Lenten Day II [Eve]

Eve of Lenten Day II [Thursday]

Collect of the Day [Rite I]

Direct us, O Lord, in all our doings with thy most gracious favor, and further us with thy continual help; that in all our works begun, continued, and ended in thee, we may glorify thy holy Name, and finally, by thy mercy, obtain everlasting life; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

Assigned Lesson

Deuteronomy 30:15-20 [ESV]

"See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you today, by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them."

http://bible.com/59/deu.30.15-20.ESV

Lenten Reflection

This text sounds wonderful.  Here we read that keeping the commandments of God is an achievable mission.  And yet when we read the writings and the prophets contained in the Old Testament, it is quite clear that it really isn't that easy.  Further we find the apostles and the faithful community in the Acts of the Apostles speaking of this as "a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to keep" while debating how Gentile believers who have heard and believed the Gospel should be included among the faithful who follow the risen Lord Jesus Christ by faith.

Indeed we who are Christians should be mindful of the fact that if this were so easy, we would not be Christians.  For if the yoke of the Old Covenant were easy, it would have been performed again and again.  If this were the case, neither prophets, nor the Forerunner to Messiah, St. John the Baptist, nor Jesus Christ, God Incarnate in humanity, would have been necessary.  And yet the Scriptures prove time and time again that all these are necessary for the faith, life and salvation of God's people.

But we need not be burdened with this truth that the law has time and time again become a heavy burden.  As Christians we believe Jesus has lifted the yoke from our shoulders.  This grace does not give us permission to break the commandments and thus sin freely.  It does however hold before us the availability of pardon and absolution.  When the woman caught in adultery was brought to Jesus with the demand she be stoned, Jesus invited the accusors to carry out judgment, on the condition that the one who has no sin be the first to throw a stone at her.  The only one who fit that description was Jesus.  The accusers abandoned their cause.  The woman was left alone before Jesus.  And what does he do?  He does not acuse her nor carry out judgment.  He sends her away with the gift of mercy and forgiveness, commanding her to sin no more.  So Jesus says to us whenever we sin, even when we repeat the same sin.  His mercy is limitless.  This motivates us to go and seek to avoid all sin, always rembering that the God whom we serve is indeed slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, whose mercy endures forever.