospel lesson shows we are still not getting it right.   In spite of His people continuing to fail to be in the right relationship with Him, God doesn’t punish His people…rather he sends His son for us.  And His son shows us how to realize the right kind of relationship with God.  In the Gospel reading we see Jesus being tempted not with intrinsically evil behaviors, but with activities that are really selfish/self-centered.  These are behaviors that would have taken Jesus’ focus away from God and put it on himself.  And this is fundamentally what we all struggle with our daily lives.   

Mike Davis from the Canterbury School described this dynamic to his students as the difference between a “WAM” person (“What About Me”) to a “WAY” person (What About You”).  Jesus’ life is all about showing us how to be a “WAY” person…to keep our focus on others.  In this spirit, Fr. John reminds us that Lent is about shifting our focus.  It is a time in our life to get closer to God.   What we give up helps remind us of our need to stay focused on Him.

Finally, Jesus reminds us that the kingdom of heaven is here and if we can keep our focus on others and on God (reflecting His golden rule), we can have glimpses of the kingdom now.




posted by m white