Hello,
For centuries, Christians have joined Jesus on his journey to the cross, and the name of this cross-bound path is Lent. It is a 40 day journey, numbered so recalling the 40 days that the Bible tells us that Jesus was tempted by the devil in the wilderness, and also recalling the 40 years of the wandering in the desert of the people of God with Moses in the Old Testament. It is meant to be a time of personal reflection and intentional restraint. As we reflect on the clutter of our lives that has gotten in the way of our relationship with Jesus, we, as travelers naturally do, unload them from our shoulders so we might more ably follow Jesus.
It may sound like these 40 days ahead of us are primarily about us, about us getting our act together to be better Christians. But in truth, the focus of our journey is not us, for if that were to be the case, we might simply go round and round in circles of guilt or get stuck navel gazing in fear and going nowhere. The focus of the Lenten path is on the one who leads us, Jesus. Listen to this verse from 1 John 4.10
“In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.”
At the base of our journey with Jesus, whether in Lent or not, is the first-given love and mercy of God, and there is a word for this love, grace. Grace. Grace before we even take our first steps. Grace that shepherds us along the path. And Grace that makes everything brand new when we need follow no more, having arrived in the undiminished presence of God. Jesus, the embodiment of God’s grace is our focus.
One of the things that happens when we take our focus off of Jesus, we can also lose sight of the grace of God. God’s grace suddenly becomes something afar in the distance, the thing that either is the destination of our self-plodding journey, or it is the thing, like an ox-cart that will pick us up and carry us after we have gone as far as our spiritual muscles will take us. And when this happens, the journey can, and I believe always will, become very hard. Hard as we carry an ever-weightier backpack of our failures. Hard as we get bruised and beaten as we blindly stumble over boulders and branches that life throws in the way. Hard as the mire makes each step more difficult and energy consuming…..and we wonder, will we make it?
That is why, as we set our sights on the journey with Jesus to the cross, it is vital to know that this journey is not only bound for grace, it is begun with grace and propelled by grace. When Jesus says to you and me that he doesn’t care how weak and feeble we are, he wants us along with him in the journey…..that is grace. When Jesus says to you and me when we run into obstacles too large for our muscles to lift out of the way, “Stand back!”, and with one mighty kick that obstacle is sent flying…..that is grace. When Jesus says to you or me when we have stumbled, even the 70thtimes 7 time, “Here, I will pick you up,”…..that is grace. When Jesus says to the rest of the group, “Hey, where’s (your name)? We have to stop and search. We’re not going anywhere until (your name) is found,”….that is grace. And when this journey comes to its end, you will hear Jesus lift you out of the darkness of the grave and say, “Let me show you the place that I have prepared for you in the eternal presence of God,”….that is grace.
You see, grace is not the goal of our lives and faith, grace is the essence of our lives and faith. So, as you pack up your things for this 40 day Lenten journey, know this, God will be leading, guiding, and sustaining you every step of the way with the most important thing in this journey, his grace.
Have a great week,
God’s grace and peace, (ggap)
Pastor Jerry Nuernberger
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