The ultimate challenge

“I set before you, life or death” This statement from Deuteronomy 30:15 is the opening line of our first reading today. It is the ultimate challenge. This is also the second day of our Lenten journey. It reminds us of Jesus’ 40 days in the desert. Our yearly journey through the time of Lent calls us to follow Jesus from the desert to the cross and beyond to the glory of his resurrection. As a reminder of where this journey is going we have today’s gospel from Luke 9:22-25. “If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let that person renounce herself and take up the cross each day and follow me.” Am I willing to go that far? The desert is fine. Tough, but fine. I look into the depths of my soul, review the priorities of my life, undergo fasting and discipline myself so as to get some order back into my life again. But the challenge of God in Deuteronomy and the challenge of Jesus in today’s gospel take us further, much further. Am I willing to die? Am I willing to give up all, for the sake of my family, my community, my world and my planet? Let us remind ourselves that this journey is not just for my sake, for my salvation. We undergo such acts of penance as almsgiving, prayer and fasting not just for the sake of making ourselves more holy. This is not just for me.

 

To follow Jesus, to face the challenge of life or death through living lives that challenge our world, is to believe that we not only enable people to become reconciled to God, but also reconciled to one another. We believe that we can make a decisive difference to our world. Lent is not about getting into heaven, wherever that is. It is about challenging our world through lives that are lived acording to that basic premise: life not death, humanity not inhumanity, goodness not evil, kindness not brutality. We know that we live in a world that is complex. It is not just black and white. But our Lenten journey is one that leads us to the cry of pain uttered from the cross to the words of the risen Lord, “Place your hands into the wounds of my hands. Doubt no longer but believe.” Feel the pain, touch the wounds of our world, face the ultimate challenges of life or death. Don’t rush. Take your time. Remember, the journey is worthwhile.