Chapters from the Gospel of Luke will be guiding our journey through Lent, beginning this morning with Jesus setting his face toward Jerusalem and its Cross of Calvary.
In reflecting on and wrestling with these Lukan scriptures, their common thread is the depth of Jesus’s relationships that disrupt the established social, political, and religious divides of his time. His teaching tactics feel extreme; they stir anxiety and thus are summarily rejected: Like when Jesus describes a stigmatized Samaritan as a good neighbor, or when he values a lone sheep more than a vast herd, or when he dines with a tax collector who amassed his wealth through extortion. Or like when Jesus, while dying on the Cross, assures a convicted criminal that he would soon enjoy paradise.
Jesus intentionally spotlights the cultural and political polarities of his time to emphasize the radical, inclusive, and surprising love of God. And it’s no stretch to imagine ourselves abiding in these ancient words that reflect the cultural and political divides of contemporary families, churches, and communities.
These Scripture lessons for our 40 days invite you and me to navigate the polarities in our lives with more faithful intention and openness to repentance. Through the Holy Spirit, the Word of the Lord challenges us to explore supposed binaries – seemingly opposite poles: Faith and works, rest and growth, grief and hope. What we’ll find is not crystal clarity but nuanced complexity. What we thought was black and white unfurls as a full spectrum of grays. And across all the many hues, the Lord God abides.
Notice the contradictions and dichotomies that define our lives, yes. But also consider where God just might be meeting us beyond the polar opposites that we create. Such divine presence in the shadows of disorder is welcome direction for those feeling their way through dark, undefined spaces; for those who feel like they’re living in a divided world. The gift of the Holy Spirit is for those who seek a spiritual life that engages with complexity rather than avoids it. This Lent, we trust that God again shows up in ashy shades of our in-between-ness.
Thus we join Jesus as he sets his face toward Jerusalem. As Jesus makes his way, the locals promise to follow him. Jesus’s response is harsh but urgent. He needs real commitment. He needs disciples who are willing to be rejected and persecuted – and who will embody hope, compassion, and peace along the way. It becomes readily and painfully apparent that these potential disciples aren’t quite ready for the task at hand.
And so, as Lent begins, let us also ask ourselves: Are we ready? Are we willing to be transformed? Will our actions reflect our best intentions? May the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing and acceptable to God the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth.
The relationship between the Jews and Samaritans was – well – complicated, defined by centuries of political upheaval that forged fundamental differences in culture and faith.
For starters, instead of centering Jerusalem as their religious and cultural hub, Samaritans built their temple 80-or-so miles north on ground they deemed holy. So for these non-Jews, the Lord’s unwavering focus on Jerusalem is a relational non-starter. Perhaps feeling disrespected or even judged, the Samaritans refuse to receive Jesus. Their intention to remain faithful to their time-honored religious traditions makes it difficult to embrace Jesus’s message.
The sight of the Samaritans rejecting Jesus enrages James and John, triggered by worldviews different than theirs. Which is certainly the modern-day case for me and many others dealing with anger and other strong emotions that are difficult to process. In their fury, James and John threaten a consuming fire from heaven upon the Samaritans, an action at odds with their discipleship intention to follow the non-violent way of Jesus.
I now invite you to spend some quiet time reflecting upon this image of the moment by the Reverend Lauren Wright Pittman and to ponder questions she poses –
What triggers your unproductive rage or resistance to God’s work? How can you be resolute in your discipleship, despite distractions and adversity? What would it look like to align your actions with your intentions?
With the courageous faith of that first Israelite to step anxiously between the parted waters of the Red Sea, Lent calls us to move forward – even if and when not fully ready to shift toward transformation, not fully ready to listen for Good News in seemingly impossible spaces, even as a divided people and planet.
Thus the challenge of Lent calls for challenging work: Setting our intentions amid life’s chaoic clutter, and squaring up our actions with our intentions – even when there’s enticing motivation to linger a little longer in the lacking integrity of the status quo.
Yet, the Gospel of Luke provides a quite-principled reason to seek an extension: “Hold up. I’m almost ready. But first, I have to do what nobody wants to do – bury my own flesh and blood. The Lord’s request to abandon unburied family surely sounds cruel and unthinkable. Marking a generation’s passing is one of those times to stand up to the hard work of being human.
Then zoom out to the challenge of communal readiness: Activating intentions to change while the fresh death of old, harmful-yet-beloved-ways of life and order hasn’t even begun to be buried and grieved.
Luke doesn’t deny the work of grief that keeps getting bumped off our already-utterly-overwhelming to-do lists. What Luke offers is a call to intentional action: When important preparation remains undone and fresh deaths remain ungrieved, the time to move is now – new birth crowning at the gravesides of yesterday.
This is the day. Lent is here. Are you ready?
If not, so be it! Hold onto your fear and brokenness as long as they have something spiritual to teach you about yourself and the world around you. And when their instructional value falls silent, move on – and fall in line behind Jesus, as he sets his sights on the Cross of Jerusalem.
Listen to the Word that God has spoken, accept the invitation that the Lord offers.
Pastor Grant M. VanderVelden shared this message during worship on the first Sunday in Lent, March 9, 2025, at First Presbyterian Church in Waukon, Iowa, USA. Scholarship, commentary, and reflection by and Lauren Wright Pittman and Mindy McGarrah Sharp inform the message. Artwork by Sanctified Art. Scripture video is from Lumo’s Gospel of Luke.