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The Wandering Aramean
A Lenten Reflection
Presented
To the Catholic Residents and Friends
At the Masonic Pathways
February 25, 2007
By
Philip D. Ropp
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Last
week, we celebrated Ash Wednesday and the beginning of our annual
Lenten
journey. It is a journey from the
wilderness of our fallen, sinful human nature to the light that beckons
to us
from the promised land that lies beyond the Cross. It is a
journey that brings us up and out of
the Egypt
of this broken promise land of man’s inhumanity to man, and leads us
onward
through the desert towards a land flowing with the milk and honey of
salvation. It is a journey that will
bring us to the very gates of Saint Augustine’s
City of God;
that New Jerusalem wherein we will one day put on a risen, perfected
human
nature, the result of God’s gift of eternal life through the saving
grace of
our beloved savior, Jesus Christ. It is
a quest that is mapped out for us today in Scripture that reassures us
that
this journey we have undertaken with this Jesus is the best and most
exciting
thing that we have ever done.
Today, we stand
before this altar and each declares, “My
father was a wandering Aramean…” A proclamation now as it was then that
we were
lost; a people without identity from a race long buried beneath the
sands of
time; buried in a far off place no longer remembered. And we,
like this wandering Aramean, “…went
down to Egypt…”
that symbol of slavery to the world and the worldly. And like Esau sold
out his
birthright to Jacob for a bowl of lentil stew, so we sold our
birthright in
God’s kingdom for the fleeting wealth and pleasure of the world.
And so we were this nation, this Israel crying
out to the Lord from the toil of our oppression to our sin. And
the God of our fathers heard our cry and
brought us out of Egypt
through the strong hand and outstretched arms of his only son; that we
might
gather here before him today and gladly offer up to him the first
fruits of our
love. What a joy it is to come here
before the altar of the Lord and bow down in the presence of he that
saves us
and arise to behold that soul’s eye view of the glorious land on the
other side
of the Jordan: That land that flows with
milk and honey: That land where he has a
place already prepared for us.
Today, we stand
with our brother Paul and all the Apostles
that have witnessed with such eloquence to the faith that we all do
share. And we join with them and all that ever
believed and confess with the angels and saints, and know in our
hearts, as do
they; that Jesus is Lord and God has raised him from the dead.
Paul assures us that we will not be put to
shame. We are all the children of that
wandering Aramean; that lost soul that now is found, and as such we are
neither
Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female.
For our Lord is indeed the Lord of all; to the uttermost he saves, and
all that call upon his name will not be lost. Today, my sisters and
brothers,
we have gathered for the very purpose of calling upon his name.
His name is Jesus, he is the Word of God, and
so Paul reassures us, “The Word is near you, in your mouth and in your
heart.”
Today, we stand
with Jesus as he emerges from 40 days of
temptation initiated by that master tempter, the devil himself.
This time begins with Jesus fresh from his
baptism, filled with the Holy Spirit, and newly proclaimed the Son of
God. The
devil begins, “If you are the Son of God…” and proceeds to tempt our
Master
three times with rewards for disobedience to the Father; to lure him
into the
same kind of rebellion against God that is the curse of Satan
himself. Jesus is tempted and tested as was Israel in
the wilderness and later in Canaan, yet he does not sell out his
birthright for
food as Esau did, nor does he succumb to the lure of empire and worldly
riches
as did David and Solomon, and neither does he cast himself down and
profane the
temple as did Jezebel when she turned hearts to the ways of the
heathen, and
Israel dashed her infant sons on the stones, and passed them through
the fire
to Molech. Each time Jesus responds to
temptation by quoting from the Book of Deuteronomy and cites the law of
Moses
in support of why he will not succumb to the devil’s urgings.
This is something Israel was never able to
accomplish, and it is at this point that Jesus fulfills the law,
overcomes the
law, and becomes the law. He assumes the
role of True Israel, tested and triumphant, and so removes the law as
the eternal
stumbling block from our path and we are saved by the grace he exhibits
in
doing so. Jesus prefigures the Act of
Salvation at the Cross and anticipates it by taking the law upon him,
so that
he might, in turn, also assume our sins.
Today,
we stand and watch as Jesus steps from the wilderness victorious over
both the
devil and our own sinful human nature.
For forty days and nights he has assumed the mantle of our forefathers
and become that wandering Aramean; that symbol of lost and fallen man
struggling and failing to find his way back to Eden and live once more
in communion with
God. But Jesus does not fail. Jesus is triumphant and
victorious, and he
leaves the wasteland of our sin and begins the journey to Jerusalem
where he will fulfill his destiny
and ours. While he has entered the
wilderness of sin as a wandering Aramean, he has overcome his human
nature and
ours, and so he has emerged as Christ, the anointed Son of God and True
Redeemer of humanity. In Jerusalem
he will offer himself up to the perversion that the law has become
under the
religious parties of the Jews, and go to the Cross to take the sin of
human
injustice upon him, that we might conquer it as he has done. From
his death on the Cross he becomes the
first of many to enter back into the Garden, and as he does, the
cherubim with
the flaming sword that guards the Tree of Life falls prostrate at his
feet and
says, “Oh Son of God, do take and eat!”
And Jesus does take and eat then tells the cherubim, “Now I go to bring
my friends.”
Today,
we stand on the road to Jerusalem
and Jesus beckons us to fall in behind him and make this Lenten journey
with
him. Today we are invited to be these
friends that he is leading towards the Tree of Life. And when we
take up this journey and join
ourselves to him, then no longer can we say, “My father was a wandering
Aramean,” for now we know full-well that our Father is God Almighty and
it is
His only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, that is leading us home to
Him. And so our joy is complete. But this journey is long
and arduous, and so,
along the road, he sets this table for us in the presence of our
enemies and
calls us to receive a regular spiritual sustenance that we may grow
stronger in
him and not falter along the way. In
anticipation of that heavenly banquet that we will one day share as
God’s
Family, gathered in the unrestrained eternal presence of the Tree of
Life,
Jesus says to us today, “Oh friends of God, do take and eat!”
Happy indeed are those that are called to his
supper!
Next
week, our annual Lenten journey continues.
It remains the journey from the wilderness of our fallen, sinful human
nature to the light that beckons to us from the promised land that lies
beyond
the Cross. It is the journey that
continues to bring us up and out of the Egypt of this broken promise
land
of man’s inhumanity to man, and leads us onward through the desert
towards the
land flowing with the milk and honey of salvation. It is the
journey that will bring us to the
very gates of Saint Augustine’s City of God; that New Jerusalem
wherein we will one day put on our risen, perfected human nature, the
result of
God’s gift of eternal life through the saving grace of our beloved
savior,
Jesus Christ. It is the quest that was
mapped out for us today in Scripture that reassures us that this
journey we
have undertaken with our Jesus is the best and most exciting thing that
we have
ever done.
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February 25, 2007
Psalm:
Sunday 7
Dt
26:4-10
Moses spoke to the people, saying:
“The priest shall receive the basket from you
and shall set it in front of the altar of the LORD, your God.
Then you shall declare before the Lord, your God,
‘My father was a wandering Aramean
who went down to Egypt with a small household
and lived there as an alien.
But there he became a nation
great, strong, and numerous.
When the Egyptians maltreated and oppressed us,
imposing hard labor upon us,
we cried to the LORD, the God of our fathers,
and he heard our cry
and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression.
He brought us out of Egypt
with his strong hand and outstretched arm,
with terrifying power, with signs and wonders;
and bringing us into this country,
he gave us this land flowing with milk and honey.
Therefore, I have now brought you the firstfruits
of the products of the soil
which you, O LORD, have given me.’
And having set them before the Lord, your God,
you shall bow down in his presence.
Ps
91:1-2, 10-11, 12-13, 14-15
R. (cf. 15b) Be with me, Lord, when I am in
trouble.
You who dwell in the shelter of the Most High,
who abide in the shadow of the Almighty,
say to the LORD, “My refuge and fortress,
my God in whom I trust.”
R. Be with me, Lord, when I am in trouble.
No evil shall befall you,
nor shall affliction come near your tent,
For to his angels he has given command about you,
that they guard you in all your ways.
R. Be with me, Lord, when I am in trouble.
Upon their hands they shall bear you up,
lest you dash your foot against a stone.
You shall tread upon the asp and the viper;
you shall trample down the lion and the dragon.
R. Be with me, Lord, when I am in trouble.
Because he clings to me, I will deliver him;
I will set him on high because he acknowledges my name.
He shall call upon me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in distress;
I will deliver him and glorify him.
R. Be with me, Lord, when I am in trouble.
Rm
10:8-13
Brothers and sisters:
What does Scripture say?
The word is near you,
in your mouth and in your heart.
That is, the word of faith that we preach,
for, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord
and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead,
you will be saved.
For one believes with the heart and so is justified,
and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved.
For the Scripture says,
No one who believes in him will be put to shame.
For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek;
the same Lord is Lord of all,
enriching all who call upon him.
For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Lk
4:1-13
Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus returned from the Jordan
and was led by the Spirit into the desert for forty days,
to be tempted by the devil.
He ate nothing during those days,
and when they were over he was hungry.
The devil said to him,
“If you are the Son of God,
command this stone to become bread.”
Jesus answered him,
“It is written, One does not live on bread alone.”
Then he took him up and showed him
all the kingdoms of the world in a single instant.
The devil said to him,
“I shall give to you all this power and glory;
for it has been handed over to me,
and I may give it to whomever I wish.
All this will be yours, if you worship me.”
Jesus said to him in reply,
“It is written:
You shall worship the Lord, your God,
and him alone shall you serve.”
Then he led him to Jerusalem,
made him stand on the parapet of the temple, and said to him,
“If you are the Son of God,
throw yourself down from here, for it is written:
He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you,
and:
With their hands they will support you,
lest you dash your foot against a stone.”
Jesus said to him in reply,
“It also says,
You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test.”
When the devil had finished every temptation,
he departed from him for a time.
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