Communion With the Christ:: The Season of Lent: Following Jesus

Lent is far more than a season of legalistic performance based religious self-examination, it is rather a time of fully embracing the grace of God and the reality of the risen Christ and the Season of Easter.

“So Abram went as the Lord had told him” Gen: 12:4a

The Season of Lent speaks to, and teaches each and all of us, so many lessons regarding the Christian life. This ancient observance, which dates back to the very early years of the Christian movement. Season of Lent emerged out of the forty-day period of the time which was given to those who were going to be baptized into the body of the Church on Easter Sunday and encouraged new converts to consider their lives as they embraced their identities in Christ and the transformations which the Holy Spirit would lead them to embrace.

The Calling to Follow

During these forty days new converts were encouraged to consider the transformation which was coming to their lives and the calling which was now upon them in light of who Jesus is and what he has done for each and all of us.

These new converts were encouraged to prayerfully consider the life which they were now called to live in following their Lord Jesus Christ.

These early converts to the Christian movement and Christians through the history of the Church are in many respects are very much like the Patriarch Abraham.

Abraham, named Abram at the time of his calling by the Lord God, left everything that he had known for seventy-five years to follow the calling of God upon his life.

When the Lord called the Patriarch , he went forth not knowing fully where his new found life would lead him.

“By Faith Abraham, when he was called went forth by faith to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going” Heb:11:8

In spite of not knowing where the Lord God was leading him to and in spite, of the unknown which lay before him, Abraham, the Patriarch went forth leaving all behind him. Abraham did so and could do so because he trusted in the Lord who was and always would be with him.

Abraham did not did not focus on the journey upon which he embarked, nor the potential hardships or adversities but rather Abraham kept his heart and mind upon the Lord knowing that his God would bring him safely to his destination and fulfill all the promises which the Lord had made to him and to us all.

Following into the Unknown

We Christians today and throughout the ages, are the spiritual the heirs of Abraham, and are very much like the Patriarch when we are called. When we hear the Gospel message of Jesus, we hear in the Gospel a calling to receive great and glorious promises as an inheritance eternal.

“He called you through our Gospel that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ” 2Thess:2:14

When we hear that glorious message about Jesus and we chose to accept it and follow him we are then setting forth often into the unknown, and on a journey that we cannot always know what lies immediately ahead.

Yet, we can be confident that as we pilgrimage through this life toward the Promised Land of the Kingdom of God, we can trust, in faith, that our Lord Jesus is there with us every step of the way through whatever we might face.

Am With You Always

The season of Lent is a yearly reminder of the faithfulness of God that he is with us in spite of us. Jesus is there every step of the way on our Earthly pilgrimage. Whatever we face on the road to and through the Kingdom of God Jesus is there with us.

Just as our Lord Jesus was about to ascend into the heavens after commissioning his followers to go forth proclaiming the message of his Gospel, Jesus affirmed that he would walk with us, be with us and give us each and all, his gracious divine assistance as we go forth into the unknowns of life whatever they may be, the good, the glorious and the tragedies, setbacks and sorrows.

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Teaching them to observe all that I commanded you: and lo I am with you always even to the end of the world” Matt: 28:19-20

Lent reminds us that Jesus makes the pilgrimages with us, leading us ever forward. Again, as our Lord has promised “I am with you”.

Jesus is, in truth, the reason for the journey. This means that Jesus gives us this life here upon the Earth so that through all that we face we come to know him. It is the adversities of, and uncertainties of life, that we grow to known Jesus ever deeper.

It is, in truth, even in the worst of times that we might face that we come to know Jesus’ faithfulness and love mercy and grace. When all hopes seem lost and life appears to be at its end and we feel abandoned by all else, it is in these moments of grief and uncertainty that Jesus' unconditional and undying love is realized and experienced in its most profound way.

Jesus speaks to us through the word of God and the indwelling Holy Spirit “I am with you always”. This truth should give us strength and reliance upon him to journey forward knowing that we are not alone even among the unknowns of life.

Experiencing the Incarnation

Jesus is there to give us strength and comfort as no other can. He is there with us. St. Paul, and other early Christians knew the comfort of the abiding presence of God when he wrote to the Church in the Greek city of Corinth. St. Paul wrote of the challenges that he, and all of us face in life, and how he coped with these challenges.

“in everything commending ourselves as servants of God, in much endurance, in afflictions, in hardships, in distresses, in afflictions, in hardships, in distresses, in beatings, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in sleeplessness, in dangers, in hunger,” 2Cor:6:4-5

St. Paul experienced these trails and tests, yet he continued to follow Jesus. It was in these test and hardships that the Apostle came to know his Lord all the more. In truth, what St. Paul was experiencing, was, the Incarnate Christ in his life. The Apostle knew and understood that Jesus had shares this life with us and knows and understand the journey of life that St. Paul and all of us are in.

Speaking of the coming of the Holy Spirit, Jesus told his disciples “I will not leave you Fatherless, I will come to you” Jhn: 14:18

We are called to follow Jesus in this life because he walks with us and indwells us through the very Spirit of God, in this way, Jesus’ incarnation becomes our incarnation, meaning we have the Lord within us in our flesh making us his children.

As St. John wrote “he has come in the flesh”, meaning that, the Eternal Son of God, the Second person of the Holy Trinity, has joined with us through his own personal incarnation, but also that, through the Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Holy Trinity, Jesus has come in our own flesh.

When the great Patriarch Abraham set out from his home country and his father’s household upon receiving the call of the Lord God, not even he could have the experienced what we Christians are blessed to have, for in the time of Abraham the incarnation had not yet become a reality but was still a future hope.

This life is intended so that we experience the Incarnation of Jesus first hand and in so doing we come to know him.

The Season of Lent teach us that as we go forth into the Christian life and our own personal and collective pilgrimage toward the Kingdom of God. Our Lord is with us. Jesus is there to reveal his love, mercy and grace and to be our help and strength and comfort every step of the way to glory.

As Jesus said to those ancient disciples’ centuries ago and down through the ages, as he departed unto the Heavens, “I am with you even unto the end of the world”.

We are called to follow Jesus as did Abraham at his calling and to experience his Holy Presence as he leads us toward the Kingdom of God. This is a Lesson of the Season of Lent.

Benediction: May we each and all ever look to our Lord Jesus, who is there with us on our pilgrimage of life, through every step of our lives, walking with us and leading us forward through all that we face and who will reveal his love for us all, today, tomorrow and forevermore. Amen.