(Noah Sacrificing After the Deluge, Benjamin West, 1800)

First Sunday of Lent
22 FEB 2015
Lectionary: 23

First Reading GN 9:8-15

God said to Noah and to his sons with him:
“See, I am now establishing my covenant with you
and your descendants after you
and with every living creature that was with you:
all the birds, and the various tame and wild animals
that were with you and came out of the ark.
I will establish my covenant with you,
that never again shall all bodily creatures be destroyed
by the waters of a flood;
there shall not be another flood to devastate the earth.”
God added:
“This is the sign that I am giving for all ages to come,
of the covenant between me and you
and every living creature with you:
I set my bow in the clouds to serve as a sign
of the covenant between me and the earth.
When I bring clouds over the earth,
and the bow appears in the clouds,
I will recall the covenant I have made
between me and you and all living beings,
so that the waters shall never again become a flood
to destroy all mortal beings.”

Responsorial Psalm PS 25:4-5, 6-7, 8-9.

R.Your ways, O Lord, are love and truth to those who keep your covenant.

Your ways, O LORD, make known to me;
teach me your paths,
Guide me in your truth and teach me,
for you are God my savior.
R. Your ways, O Lord, are love and truth to those who keep your covenant.

Remember that your compassion, O LORD,
and your love are from of old.
In your kindness remember me,
because of your goodness, O LORD.
R. Your ways, O Lord, are love and truth to those who keep your covenant.

Good and upright is the LORD,
thus he shows sinners the way.
He guides the humble to justice,
and he teaches the humble his way.
R. Your ways, O Lord, are love and truth to those who keep your covenant.



Second Reading 1 PT 3:18-22

Beloved:
Christ suffered for sins once,
the righteous for the sake of the unrighteous,
that he might lead you to God.
Put to death in the flesh,
he was brought to life in the Spirit.
In it he also went to preach to the spirits in prison,
who had once been disobedient
while God patiently waited in the days of Noah
during the building of the ark,
in which a few persons, eight in all,
were saved through water.
This prefigured baptism, which saves you now.
It is not a removal of dirt from the body
but an appeal to God for a clear conscience,
through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
who has gone into heaven
and is at the right hand of God,
with angels, authorities, and powers subject to him.

Verse Before The Gospel MT 4:4B

One does not live on bread alone,
but on every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.



Gospel MK 1:12-15

The Spirit drove Jesus out into the desert,
and he remained in the desert for forty days,
tempted by Satan.
He was among wild beasts,
and the angels ministered to him.

After John had been arrested,
Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God:
“This is the time of fulfillment.
The kingdom of God is at hand.
Repent, and believe in the gospel.”

Gospel Reading: Mark 1:12-15

~This Sunday’s Gospel reading takes place right after Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan River by John the Baptist (verses 9-11). Somewhat more detailed accounts of this event are given in the other synoptic gospels of Matthew (4:1-11) and Luke (4:1-13).

~In the same way that Adam was tempted in the garden “among wild beasts” and the children of Israel were tempted in the wilderness, Jesus undergoes a very real temptation by Satan, whose name means “adversary” (1 Peter 5:8, RSV-CE) or “accuser” (Revelation 12:10). Jesus, however, out of love for his Father (Mk 1:11), succeeds where Adam and Israel failed.

~The arrest of John (verse 14; Matthew 14:1-12) is a key event in the gospels, marking a shift in Jesus’ ministry from Judea, in the south, to the Galilee region of the north. John’s arrest also foreshadows Jesus’ own arrest leading to his trial and crucifixion.

~“The kingdom of God” refers to God’s sovereign rule over all the nations through Jesus. It is idealized by the Old Testament Davidic kingdom at its height which ruled not only over the twelve tribes of Israel (2 Samuel 5:1-5; Matthew 19:28) but exercised control and influence over gentile (non-Jewish) nations (1 Kings 4:20-21; Matthew 28:18-20). The kingdom that Jesus announces will, through his death on the cross, turn this ideal into a spiritual reality (Ephesians 2:11-22).



QUESTIONS:

+In the 2nd reading, what inference does St. Peter draw about baptism from the story of Noah? By what power does he say this is accomplished?

+What is the significance of the number “forty” in Mark 1:13? What other great events in salvation history revolve around this number (Genesis 7:11-12; Exodus 25:15-18; Numbers 15:26-35; 1 Kings 19:1-8)?

+What is the common preaching theme of John the Baptist (Mark 1:2-4), Jesus (verse 15), and the first disciples (Acts 2:37-38)? What does it mean to “repent”?

+Why do you think it is important for us to hear about Jesus’ temptation by Satan in the wilderness? What benefit is it for us to undergo our own temptations (Hebrews 12:3-11; James 1:2-4)?

+Besides Satan, where do temptations come from (1 John 2:15-17; Romans 7:15-25a)?

+After his temptation, Jesus was ministered to by angels (verse 13). When we have successfully resisted temptation, are we able to see how God sustains and rewards us? How?

+Both John the Baptist (Mark 1:6) and Jesus followed practices of self-discipline for religious reasons. What self-disciplining practices do you use for religious reasons? How have they influenced your own “change of heart” (repentance)?

Bible Study--1st Sunday of Lent-Cycle B


(Follow Me-Satan's Temptation of Jesus Christ, Ilya Repin, 1903)

"It is necessary that temptations should happen; for who shall be crowned but he that shall lawfully have fought, and how shall a man fight if there be none to attack him?"  --St. Bernard of Clairvaux

 

I once again enjoyed reading this.  Thank you.