As there is no devotional in my book to work from on the Sundays of Lent, they are going to be a little different, as I attempt a short reflection on the passages chosen by the Church of England's Lectionary for that day. So, for today, the First Sunday of Lent:

Mark 1:9-15 (NRSV) Wrote:The Baptism of Jesus
9 In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. 11 And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

The Temptation of Jesus
12 And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. 13 He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.

The Beginning of the Galilean Ministry
14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”

1 Peter 3:18-22 (NRSV) Wrote:18 For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, 19 in which also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison, 20 who in former times did not obey, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were saved through water. 21 And baptism, which this prefigured, now saves you—not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers made subject to him.

I’ve kept the heading titles from the NRSV in the first reading (though not included in the original text) because they help to highlight the way in which Mark summarises the beginning of Jesus’ ministry: his baptism, his temptation in the wilderness (upon which the season of Lent is based) and his proclamation of the Good News in Galilee. It forms a kind of pattern for the Christian life, albeit a very simplistic one. Nevertheless, the Christian life begins with baptism, or at the very least with repentance and the acceptance of God’s forgiveness, of which baptism is a physical symbol; it endures through temptations; and it expresses itself through ministry. Every Christian is born by the spirit in this manner, struggles with the sins which they now recognise and is called to take part in the mission of God, proclaiming the Good News (the gospel) and serving others.

The passage from Peter underlines the importance of baptism and how it connects us to Jesus’ ministry, which Peter states, was universal, though the acceptance of it, crucially, (no pun intended) is not. Just as only a few who consciously chose to obey God were saved in the story of Noah, so we must choose the baptism of Christ if we wish to be saved by it. It’s a hard teaching and one that I know is easily rejected by those who consider it unfair. I have struggled with it myself, for I fear for those who may be lost and wish everyone to be saved from the destructive power of sin. In Christian theology there are, broadly speaking, three positions on this: exclusivism, inclusivism and universalism. The latter, the belief that Christ’s death and resurrection save everyone whether they know of it or not is, as I’ve implied above, hard to find justification for in scripture, though some believe that they have. Exclusivists, on the other hand, believe that there is no hope for anyone outside of the Christian faith, and scripture would be mostly on their side in this. I consider myself an Inclusivist, like C. S. Lewis, who believed that God must reward the ignorant for their attempts to serve Him, so those who are faithful in other religions may find that they were serving God all along, and, perhaps too, those of no faith at all, who can truly claim to know nothing of the gospel, might also find salvation. If I’m honest, this is as hard to support from scripture as Universalism, but it fits with God’s mercy and some Old Testament accounts of religious figures outside of Israel.

The truth, of course, is that none of us can know the state of another’s soul or their relationship with God. That’s part of the reason baptism is important, as it is a public declaration of faith, but even then, the truth lies between the creator and the creation and no one else. So when struggle with temptations, we would do well to merciful to those who might be lost to them and when we do go out to serve others, whoever they might be and whatever they might believe, we should do so as ones serving God, not as humans judging other humans, about whom we really know nothing. We have the same gospel to preach as Jesus’ did - “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news” - and we should do so with all the love and grace and mercy of the one who chooses to love and save those who have rebelled against Him, at great cost to Himself. “For by grace you have been saved, through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8) “Go and do likewise.” (Luke 10:37b)