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Preparing for the paths God will give us to walk in the year ahead.

March 3, 2022

Deuteronomy 30:15–20 | Luke 9:18–25 | Psalm 1

In the collect for this second day of Lent we ask our Lord to direct us in all we do, that our works may begin, continue, and end in the Lord and give glory to the Lord’s Name—not a bad way to start a season of reflection. Today’s psalm encourages us: Happy are those who delight in the law of the Lord, … who meditate on the Lord’s law day and night, … for they will bear fruit in due season. 

But what about this law? Are we supposed to focus on observing commandments, decrees, and ordinances, as Moses exhorted his listeners to do in Deuteronomy 30? Is that what it means to “choose life”? That was the approach taken under the Old Covenant. The Law Moses refers to laid out a long set of rules and behaviors. Follow these rules, said the Priests and Levites, and you will please God. The wind that blows away the chaff of the wicked will pass you by and you will live long in the land. 

In contrast, Jesus combined portions of Deuteronomy 6:4 and Leviticus 19:18 to give us the Summary of the Law: Love God with all your heart, mind and strength; and love your neighbor as yourself. This may be thought of as the law of love: its object is both others and the Other. In it, Jesus calls us to focus not on specific rules but on the intentions of the One who gave them to us. The Summary tells us how we are to make known in this world the presence of our God, whose nature is love.

During Lent we remember that the Spirit drove Jesus into the wilderness to discern what God expected of him and to prepare him for the tasks awaiting him. Each year Lent gives us a similar opportunity to reflect on what God expects of us. A possible reflection topic might be how we can better apply this law of love to the specifics of our lives and to preparing for the paths God will give us to walk in the year ahead.   

Steve Capps