Sunday, March 3, 2024  

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Today's Hymn
“Forty Days and Forty Nights”

Forty days and forty nights
you were fasting in the wild;
forty days and forty nights
tempted, and yet undefiled.

Shall not we your sorrow share
and from worldly joys abstain,
fasting with unceasing prayer,
strong with you to suffer pain?

Then if Satan on us press,
flesh or spirit to assail,
victor in the wilderness,
grant that we not faint nor fail!

So shall we have peace divine:
holier gladness ours shall be;
round us, too, shall angels shine,
such as served you faithfully.

Keep, O keep us, Savior dear,
ever constant by your side,
that with you we may appear
at the eternal Eastertide.

by George Hunt Smyttan
Hymn 167, Glory to God
verses 1–5

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Reflection

The scripture passage of Matthew 4:1–11 tells us that the Holy Spirit leads Jesus into the desert, where for forty days and forty nights he fasts, prays, and is tempted three times. Satan challenges Jesus to use his power as the Son of God to alleviate his hunger and to save himself from peril. Satan tempts Jesus with power, status, and wealth. In spite of the punishing conditions, Jesus trusts in the Holy Spirit’s wisdom, and he rebukes Satan.

I can imagine that Jesus’ desert excursion transformed him. God recognized that Jesus needed to prepare his mind, his spirit, and his physical body for all that was to come and for all that Jesus would be asked to endure, in order to fulfill God’s will.

Every year at Lent I am struck anew by the enormity of what was asked of Jesus. I am humbled by what was won for me through Jesus’ faithful selflessness and by God‘s willingness to lose God’s perfect Son, in order to save all of God’s children.

The hymn “Forty Days and Forty Nights” entreats us to symbolically walk along with Jesus, these forty days and forty nights, as he prays to his Father, our God, even while he is hungry, weary, and tempted.

As human beings, we know physical and spiritual hunger, isolation, and fear. We are continually tempted to choose ourselves over God or over others.

As Christians, we can pray for God’s forgiveness and loving guidance. We can do our best to follow in Christ’s footsteps so that when we’re tested, our faith will prevail and sustain us until we, too, come to know the eternal Eastertide.

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Prayer
Holy Creator God, you sent us Jesus so that we could comprehend your love for us. Jesus died for our sins and for our salvation. I can never earn that gift of grace, but oh, may I spend my whole life thanking and praising you for it. Amen.

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Written by Holly O’Mara, Member of Fourth Presbyterian Church

Reflection and Prayer © Fourth Presbyterian Church

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